St Antony's Church, Kanjiracode is a

Latin Catholic Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

located in

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Lac ...

in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. The Parish Priest is Very Rev. Fr Tomy Kamans. The Assistant Parish priest is Rev. Fr. Lenin Darwin Leon.

History

St. Antony's Latin Catholic Forane Church, Kanjiracode is listed among the first churches of Quilon diocese and of Kerala. The church occupies three acres on the northern side of old ceramics road (Sir C.P. Road) in an area dominated by a fishing community. St. Thomas Christians migrated arrived near

Kundara Kundara is a census town in Kerala and is part of the Kollam Metropolitan Area, India. Kundara is situated 13 km east of Kollam city, 14 km west of Kottarakkara, and 24 km north of Paravur. Kundara is significant for its histor ...

in the ninth century. The parish was officially established in 1502. St Antony's was originally built and blessed in the name of

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

by the administrator of Cochin diocese. The foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1609 and the church was blessed on 30 April 1609. The church was reconstructed and named after St. Antony of Padua in 1633. After the diocese of Quilon was officially established, Kanjiracode remained under the jurisdiction of Cochin diocese under Padravado and remained there until 1893. In 1975 reconstruction was begun to accommodate more believers. The church was finally blessed on 26 January 1986 by the Bishop of Kollam, his Excellence Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph G. Fernandez, in the presence of Rev. Fr. A. Solomen, Parish Priest and dedicated to the Papal visit of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in Kerala.

Festival

Patron saint St. Antony of Padua is celebrated on the Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday. The feast starts with the unfurling of the flag on the prior Sunday. The unfurling is a colourful function with religious pageantry that is attended by thousands of devotees. Besides liturgical functions, a religious discourse is held at St. Antony's shrine in Mukkada, in the evenings. People of all religious faiths attend these functions. On Saturday the day before the festival a procession is taken from the Church along with colorful floats of saints. The procession proceeds to Perayam, the northern boundary of the Parish and touches the southern boundary at

Elampalloor Elampalloor is an urban village in Kollam district in the state of Kerala and is a part of Kollam Metropolitan Area, India. It is 12 km away from Kollam city, 23 km away from Paravur and 13 km away from Kottarakkara. Demogr ...

and Mukkada. The Procession is attended by thousands of devotees from across the Diocese and beyond. On the feast day High mass is celebrated in the morning by a senior church functionary. This is followed by Snehavirunnu (

agape In Christianity, agape (; ) is "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God". This is in contrast to philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as it embraces a deep and profound sacrificial love ...

), a community Lunch partaken by ten thousand and more devotees, distribution of clothing to the poor, etc. The closing ceremony is the lowering of the flag in the evening with a procession around the church. One important feature is the participation of non-Catholics in the celebrations.

Religious status

Average church attendance numbers two thousand. Bible study groups, Charismatic movements, Little way association,

Legion of Mary The Legion of Mary ( la, Legio Mariae, postnominal abbreviation L.O.M.) is an international association of members of the Catholic Church who serve it on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, as a Marian movement by the layman and civi ...

Sodality In Christian theology, a sodality, also known as a syndiakonia, is a form of the "Universal Church" expressed in specialized, task-oriented form as opposed to the Christian church in its local, diocesan form (which is termed ''modality''). In Eng ...

, Franciscan 3rd order, Jesus youth movement and KCYM active. St. Antony's

Novena A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pe ...

is conducted Tuesday evenings.

Administration

The Parish council consists of 25 members. The Parish Priest is the President of the council. The members are elected from the 8 Parish wards. A four-member finance committee is selected from the council. This four-member committee assists the Priest in other financial activities. B.C.C.:- 54 B.C.C. group are actively participating in all church activities.

Status of women and children

Women of Kanjiracode Parish are independent and employed. Catechism classes are conducted by sisters of St. Margaret's Convent for children aged 5–17. A Bible festival is conducted every year and Parish children won prizes in Forane, Diocese and State level.

Services

Financial assistance is offered to poor families for education and also to help with illness. Parishioners help solve family and neighborhood disputes.

Former pastors

The names of the Parish Priests up to 1888 were not recorded.

Chapel and shrines

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news, url=https://www.panoramio.com/photo/31341049, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003303/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/31341049, title=Panoramio - Photo of St.Antony's Church, Kanjiracode, url-status=dead, access-date=9 February 2021, archive-date=4 March 2016, work=

Panoramio Panoramio was a geo-located tagging, photo sharing mashup active between 2005 and 2016. Photos uploaded to the site were accessible as a layer in Google Earth and Google Maps. The site's goal was to allow Google Earth users to learn more about ...

{{cite web, url=http://www.quilondiocese.com/uploads2/Ordo-2013%20for%20WEB.pdf, title=Diocese of Quilon, author=BHSE, date=19 November 2012, page=4, access-date=30 May 2013{{Dead link, date=February 2021, bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes {{cite web, url=http://wikimapia.org/20001851/St-Antony-s-Church-Kanjiracode, title=St.Antony's Church Kanjiracode, publisher=wikimapia.org, date=8 November 2012, access-date=30 May 2013 Roman Catholic churches in Kerala Churches in Kollam district