Wednesday, November 28, 2007



Mar Mathew Makil(1851-1914)
Vicar Apostolate of Changanacherry and later the first Vicar Apostolate of Kottayam Vicariate for Knanaya Catholics. He laid foundation for the Eparchy of Kottayam.Mar Mathew Makil was born on 10.4.1851 at Manjoor in Kottayam District. He was appointed Vicar General for the Southists in the Vicariate of Kottayam in 1889. When the Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam and Trichur were re-organized into Trichur, Ernakulam and Changanassery in 1896, he was nominated Titular Bishop of Trallus and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Changanassery. In 1911, a new Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam was constituted exclusively for the Knanaya Catholics and Mar Mathew Makil was transferred to Kottayam as Vicar Apostolic. He died at Kottayam on 26-1-1914





Mar Alexander Chulaparambil(1877-1951)




Mar Alexander Chulaparambil was born on 14-10-1877 at Kumarakom in Kottayam District. He was ordained priest on December 22, 1906. He was nominated titular bishop of Bussaries and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Kottayam on the 16th of July, 1914 by His Holiness Pope St Pius X. When the Syro Malabar hierarchy was constituted on December 21, 1923 he became the Bishop of Kottayam. He died on January 8, 1951




Mar Thomas Tharayil(1899-1975)



Mar Thomas Tharayil was born on May 5, 1899 at Palathuruth in Kottayam District and was ordained priest on the 18th of December 1926. He was nominated Bishop of Azota and appointed Co-Adjutor Bishop of Kottayam on June 9, 1945 by His Holiness Pope Pius XII. At the demise of Mar Alexander Chulaparambil he became the Bishop of Kottayam on the 8th of January, 1951. He was an educationist. During his episcopacy two colleges - B.C.M. Kottayam, St. Stephens Uzhavoor - were established. He retired from the office on May 5, 1974 and died on July 26,19


Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry

Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry was born on the 11th of September,1928 at Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam District. He was ordained priest on the 21st of December,1955 in Rome. He received doctorate in Civil and Canon Laws from the University of Lateran in Rome and Master’s degree in Politics from USA. He was nominated bishop of Kepha and appointed Co-Adjutor Bishop of Kottayam on 9th December 1967. On February 24,1968 he received Episcopal Ordination at Sacred Heart Mount, Kottayam from His Eminence Cardinal Maximillian de Furstenberg, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. At the retirement of Mar Thomas Tharayil, he took charge of the Diocese of Kottayam on the 5th of May,1974. In addition to Malayalam and English he knows Italian, Latin, French, German and Syriac. He has served the regional, national and Universal Church in various capacities. He was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches and a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter- religious Dialogue. He served as the Chairman of the Ecumenical and Inter-religious Dialogue Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India several times.
He was the Chairman of the St Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye and is now the Chairman of the St Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor and Vice Chancellor of the Paurastiya Vidya-pitham, Vadavathoor. He has held offices in the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council and the Syro-Malabar Bishops' Conference. He was a member of permanent synod of the Syro-Malabar Archiepiscopal Church and member of commission for Ecumenism and particular law.
By the decree “God our loving father” dated May 9, 2005, the Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil appointed Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the first metropolitan of the newly erected metropolitan see of Kottayam. On June 3, 2005 Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil ordained and enthroned Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry as the Metropolitan of Kottayam at a liturgical service in Christ the King Cathedral,Kottayam.

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