The Hindu : Thalassery archdiocese to celebrate Golden Jubilee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kannur

Thalassery archdiocese to celebrate Golden Jubilee

KANNUR JAN. 7. The Golden Jubilee of the Thalassery archdiocese and the Diamond Jubilee of the migration of people from the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin to Malabar, will be celebrated here on January 10.

A huge rally of Syrian Catholic settlers under the Thalassery archdiocese would be held here on January 10 to mark the 50th anniversary of the ecclesiastical district of Thalassery and the 75th anniversary of the migration to Malabar, the organising committee chairman and Vicar General, Mathew M. Chalil, and the general convener, Thomas Thythottam, said at a press conference here today.

The Prefect of Congregation for Oriental Churches, Ignace Moussa Daoud, will inaugurate the Golden Jubilee of the archdiocese and the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, will open the 75th anniversary of the migration at a function to be held at the Kannur Collectorate Maidan here at 1 p.m. on January 10, they said. The Major Archbishop, Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, the Archbishop of Changanassery, Mar Joseph Powathil, the Bishop of Belthangady, Mar Lawrence Mukkuzhy, the Catholic Bishop Council of India president and Archbishop of Thiruvanthapuram, Mar Jocab Thoomkuzhy, would be among those who would attend the function, they said.

The history of the Malabar Migration and that of the ecclesiastical province of Thalassery are closely connected. The Thalassery diocese took up the struggle of the settlers, who were mostly Syrian Catholics not accustomed to Latin rite ceremonies. As the migration started, the few priests of the Calicut Diocese could not look after the spiritual life of the settlers. Petitions were sent to the Holy See by the Bishops of the settlers, who had migrated to the British Malabar since 1930, requesting for a diocese of their own. Ultimately, Cardinal Tisseant, the Prefect of the Oriental Congregation came to Malabar and personally saw the pitiable situation of the settlers.

The ecclesiastical province of Thalassery came into existence on December 31, 1953 through the Papal bull `Ad Christi Ecclesiam Regendam' issued by Pope Pius XII. Sebastian Valloppilly was appointed the Apostolic Administrator. He is now Bishop Emeritus of the Thalassery Archdiocese.

The boundaries of the Thalassery ecclesiastical province were extended to include Mangalore, Chickamangalore, Mysore, Shimoga and Ootty as there were settlers in the neighbouring States.

The ecclesiastical province was bifurcated into Mananthawady and Thalassery in 1973 and in 1986, the diocese of Thamarassery was erected.

In 1995, the Thalassery diocese was uplifted as an archdiocese. In 1999, the diocese of Belthangady was created to serve the needs of the Syrian Catholics of Dakshin Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu in Karnataka.

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