Archeparchy of Changanacherry
Changanacherren(sis)
Eastern metropolitan see · Syro-Malabar Church · Changanacherry, India
The Archeparchy of Changanacherry is a Syro-Malabar metropolitan archeparchy in Kerala, India, one of the two original Syro-Malabar vicariates created by Pope Leo XIII in 1887, made an eparchy in 1923 and an archeparchy on 29 July 1956. Its seat is St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral in Changanassery, and its suffragans are Palai, Kanjirappally and Thuckalay. Mar Thomas Tharayil has been metropolitan archbishop since 2024.
The see
- Rank
- Eastern metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Syro-Malabar Church
- Erected
- 1887
- Latin
- Changanacherren(sis)
- Patron
- Saint Joseph
- Annuario code
- 001001105
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 402,275
- Population
- 10,455,520
- Catholic share
- 3.8%
- Priests
- 508
- Catholics per priest
- 792
- Extent
- 8,450 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 48
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Archbishop
- Mar Thomas Tharayil
- Born
- 2 February 1972
- Birthplace
- Changanacherry
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Changanassery stands in Changanacherry, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Changanacherry
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Covering 24,595 km2, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Changanacherry (Syriac: ܐܦܪܟܝܐ ܪܒܬܐ ܕܫܢܓܢܐܣܐܪܐ, romanized: Afarkaya Rabbta d-Shanganasara; Malayalam: ചങ്ങനാശ്ശേരി അതിരൂപത, romanized: Changanassery Atirūpata) is an archeparchy of the Syro-Malabar Church within the Catholic Church. Its territory takes in the Kerala districts of Kottayam (excluding Vaikom), Alappuzha (excluding Cherthala), Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram, together with Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].