|
The Latin Diocese
of Trivandrum has the territory consisiting of Trivandrum and
Chirayinkil Taluks of Thiruvananthapuram District with a small strip
of coastal belt from Kovalam to Pozhiyoor in Neyyattinkara Taluk and
Neerody to Eramainthura of K. K. District in Tamilnadu.
Christianity in these parts dates from the time of the arrival of the
Portuguese in India and perhaps earlier. It is very likely that the
Franciscan and Dominican fathers of the middle ages who evangelized
Quilon and its suburbs worked also in Trivandrum. Some of the Churches
of this Diocese claim to be of pre-Portuguese origin.
With the arrival of the Portuguese but especially with the advent of
the pioneer missionary, St. Francis Xavier, Christanity spread far and
wide in these parts with the result that by the close of the sixteenth
century there were well-established christian communities all along
the coast. But unfortunately with the suppression of the Society of
Jesus this missionary enterprise came to a close.
The second phase of the missionary enterprise in the Diocese begins
with the dawn of the present century. The saintly Archbishop Benziger
who became Co-adjutor Bishop of Quilon in 1900 and Bishop in 1905 was
the apostle who propagated Christianity in the Diocese through the
fragrance of his saintly life, wise leadership and unceasing
assistance to his priests. In 1931 when he retired to the Carmel Hill
monastery there were Christian communities established in almost all
places of the interior region. As early as 1919, Abp Benziger
recommended the establishment of the Latin Diocese of Trivandrum, but
it materialized only after his retirement.
On July 1, 1937, by the Bull “ In Ora Malabarica” Pope Pius XI created
the Latin Diocese of Trivandrum with the four taluks of Neyyattinkara,
Nedumangad, Trivandrum and Chiryinkeezh bifurcated from the Diocese of
Quilon .Bishop Vincent V. Dereere, OCD , Bishop of Quilon was
transferred to the newly erected Latin Diocese of Trivandrum which was
entrusted to the Carmelites of the Flanders Province (Belgium).
In 1952 when the Diocese of Alleppey was erected by the bifurcation of
the Padroado Diocese of Cochin, the narrow strip of coastal parishes
which formed the Trivandrum Portuguese Mission was temporarily annexed
to the Latin Diocese of Trivandrum with with Bishop Vincent V. Dereere,
ocd, as its administrator. On May 20, 1955 this territory was
definitely integrated in the Latin Diocese of Trivandrum.
On October 24, 1966 when Bishop Vincent V. Dereere, ocd, resigned from
the See of Trivandrum, Bishop Peter Bernard Pereira was the first
Indian to be appointed Bishop of Trivandrum and the Diocese passed
into the hands of the indigenous clergy.
On July 16, 1996, by the Bull “Ad aptius Provehendum” of Pope John
Paul II the Diocese is bifurcated to form the new Diocese of
Neyyattinkara.
The Diocese is bounded on the north by the Diocese of Quilon, on the
East by the Diocese of Neyyatinkara, on the West by the Arabian Sea
and on the South by the Diocese of Kottar.
Address:
Archbishop's House,
Vellayambalam,
Thiruvananthapuram - 695 003,
Kerala, India.
Tel: +91 471 - 2724001, 2724002 (O), 2723001 (P),
Fax: +91 471 - 2725001
Website:
http://www.latinarchdiocesetrivandrum.org
|
|
|
