Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Trichur

Last updated

Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Trichur
Thrissur1 016.jpg
Trichur archdiocese.png
Coat of arms
Location
Country India
Territory Thrissur district
MetropolitanThrissur
Statistics
Population
  • Total
  • Catholics
  •  
  • 2,018,635
  • 470,056
Parishes215
Churches251
Schools23
Members460,848
Information
Denomination Catholic Church
Sui iuris church Syro-Malabar Church
Rite East Syriac rite
Established20 May 1887
Cathedral Our Lady of Lourdes Metropolitan Cathedral,
Co-cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours
Patron saintOur Lady of the Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil
Metropolitan Archbishop Andrews Thazhath
Suffragans Eparchy of Ramanathapuram
Eparchy of Irinjalakuda
Eparchy of Palghat
Eparchy of Hosur
Auxiliary Bishops Tony Neelankavil
Vicar GeneralMsgr. Jose Vallooran, Msgr. Jose Konikkara
Bishops emeritus Jacob Thoomkuzhy
Map
Thrissur Archdiocese Map.svg
Website
www.trichurarchdiocese.org

The Archeparchy of Trichur, in Thrissur District of Central Kerala, India, with nearly half a million Syro-Malabar Catholics now, used to be the largest Catholic diocese in India when it included the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Irinjalakuda until 1978 and Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Palghat until 1973. Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Irinjalakuda, also located in Thrissur District, has over a quarter million Syro-Malabar Catholics now. Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Palghat in Central Kerala extends to some regions in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. In 2010, the parts of Tamil Nadu under the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Palghat were separated to form another Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Ramanathapuram.

Contents

The Archeparchy of Trichur was founded on 20 May 1887 by Pope Leo XIII by his papal bull Quod Jam Pridem now covers an area of 2000 Sq.Km and has a Catholic population of about 460848. There are 16 Foranes under the Archeparchy of Trichur. The total number of parishes is 215. In addition, there are 36 stations in the archdiocese. Diocese of Ramanathapuram, Diocese of Irinjalakuda and Diocese of Palghat are the suffragan dioceses of the Archeparchy. Raphael Thattil is the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Andrews Thazhath is the Metropolitan Archbishop, Tony Neelankavil is the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese and Jacob Thoomkuzhy is the Archbishop Emeritus.

History

The diocese was founded on 20 May 1887 by Pope Leo XIII by his papal bull Quod iam pridem. The boundaries of diocese were from Periyar (river) in Aluva to Bharathappuzha. Later it was extended to Palakkad district and extended to Coimbatore District in Tamil Nadu and was the largest Catholic diocese in India.

Role in education

Rev. Medlycott has given a description about the state of facilities for education in the vicariate on his arrival in 1887 and on his return in 1896 as below:

The Vicariate of Trichur had a Catholic Syrian population of 108,422 with eighty-three parish churches and twenty-two chapels-of-ease, served by 118 priests of the Syrian Rite, besides 23 Syrian Carmelite Tertiary monks, in two monasteries; there was also a convent of 24 native Tertiary nuns with a middle-class school of 33 girls. The bishop on taking charge found that there were practically no schools, except one provided for clerics; he took early steps to open as many elementary parish schools as possible; within nine years (1888-96) the vicariate was provided with no less than 231 elementary parish schools for both sexes, educating over 12,000 children, besides a high school (St. Thomas's College), with 95 students; there were also 56 boys in St. Aloysius's High School, under the Tertiary monks.... plans were prepared to house the above college in a handsome structure. This was the condition of things when the bishop went to Europe on sick leave. [1]

Parishes and population

The total number of parishes is 215. In addition, there are 36 stations in the archdiocese. The population of Syro-Malabar Catholics in Thrissur Archdiocese is about 4,60,848. There are 16 foranes under Thrissur Archdiocese. They are:

Serial No.ForaneParishesStationsHousesCatholic Population
1 Lourdes Cathedral 1711174659539
2 Dolours' Basilica 1601009554777
3Chelakara11116158080
4Erumapetty111245212285
5Kandassankadavu136693339781
6Kottekad82499426134
7 Mattom 85376118471
8 Ollur 1451337263211
9 Palayur 142587329696
10Parappur105378317685
11Pattikad120260913735
12Pazhuvil124442524892
13Pudukad1841103861064
14Puthur100323216040
15Velur132377518528
16Wadakkanchery131517426872

Ordinaries

Vicar Apostolic, Bishops and Archbishops

Sl.NoOrdinaryDesignationYear of appointmentLast year of service
1 Adolph Medlycott Vicar Apostolic18871896
2 John Menachery Vicar Apostolic18961919
3 Francis Vazhapilly Bishop19191944
4 George Alapatt Bishop19441970
5 Joseph Kundukulam Archbishop19701997
6 Jacob Thoomkuzhy Archbishop19972007
7 Andrews Thazhath Archbishop2007present

Auxiliary Bishops

Sl.NoOrdinaryDesignationYear of appointmentLast year of service
1 Andrews Thazhath Auxiliary Bishop20042007
2 Raphael Thattil Auxiliary Bishop20102017
3 Tony Neelankavil Auxiliary Bishop2017present

Prelates Hailing From the archdiocese

Sl.NoOrdinaryDesignationYear of appointmentLast year of service
1 Joseph Irimpen Former Bishop - Palghat19741994
2 James Pazhayattil Former Bishop - Irinjalakuda19782010
3 Paul Chittilapilly Former Bishop - Thamarassery19882010
4 Raphael Cheenath Former Archbishop - Cuttack–Bhubaneswar19742011
5 Clemens Thottungal C.M.I Former Bishop - Sagar19771987
6 Joseph Pastor Former Bishop - Sagar19872006
7 Antony Chirayath Former Bishop - Sagar20062018
8 Bosco Puthur *Curial bishop - Syro malabar Church
* Former bishop - Melbourne and New Zealand
*Former apostolic Administrator - Archdiocese of Ernakulam Angamaly		20102025
9 Paul Alappatt Bishop - Ramanathapuram2010present
10 Raphael Thattil Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church2025present
11 Joseph Thykkattil Bishop – Gwalior2019present
12 Franco Mulakkal Former Bishop – Jalandhar20132023
13 Antony Prince Panengaden Archbishop – Shamshabad2025present
14 Vincent Nellaiparambil Bishop – Bijnor2019present
15 Thomas Anthony Vazhapilly Former Bishop – Mysore20032017

Saints and causes for canonisation

References

  1. ↑ Medlycott, A.E. (1912). Saint Thomas Christians in Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, Volume 14. Robert Appleton Company. pp. 678–688.
  2. 1 2 3 "Saints & Blessed – CCBI" . Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Glorified Souls - Archdiocese of Trichur". www.trichurarchdiocese.org. Retrieved 26 February 2020.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.