The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

Sivagangai Sivaganga () is a city and headquarters of the Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Sivaganga is a rani velunachiyar kingdom of Tamil Nadu. It is an important city in this district for official and commercial purposes. Its ni ...

is located at the southeast corner of Bay of Bengal, 45 km east of Madurai city, in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

It was established on July 25, 1987 bifurcated from the

Archdiocese of Madurai The Archdiocese of Madurai ( la, Madhuraien(sis)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its episcopal see the city of Madurai, India. History * 8 January 1938: Established as the Diocese of Madura ...

. The Most Rev. S. Edward Francis was the First Bishop of the new Diocese and Bp. Jebamalai Susaimanickam succeeded him as the second bishop. The territory of the diocese includes two civil districts Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai. The total population of the area is 2,502,340 of which the Catholic population is 177,868 (8.1%) and still growing. 20 years after the diocese has 62 parish centers, 734 mission stations about 107 diocesan clergy, 19 religious order priests and over 350 religious men and women serving at various religious and educational institutions in the diocesan region. Alangara Annai Cathedral Entrance

Saints and causes for canonisation

* St.

John de Britto John de Britto (also spelled ''Brito''; pt, João de Brito), also known as Arul Anandar, (born in Lisbon, Portugal on 1 March 1647 – died at Orur, Tamil Nadu, India on 4 February 1693) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr, often calle ...

(1693), the patron saint of the diocese, entered the region as a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary from Europe and became the bedrock of faith for thousands of people. He was beheaded at

Oriyur Oriyur is a small village in Ariyalur taluk, Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu, India. As of the 2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. T ...

on Feb 4, 1693 by a regional king for preaching about Jesus Christ and establishing churches. * Servant of God Fr. Louis Marie Leveil, SJ

Bishops

First bishop was Edward Francis. Second bishop was Rev Dr Jebamalai Susaimanickam. At present the Apostolic Administrator is Rev Dr Stephen Antony Pillai.

References

* http://www.santhrex.com *

External links

* http://www.bibleintamil.com * http://www.tamilchristianweb.com * http://www.unnaithedi.com * http://www.loveandcaremission.org/ * http://www.manavai.com

Christian organizations established in 1987 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Christianity in Tamil Nadu {{India-RC-diocese-stub