Milestones of the History of the Latin Rite Catholics of Kerala

Milestones of the History of the Latin Rite Catholics of Kerala

The origin of Christianity in Kerala goes back to the earliest period of the Church itself. There is a strong tradition among the Oriental Christians of Kerala that St. Thomas the Apostle landed in Kerala in 52 A.D., preached the Gospel, organized Christian communities and established seven Churches in Kerala and was martyred in Mylappore, Chennai in 72 A.D. Of these seven Churches established by the St.Thamas, Quilon is the second in the list. Therefore some of these Catholics of the Latin Diocese of Quilon along with other Latin communities also trace their origin to this earliest period and to St. Thomas.

However those who received the Christian faith in the first century kept it for their own communities and were reluctant to share it with other communities with whom they did not want to associate due to the prevailing caste system.
 The presence of the Latin Church, particularly on the Coast of Kerala has protracted over eleven centuries or more. There are several documents which prove that the work of evangelization among all the sections of the people was enthusiastically revived by the Western Latin missionaries in the 13th Century. Jordan Catalani de Servac O.P., a Franciscan Missionary was the first resident foreign Catholic missionary in India.

The first ever erected Diocese in India was the Latin Diocese of Quilon. Pope John XXII from Avignon, in recognition of the zeal of Jordan Catalini erected this Diocese on 9th August 1329 through the “Bull Romanus Pontifix” and nominated him as the first Bishop of Quilon on 21st August 1329 by the Bull “Venerabili Fratri Jordano.” The extent of this See comprised all the medieval mission regions of India and Southeast Asia. However, we see a historical gap in the administration of this Diocese, with the martyrdom of this saintly Bishop Catalini by Muslims in Bombay in the year 1336.
 The arrival of Portughese Latin missionaries opened a new jurisdiction of the Portuguese Padroado in the field of Mission. Goa and Cochin became two main settlements of the Portuguese in 16th century. In 1534 the Diocese of Goa was erected as suffragan to Lisbon. In 1557 Goa was made an Archdiocese with two new Dioceses of Cochin and Malaca as its sufrragans. Thus again the first Diocese in Kerala under Padroado was the Latin Dioceses of Cochin with Quilon as part of this new Diocese. St. Francis Xavier, who arrived in Goa in 1542 is the pioneer missionary who played an important role in spreading Latin rite in the coastal areas of Kerala.

Noting the weakness of Portughese Padroado, in an attempt to strengthen the mission territories in India, the Holy See began to erect Vicariates Apostolic under the jurisdiction of Propaganda Fide. The first of these Vicariates was that of Deccan (Mumbai) in 1637 and the second Vicariate was that of Malabar erected in 1659. This new Vicariate eventually established as its headquarters in the island of Verapoly. In 1886 when the Latin Hierarchy of India was established by Pope Leo XIII, the Vicariate of Verapoly was raised to the status of an Archdiocese reviving the Diocese of Quilon as its suffragan. In the following year (1887) the Catholics of Syrian rites were separated from the Latin Archdiocese and placed under Apostolic Vicars of Trichur and Kottayam. Hence the first Archdiocese of Kerala is the Latin Archdiocese of Verapoly.

Thus Quilon, Cochin and Verapoly stand out as three corner stones in the history of Latin rite in Kerala. The Diocese of Quilon was divided and from it in course of time the dioceses of Kottar (1930 now in Tamilnadu), Trivandrum (1937) and Punalur (1985) were formed. In 1996 the Diocese of Trivandrum was bifurcated to form the Diocese of Neyyattinkara and Trivandrum was raised to the status of an Archdiocese in 2004.
 Verapoly was first bifurcated forming the Diocese of Vijayapuram in 1930 and again it was divided in 1987 erecting the Diocese of Kottapuram.

The Diocese of Cochin was restructured in 1952 forming the Diocese of Alleppey and attaching the narrow strip of coastal parishes from Thumba to Eraimanthurai to the Diocese of Trivandrum.

The Diocese of Calicut has a slightly different history. This Diocese was erected in 1923 with the portions taken from Mangalore, Mysore and Coimbatore Dioceses. This Diocese was bifurcated and the Diocese of Kannur was erected in 1998.
Fr. Shaji Silva