The St. Antony's Syro-Malabar Catholic Forane Church is located at Ollur, Thrissur city in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

, India. The church belongs to Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur. According to rough figures there are around 4,000

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

families in the parish. Because of the huge presence of

people in

Ollur Ollur is a major suburban area and an old commercial town in the city of Thrissur of Kerala state, South India. It is about away from Swaraj Round on old National Highway 47 (India) towards Kochi. From ancient time onwards, Ollur was a major bu ...

, with its religious, educational, medical, social-service, and secular organisations and institution,

has been called as ''Chinna Roma'' (Small Rome). The church is constructed on a hill-top which is the highest location in the area. The church is surrounded by a huge protective compound wall called Elephant Wall (''Aana Mathil''). When

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

Vicariate Apostolic was erected in 1887,

was the richest, most populous, and influential parish, so much that the Vicar of the

parish were included in Adolph Medlycott's four-member diocesan apex council. St. Anthony's Forane Church has 18 churches under its jurisdiction.

History

Previously, the

Christian population went to Mass in Puzuvial church. One day one of the women of the Chiramel family missed Mass in Puzuvial church. Disappointed, she told this to her son and asked him to construct a church in

. After this, land donated by Malaekal Karthakal was used for building a new church in

. According to church records, in 1718 a temporary church was constructed and the first Mass was conducted. The church was blessed on 13 June 1722, by the Mar Antony Pimentel, ''Metropolitan and Gate of All India'' or known as

Kodungallur Kodungallur (; formerly also called as Cranganore (anglicised name), Portuguese language, Portuguese: Cranganor; Mahodayapuram, Shingly, Vanchi, Muchiri, Muyirikkode, and Muziris) is a historically significant town situated on the banks of Per ...

Bishop with

Johann Ernst Hanxleden Johann Ernst Hanxleden (1681–1732), also known as 'Arnos Pathiri'', was a German Jesuit priest and missionary, best known for his contributions as a Malayalam and Sanskrit poet, grammarian, lexicographer, and philologist. He lived in India for ...

famously known as Arnos Paathiri. In 1790,

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

set fire to church but only the facade was burnt. In 1972, Mar Joseph Kundukulam, the first

Archbishop of Thrissur The Metropolitan Archbishop of Thrissur is the chief bishop and principal leader of the nearly half a million Syro Malabar Catholics now used to be the largest catholic diocese in India, when it included the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of T ...

, banned the '' Thullal'' (popularly known as ''devil dancing''). Beatified people Euphrasia Eluvathingal, Maria Theresa Chiramel and

Kuriakose Elias Chavara Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, CMI (10 February 1805 – 3 January 1871) was an Indian Catholic priest, religious, philosopher and social reformer. He is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Sy ...

have visited and stayed in the church. India's first Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

visited the church on 24 November 1951. Vicar Monsignor Paul Kakkassery welcomed Nehru by handing over a large candle lighted.

Festivals

Feast of Saint Raphael, Ollur, the Archangel, is the most important festival of

church falling on 23 and 24 October of each year. The festival was started in 1837. Another festival is in honor of Saint Sebastian in the month of January and is the second major festival in the parish. Also,

parish celebrates around 73 feasts and festivals in the calendar year.

Art and architecture

If there is any church in

which can be compared with

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

in the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

, that is St. Anthony's Forane Church in

. Every inch of space in the church is decorated, under both western and indigenous influences, with the highest achievements of the painter, the sculptor, the ceramics worker, the carpenter, the goldsmith, the bronze artisan, or the architect - using every media known or imaginable like gold, silver, iron, bronze, wood, ivory, stone - including laterite, granite, and precious stones. A unique feature of the church is the number and variety of the angel images in the church. There are more than five thousand images of angels in the church, in fresco, mural, wood, plaster, stone, metal and ivory. The paintings of the church cover an area of thousands of square feet and are considered one of the most beautiful ones in entire

Belfry

The seven storey

Belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

Bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

() of the church is said to be the tallest structure in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

when it was constructed. The huge three bells in the bell tower were imported from

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

in France (1883–1892) in 19th century and is one of biggest bells in

. The bells are inscribed with the pictures of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

Mary (mother of Jesus) Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto ...

, Saint Anthony,

Raphael (archangel) Raphael ( , ; "God has healed") is an archangel first mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in 1 Enoch, both estimated to date from between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE. In later Jewish tradition, he became identified as one of the three heavenly ...

and

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the , which is a Graecisation of the Hebrew biblical name . With the biblical Book of Tobit being present in the Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha, Tobias is a popular male given name for both Chri ...

. Owned by Ollur church is written in the bells in

Syriac language The Syriac language ( ; ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (), the Mesopotamian language () and Aramaic (), is an Aramaic#Eastern Middle Aramaic, Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Liberation struggle

In 1959

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

s took to the streets of

to protest against the first

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Government in the state headed by

E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...

. The rebellion was caused by a state legislation that would have potentially taken over

education facilities under government control. This was known as ''Vimochana Samaram'' or

Liberation Struggle Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

. In the same year, on 23 July,

Kerala Police The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperament, ...

fired at the St. Anthony's Forane Church on the part of

. A memorial had been erected at the church courtyard then. The memorial says, ''

Government fired bullets to the Church here''. The struggle of 1959 had led to the dismissal of the first democratically elect

Government in the world.

Churches under Ollur Forane

Churches under OLLUR FORANE # Ollur, St. Antony’s Forane Church. # Ammadom, St. Antony Church # Kodannur, St.Antony Church # Marathakkara, Mary Immaculate Church # Padavarad St. Thomas Church # Palakkal, St. Mathew Church # Pallissery, St. Mary Church # Perinchery, Sacred Heart Church # Pootharackal, St. Rocky’s Church # Pulakkatukara, Our lady of Carmel Church. # Thaikkatussery, St. Paul Church # Thalore, Infant Jesus Church # Vallachira, St. Thomas Church # Venginissery, St. Mary Church # Chiyyaram, Vijayamatha Church # Angel Nagar Mary Matha Church # Konikkara, Fathima Natha Church # Avinissery, St. Joseph Church # Anchery, St Mary’s Church (ST) # Chiyyaram(Galilee Church) (ST) # Panamkulam, St Francis Assisi Church (ST) Arattupuzha

Institutions under the parish

Holy Angels English Medium High School Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

* St. Raphael's Convent Girls High School, Ollur *St.Mary's School, Chiyyaram,

*St.Joseph's High School Anakkallu,

Cf. St. Antony Octingenary Volume, Ed. George Menachery, 1996

Catholic Organizations Ollur Forane Church

# Catechism # Catechism P.T.A. # St. Vincent De Paul Society # Franciscan Sabha # Mathruvedi # Catholic Congress (A.K.C.C.) # Legion of Mary (Men) # Legion of Mary (Women) # Kerala Labour Movement ( K.L.M.) # K.C.Y.M (Men) # K.C.Y.M (Women) # Seniour C.L.C. # Juniour C.L.C. # Jesus Youth # Church Choir Group # Church Prayer Group # KCBC Madhya Virudha Samithi # ABA (Altar Boys Association) # Sevana Sangham # Yesunadham (Parish Bulletin)

Religious houses in the parish

*St. Mary's Convent *Our Lady Fathima Matha Convent *St. Vincent De Paul Convent *F.C.C. Convent *Galilee Retreat Centre *Malabar Missionary Brothers Home *John Haw Convent *Sadhu Samrakshana Sangham

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Anthonys Forane Church Catholic pilgrimage sites Churches in Thrissur Tourist attractions in Thrissur 1718 establishments in Asia Churches completed in 1718 Syro-Malabar Catholic church buildings