St. Joseph's Metropolitan Cathedral, also known as Palayam Palli, is the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Latin Rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

cathedral of the Archdiocese of Trivandrum. The first church was built here in 1873. The church was intended in the manner of a cross in 1912. The final stage of extension, including the Gothic style facade and the bell-tower was completed in 1927. The three bells were brought from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and were named Joseph, Xavier, and Aloysius in honour of, respectively,

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 ...

, the patron of the church;

Saint Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

, the apostle of India; and Bishop Aloysius Maria Benziger, the pioneer missionary-bishop of

Quilon Kollam (;), is an ancient seaport and the fourth largest city in the Indian state of Kerala. Located on the southern tip of the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea, the city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake and is 71 kilometers (44 mi) nort ...

. Upon the bifurcation of the Diocese of Quilon, the new Diocese of Trivandrum was formed on 1 July 1937, and St. Joseph's Church became the cathedral of the newly formed diocese. When the diocese was raised to a metropolitan archdiocese in 2004, the cathedral became a metropolitan cathedral. The cathedral has a statue of its patron St. Joseph with the Child Jesus in the middle of the facade and a statue of Jesus with hands raised atop the tower. The church which is white in colour was painted red from 1927 to 2010. It was renovated during the period 2008 to 2010.

Gallery

File:Chandrashekharan Nair Stadium 1.jpg, Palayam Juma Mosque and St.Joseph's Cathedral as seen from Chandrashekharan Nair Stadium File:St._Joseph%27s_Cathedral,_Trivandrum_44.jpg, St. Joseph's cathedral at night File:St._Joseph%27s_Cathedral,_Trivandrum_panorama.jpg, St. Joseph's cathedral File:St. Joseph's Cathedral, Thiruvananthapuram 2012.jpg, St. Joseph's cathedral at night from across the road File:St. Joseph's Metropolitan Cathedral Palayam - Thiruvananthapuram.jpg, St. Joseph's Metropolitan Cathedral Palayam - Thiruvananthapuram

References

External links

Official Cathedral WebsiteCathedral website
{{Christianity in Kerala Roman Catholic cathedrals in Kerala Roman Catholic churches in Thiruvananthapuram