DEACON JOSEPH CHATHAPARAMPIL, Ph.D.,
ARCHDIOCESE OF LOUISVILLE. KY.

PURPOSE: TO INFORM ABOUT CATHOLICISM IN KERALA, INDIA.

This document covers the arrival of St. Thomas the Apostle, the arrival of Thomas Cana (Knaithomman), foreign domination, the arrival of St. Francis Xavier, the Latinization attempt of the west, the current Syro-Malabar church and the current status of Catholics in Kerala.

ST. THOMAS the Apostle:

According to verifiable records, well-documented tradition, archeological proofs, and historical documents, St. Thomas the Apostle came to India and landed in Kodungallur (Cranganoor), Kerala, on November 21(?) 52 AD where he attempted to preach the Gospel to the Jews settled there. Against the background of trade between India and west Asia since ancient times, travel close to the coast of Arabia was feasible and common. Various people with differing nationalities such as Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews and Romans used to come for trade and many were settling in Kerala for convenience. The Jewish settlers came as merchants in search of sandalwood, ivory, precious stones, and spices such as cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. According to historians, the Jewish contact with Kerala dates back to 973 BC and the first Jewish settlement in Kerala was soon after the Babylonian conquest of Judea in 586 BC and was under the leadership of Joseph Rabban. Some of the settlers were descended from Jews who escaped persecution in Galilee in the 2nd century BC. They were identified as "Black-Jews." One of the Hindu Rajas in Kerala granted them a site for their own town which later acquired the name "Jew Town", by which it is still known. There are other Jewish temples in Kodungaloor, Mattancherry near Cochin, and Kollam. The disciples were asked to go and preach the Good News among the Jews first. Accordingly, St. Thomas came to convert the Jews in India. However, he was more successful in preaching the gospel to the Keralites and baptizing a number of high caste Hindus, including members from royal families, who formed the first Christian community in India. The arrival of St. Thomas was recognized by several writers from west Asia since the 2nd century. The doctrine of the Apostle Thomas and the Acta Thomae, both of which are written at or near Edessa, circa 200-250 AD, St. Ephrem, St. John Chrisostom and St. Gregorios Nazianzen, in the 4th century, St. Jerome circa 400 AD, the historian Eusabius circa 338 and Theodore of the 5th century, all attest to the Apostle Thomas in India. Of the same pattern adopted by other Apostles, each local church was self-administered, guided by a group of presbyters and presided over by the elder priests or bishops. History reports that St. Thomas founded Christian communities in seven centers in Kerala: Cranganoor, Palayoor, Parur, Kokkamangalam, Quilon, Niranam, and Nilackal. These seven centers can trace their conversion and baptisms to seven different miracles St. Thomas performed. For example, the Chathaparampil family traces its tradition to the miracle of water at Kokkamangalam. In the morning, while bathing (Suria Namaskar) in the purification pond with the local Hindu priests, St. Thomas threw water into the air upwards against the rising sun where it remained above them like beautiful flowers. The Hindu priests asked for an explanation about the miracle, and St. Thomas preached to them about Jesus. When the Hindu priests asked for baptisms, the water fell down upon them. After 20 years of mission work, on his way to the east coast of India, St. Thomas the Apostle was martyred (pierced with a lance) on July 3, 72 AD at Mylapore as he was praying in a mountain cave. St. Gregory of Tours in 590 AD reports that "the corpus (bones) of Thomas the Apostle had first rested in Mylapur, Madras. He mentions an elaborately adorned monastery and a church of striking dimensions in Mylapur. After a long interval of time these remains had been removed thence to the city of Edessa by merchant Khabin." St. Ephraem, the great Doctor of the Syrian Church, in the forty-second of his ‘Carmina Nisibina’ tells us that the ‘Apostle was put to death in India and that his remains were subsequently buried in Edessa’. The church was then growing under the local hierarchy (leadership) with great zeal, and the Church increased considerably. History has it that His Grace Mar John, Archbishop of India, represented the Indian Church in the Council of Nicea, in the year 325 AD. In his signature to the decrees of the Council, he gives his title as ‘Prelate of Metropolitan of Persia and the Bishop of Great India.’ These Christians in India had no written records but an oral tradition handed down by their elders and to these they were most tenaciously attached, just as India is said to have had no solid history until the arrival of the Mohammedans. They lived under native princes who rarely interfered with their faith and one of the paramount Rajahs of Malabar, Cheruman Perumal, had conferred on them a special civilian status. Thus these Christians obtained status above the lower classes, which made them equal to the Nayars, the middle class in the country. The honorific appellation bestowed upon them by the rulers of the country is that of "Mapla", which signifies ‘great son’ or ‘great child,’ and they are commonly called ‘Mapla’ by the people even to this day. However, these St. Thomas Christians now prefer to be called the "Nazrani" (Nazarenes), the designation given by the Mohammedans to all Christians. The Brahmin women wore white pudava and jumper with pleats in the front. The Christian women dressed similarly, but they wore the pudava, covering from the hip to the ankle with pleats at their back and ‘mady’ in the front, covering the buttocks and abdomen. For blouse, they wore ‘chatta’ with narrow necks, which covers the chest and stomach well. They also covered themselves with ‘Kavani’ - a half sari on the top of pudava and chatta. Modesty was their theme and they were compared to Jasmine flowers. The Christian men wore their traditional dress of Kasavu mundu covering from hip to ankle and a kavani on the shoulder and a thulasi-mala with a golden cross as pendent. Currently, they adopt more western type shirt with traditional mundu or dothi. As Hindus and Christians come from Dravidian and Aryan cultures, they have similar religious practices. One can observe similarity in customs such as lamps/candles, pudavakoda (manthrakody) and ring exchange at marriages, decorated umbrella (muthukoda) at festival parades, flower and grain offerings (aarattu) during the Mass /Puja, and ejaculatory prayers such as "My Lord and My God" / "Rama Rama" for daily meditation.

THOMAS CANA:

After a long period of isolation of these St. Thomas Christians from the rest of Christian communities in the world, Mar Thomas Cana (Knaithomman Cheppedu), a Syrian merchant (the source of allegation that the St. Thomas Christians followed Nestorian heresy) arrived by ship on the coast and entered the port of Cranganore, 345 AD. The King of Malabar, Cheruman Perumal, (May Cocurangon - personal name of the King), receiving information of his arrival, sent for this man. When Thomas expressed a wish to acquire land and make a settlement, the King readily acceded to his request, as the King took a liking to this man. Under the King’s orders, Thomas soon collected "seventy-two Christian families and installed them in sixty-two houses and gardens with their enclosures and paths and boundaries and inner yards. He granted seven kinds of musical instruments and all honors and the rights of traveling in palanquin, and he ordered on him (Thomas) dignity and the privilege of spreading carpets on the ground and the use of sandals, and to erect a pavilion at his gate and ride elephants, and also granted five taxes to Thomas and his companions, both men and women, for all his relations and to the followers of his law for ever." (From the DEED of King May Cocurangon: This Deed or document is the Great Charter of St. Thomas Christians which was written on palm leaves and on copper plates).

FOREIGN DOMINATION:

The political history demonstrates various foreign dominations ranging from Portuguese, Dutch and British rules. In the fourth century, foreign bishops began to govern Kerala Church. The bishops came from Persia and other countries. In the eighth century, Mar Timotheos (780-823) was the Metropolitan Archbishop for the St. Thomas Christians, appointed by the Asyrian Church under the direction of Rome. The social and political leader of these Christians, however, was the Archdeacon George of all India, an Indian priest whose office was said to be ‘inherited’ since he appointed his relations to succeed him with the same name George. In their combined zeal to colonize and to proselytize, the Portuguese might not have readily grasped the way of life of the Thomas Christians who seemed to accommodate differing strands of Eastern Christian thought and influence, while preserving the core of their original faith. The response of the visitors was to try and bring Romo-Syrian prelates, apart from the new converts (the St. Francis Xavier Christians in the coastal areas) under Latin prelates. Due to pressures from the western colonial powers such as the Portuguese, the Syrian bishops from the east had to discontinue their mission in the rest of India.

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER:

In 1542, the arrival of St. Francis Xavier, the second apostle to India, was a boost to Kerala church. Massive conversions took place mainly in the coastal areas. He converted fishermen from the shores and the Latin Church was introduced to Kerala. St. Francis Xavier makes a very pretty elogium about Mar Jacob, the local Bishop in a letter written to King John III of Portugal on 26 January 1549 stating "he is very obedient to the customs of the Holy Mother Church of Rome". This elogium of St. Francis sums up the career of Mar Jacob for the forty-five years he worked in Malabar (1504-49). The foreign bishops who were then administering the Syrian rite and the Latin rite were not in tune with the local customs and cultural milieu. In addition, they themselves did not agree with each other. Some of the foreign bishops were of Nestorian leaning and thus the Holy See suspected the Kerala Church was ‘Nestorian’. Therefore, on June 20, 1599 at the Village of Udayampoor, whence it is known as the Synod of Diampur, a synod was convened. The opening Act of the Synod was the profession of faith by the foreign archbishops and the archdeacon of the time. The Latin text is found in "Juris Pontificii de Propaganda Fide", Paris I, Vol.VI, part 1, p.243. All the 153 Syrian priests and approximately 600 lay representatives signed the synod documents in which they "promised obedience and submission to the Roman Pontiff".

LATINIZATION ATTEMPT:

When the Portuguese established themselves in India in the 16th century, they found the Church in Kerala, an administratively independent community. Following the arrival of Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese General, in Calicut, Kerala, India, in 1498, they came to South India and established their political power there. The Portuguese brought with them missionaries to carry on evangelistic work in order to establish churches in communion with Rome under the Portuguese patronage. Although the foreign missionaries contributed much to the spiritual uplifting of the faithful, their Latinizing policy (e.g., foreign bishops translated Latin Cannon of the Mass and inserted it into the Syriac Mass) was resented by the local church who always cherished the desire to have bishops of their own rite and nationality. On January 1, 1628 the Archdeacon George wrote a letter to the Papal Nuncio at Lisbon complaining that Rome is not responding to the people. It was this situation that led to divisions in the Kerala church. However, the Kerala Church as a whole was loyal to Rome. At this time there were some communities who felt betrayed by Rome and severed their relationship with Rome and became "Jacobites" (in January 1653, the Coonan Cross Oath at the Church of Our Lady of Life at Mattanchery) under the leadership of Archdeacon Thomas (Mar Thoma, the first in the long line up to Mar Thoma IX, in 1816). When Alexander VII came to know the calamity, which had fallen the Syrian community, he sent out (in 1656) the Carmelites to work for the return to unity. In response to repeated requests, an indigenous bishop, Dr. Joseph Kariyattil was ordained in 1783. It was believed that an indigenous bishop, Bishop Thomas Paremmakel was murdered by Portuguese representatives. The local people were saddened by the turn of events and in 1787, representatives from 84 churches assembled in Angamaly and drew up a document called ‘Angamaly Padiyola,’ which made a strong demand to Rome for native bishops, citing the sins of omission and commission of the foreign missionaries.

SYRO-MALABAR CHURCH:

In 1896, Pope Leo XIII established three dioceses in the Syro-Malabar Church with indigenous Vicars Apostolic, with centers in Trissur, Ernakulam and Changanasserry with Indian Bishops John Menachery, Louis Pazheparampil, and Mathew Makel respectively. All three received consecration from the Apostolic Delegate Mgr. Zaleski, at Kandy on October 15, 1896. On August 29, 1911, Pope Pius X erected a fourth vicariate (Knanaya Community) at Kottayam for those who claim to be immediate descendants of Knai Thomman by a decree "In Universi Christi". The spectacular progress made by the Syro-Malabar community under native bishops and their sincere devotion to the Holy See were highly appreciated by Rome. On December 21, 1923, Pope Pius XI established the Syro-Malabar hierarchy (with indigenous bishops). The Syro-Malabar Church was elevated to the status of a major Archiepiscopal Church on May 20, 1993 with His Eminence Cardinal Anthony Podiyara as the First Archbishop. In the mean time, the Latin Church continued its course.

CONCLUSION:

A small community of early Christians remained faithful, alive and vibrant for nearly two thousand years even amidst foreign domination and periodic storms from one source or another. The Syro-Malabar Church continued to prosper growing from 170,000 in the late 19th century to more than four million today. Today the heirs of St. Thomas, who number more than six million believers, are divided among seven ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Although they differ somewhat among themselves in their liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline and spiritual life, there are 27 dioceses in Kerala, organically united in the Holy Spirit through the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same government. At present, the Syro-Malabar Church has 22 dioceses in India, thirteen of them in Kerala itself and nine of them outside the state: Ernakulam and Kothamangalam (Province of Ernakulam); Changanassery, Kottayam, Palai , Kanjirappally and Thakala (Province of Changanassery); Thrissur, Palaghat, and Irinjalakuda (Province of Thrissur); Thalassery, Manathavady, and Thamarassery (Province of Thalassery); and outside Kerala (Chnanda, Maharastra; Sagar, MP; Satna, MP; Ujjain, MP; Bijnor, Uttar Prades; Jagdalpur, MP; Rajkot, Gujarath; Gorakpur, Uttar Pradesh; and Kalyan, Maharashtra). There are also ten Latin dioceses (with more than one million faithful) and 4 Malankara dioceses (with more than 300,000 faithful) in Kerala. The erection of nine additional mission dioceses in North India and ordination of more than fifty individuals from Kerala as Bishops in various parts of the world have opened a new chapter in the history of Catholics in Kerala.

LIST OF SOURCES:

Annuario Pontifico Per L’Anno, 1997, Cita Del Vaticano.

Christianity in India, Ernakulum Press. 1950.

Catholic Directory of India, Kerala, India 1983.

Catholic Near East, Vol. 21, No. 5, Sept - Oct. 1995, pp 26-30.

Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Press, Inc., 1913

The Syro-Malabar Church An over View, By Dr. A. Mathias Mundadan CMI.Mapto Printing, 1995

The search for the Twelve Apostles,William McBirnie,Tyndale H.Pub. Inc, 1979 pp. 142-173 St. Thomas

The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, by Leslie Brown Cambridge University Press, 1982

The syrian Christians of Kerala, by S.G. Pothen, Asia Publications House, 1963.

II. OUTSIDE THE STATE OF KERALA (9):
1. RAJKOT, GUJARAT (Catholic Population: 8,500)
2. CHANDA, MAHARASHTRA (Catholic Population: 23,250)
3. JAGDALPUR, MP (Catholic Population: 4,537)
4. SAGAR, MP (Catholic Population: 4,020)
5. SATNA, MP (Catholic Population: 2,328)
6. UJJAIN, MP (Catholic Population: 2,400)
7. BIJNOR, UP (Catholic Population: 1,305)
8. KALYAN, MAHARASHTRA (Catholic Population: 100,000)
9. GORAKPUR, UTTAR PRADESH (Catholic Population: 1,948)

* THE DIOCESAN STATISTICAL DATA ABOVE ARE FURNISHED TO THE HOLY SEE BY THE DIOCESAN CURIAS CONCERNED AND REFLECT THE DIOCESAN SITUATION ON DECEMBER 31, 1995.

SOURCES:

ANNUARIO PONTIFICO PER L’ANNO 1997, CITA DEL VATICANO, LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA 1997.

THE SYRO-MALABAR CHURCH: AN OVERVIEW BY DR. A MATHIAS MUNDADAN 1995.