Catholic Intelligence

Archeparchy of Trichur

Trichurien(sis)

Syro-Malabar metropolitan archeparchy in Thrissur district, Kerala, India, founded as the Vicariate Apostolic of Trichur on 20 May 1887 by Pope Leo XIII (bull Quod Iam Pridem), made an eparchy in 1923 and elevated to a metropolitan see on 18 May 1995. Its seat is Our Lady of Lourdes Metropolitan Cathedral, with suffragans Irinjalakuda, Palghat and Ramanathapuram.

The see

Rank
Eastern metropolitan see
Tradition
Syro-Malabar Church
Erected
1887
Latin
Trichurien(sis)
Patron
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
Annuario code
001003274

The see in figures

Catholics
460,848
Population
2,018,635
Catholic share
22.8%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
635
Catholics per priest
726
Extent
2,000 km²
Catholics per km²
230

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 Andrews Thazhath
Born
13 December 1951
Birthplace
Pudukad

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

Our Lady of Lourdes Metropolitan Cathedral, Thrissur stands in Trichur, 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 Trichur

This see is the metropolitan of its province.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Home now to nearly half a million Syro-Malabar Catholics, the Archeparchy of Trichur lies in the Thrissur District of Central Kerala, India. It was once the largest Catholic diocese in India, back when its territory still included the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Irinjalakuda (until 1978) and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Palghat (until 1973). Trichur was one of the two Vicariates created for Syriac Catholics, the other being the Archeparchy of Changanassery.

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.

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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].