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The Catholic Church in Kerala is a
communion of three individual Churches; Latin, Syro- Malabar, Syro–Malankara.
The Latin Church has eleven ecclesiastical units out of 29 dioceses in
Kerala.
The presence of the Latin Church in
India, particularly on the coast of Kerala has protracted over eleven
centuries or more. However, the work of evangelization was
enthusiastically revived by the western missionaries in the 13th
century. The western records of the Franciscans and Dominicans contain
the evidence of the early Latin Missions in India. Giovanni di Monte
Corvine, O.F.M., Jordan Catalani, O.P., Odorico di Pordenone, O.F.M.,
and Giovanni di Marignolli, O.F.M., were the outstanding protagonists.
They testify the existence of Christian
community at Mylapore and Quilon. Giovanni di Monte Corvino spent
slightly over a year in Mylapore (1292-93) and other places on the
Coromandel and Malabar coasts. Four Franciscans were martyred in
Thana, near Mumbai, in 1321. Jordan Catalani de Sevrac, O.P., was the
first resident foreign Catholic missionary in India.
Pope John XXII, in recognition of the
zeal of Jordan, erected the Diocese of Quilon with the Cathedral
Church on August 9, 1329, and nominated him as the first Latin Bishop
of Quilon. The extent of the See
comprised all the medieval
mission regions of Indian and Southeast Asia. Odoric di Prodenone,
O.F.M., and “Giovanni di Marignoli, O.F.M., who have come as Papal
Legate to the East, in the 14th century, on their return journey
stayed at Quilon for several months.
The arrival of the Portuguese
missionaries came at the time of the exploration of the Malabar Coast
by Portuguese traders in the 16th century, opening a new jurisdiction
of the Portuguese Padroado in the field of Mission. Cochin and Goa
became two main settlements of Portuguese in the 16th century. As a
result, the City of Goa was erected as suffragan to Lisbon. The first
Bishop in India was Joao Alfonso de Albuquerque, O.F.M., who arrived
in Goa in 1538. By 1557 Goa became an Archdiocese with Cochin and
Malaca as suffragans. This was at the height of the famous Padroado of
the Portuguese. Aside from communities of Christians in Goa, Cochin,
Mylapore, Travancore, Madurai, Vasai and Mumbai, missionaries made
their way into the interior as far as Bengal, Agra, Delhi, Lahore and
to Tibet. The first of these missionaries were Franciscans, Followed
by Jesuits.
St. Francis Xavier arrived in Goa in
1542, and worked also in Cochin, Vasai and Mylapore. Dominicans
arrived in India in the mid-16th century, founding establishments in
Goa and Cochin, followed by the Augustinians who came from Persia in
1572, also settling in Goa, but also taking up the task of working
among the Muslim populations in Bengal.
Evangelization took on a new impetus
when the Jesuits began their mission to the Moghul Empire, at the
invitation of Akbar. The Jesuits enjoyed limited success in this
mission until the reign of Shah Jahan, who reversed the previous
stance of religious toleration in the Moghul Empire. Nonetheless,
settlements of Catholics were begun in Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Patna,
Jaipur and Nawar. The Empire was also the starting point for the
famous missions to Tibet. As the power and prestige of the Portuguese
settlements in India wanted, the missions in coastal areas suffered.
When the Jesuits were suppressed in Portugal (1759), they were also
driven out of India. Later in the early 19th century, Portugal
suppressed all religious Orders and this too had a dire effect on the
Padroado in India.
The foundation of the Congregation of
Propaganda Fide on January 6, 1662, by Pope Gregory XV introduced a
new epoch in mission history. In an attempt to shore up the strength
of the mission territories in India (and also in Asia), noting the
weakness of Portugal, the Holy see began to erect Vicariates Apostolic
under the jurisdiction of Propaganda Fide. The first of these
Vicariates was that of Deccan (erected in 1637 in what is now Mumbai),
followed by that of Malabar (erected in 1659, now Verapoly).
Sebastiani was consecrated Titular bishop of Hierapolis on December
15, 1969 and sent to Malabar, with the title Vicar Apostolic of
Malabar and Administrator of Archbishopric of Cranganore. The new
Vicariate eventually established its headquarters in the island of
Verapoly. On the 13th March 1709 by a Brief Pope Clement XI Malabar
Vicariate was suppressed and Vicariate of Verapoly took its place with
Bishop Angelo Francisco as its first Vicar Apostolic.
Through the famous Apostolic Letter
“Humanae Salutis Auctor” of Pope Leo XIII, dated September 1, 1886,
the Latin Hierarchy of India was established and the Vicariate of
Verapoly was raised to the status of an Archdiocese. The Latin
Hierarchy of India was the following: Archdiocese Agra (Suffragan
dioceses Allahabad and Lahore), Archdiocese Bombay (Suffragan diocese
Poona), Archdiocese Calcutta (Suffragan dioceses Krishnanagar and
Dacca), Archdiocese Colombo in Sri Lanka (Suffragan dioceses Jaffine
and Kandy), Archdiocese Goa (Suffragan dioceses Cochin, Mylapore and
Damao (title of Cranganore), Archdiocese Madras (Suffragan dioceses
Hyderabad, Vishakapatanam, Mangalore and Trichinopoly (Madurai)),
Archdiocese Pondicherry (Suffragan dioceses Coimbatore, Mysore),
Archdiocese Verapoly (Quilon). On May 20, 1887 through the Apostolic
Bull Quod iam priedem of Pope Leo XIII, the Catholics of the Syrian
Rite (Syro Malabar Church) were separated from those of the Latin Rite
and placed under Vicars Apostolic of Trichur and Kottayam.
The Indian Missionary bishops in 1944
formed the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI). The Holy See
and the Portuguese Republic signed another concordat on 18th July 1950
terminating Portuguese Padroado in India. According to the concordat,
the Portuguese Government renounced the rights and privileges of
Patronage and consequently it was relieved of the obligation of
endowment in the dioceses of Cochin and Mylapore. The Holy See
achieved complete freedom for the erection of dioceses and the
appointment of bishops in all parts of India. The diocese of Goa still
remains an Archdiocese (without any suffragan) immediately subject to
the Holy See, and retains the title “Patriarchate ad honorem” of the
East Indies. On January 26, 1951, Pope Pius XII declared the Mother of
God patroness of the country, and in the consistory of January, 12,
1953, His Grace Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, was created
the first Indian Cardinal.
The Decree of the Propaganda Fidei dated
19th September 1953, introduced further changes in the Indian
hierarchy, and accordingly, diocese of Cochin became a suffragan under
the Archdiocese of Verapoly. After the erection of the Latin
hierarchy, one can find the rapid advancement of the Latin Church in
India during this period especially in the number of dioceses and
bishops. At present, the Latin Church has 129 diocese (23 Archdioceses
and 106 dioceses) organized into 20 Provinces.
On November 1964, Pope Paul VI visited
India on the occasion of the International Eucharistic Congress, held
in Bombay. Pope John Paul II visited India for the first time for 10
days in 1986, and again in November 1999, his 89th Apostolic visit
outside Italy, for the occasion of solemnly promulgating in the Post
Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Asia”, in New Delhi.
Pope John Paul II, by his letter, dated
May 28, 1987, to the Bishop of India, determined that the bishops of
each of the three Rites have the right to establish their own
Episcopal bodies according to their own ecclesiastical legislation.
The three ritual bodies are: Conference of Catholic Bishop’ in
India(CCBI) for the Latin Rite, Syro-Malabar Bishops’ Synod (SMBS) and
Syro-Malankara Bishops’ Synod (SMBS).
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of
India (CCBI) is an association of the Bishops of Latin Church in India
functioning in accordance with canon 447 of CIC. It was established
on April 22, 1988 following the directive of the letter of His
Holiness Pope John Paul II to the bishops of India on May 28, 1987.
The Latin Bishops of Kerala came up with a historic decision in 2001
to initiate a united effort to realize the Pope’s vision of giving
witness to Christ as an individual church.
The Kerala Region Latin Catholic
Bishops’ Council (KRLCBC) is the Regional Episcopal Body in Kerala,
comprising the Ecclesiastical provinces of Verapoly and Trivandrum
consisting of 2 Archdioceses and 9 dioceses. The Bishops Council (KRLCBC)
has also constituted commissions for Liturgy, Bible and Catechetics,
Family, Clergy and Religion, Laity and Commission for Education. All
of them function united, with the cooperation of Kerala Region Latin
Catholic Council (KRLCC) which is the apex body of the Latin Catholics
in Kerala
Address:
Latin Archbishop's House, P. B. No. 2581, Cochin - 682 031, Kerala,
India.
Tel: +91 484 - 2372892, 2360988, Fax: +91 484 - 2360911
E-mail: vpoly@vsnl.com
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