Feast Of St. Francis Xavier Celebrated By SAR NEWS
NAGERCOIL, Tamil Nadu (SAR NEWS) -- Curtains came down on the 10-day annual feast of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Kottar Diocese, with the Holy Eucharist and the lowering of the ceremonial flag at the Cathedral here December 3. The feast attracted about a hundred thousand devotees from Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Madurai districts in Tamil Nadu and various parts of Kerala. Bishop Peter Remigius of Kottar celebrated the Mass attended by priests from various congregations. On the ninth day of the feast, a large number of devotees gathered to witness the procession of a chariot carrying a statue of St. Xavier. Devotees offered candles, salt and pepper as offerings, which according to tradition ward off warts on human body. Some devotees rolled on the ground as a penance. The district administration declared December 3 as a local holiday for the entire Kanyakumari district. There were special buses services to Kottar from various parts of the district and other places from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Police made elaborate arrangements for the convenience of the devotees by diverting the traffic from Kottar. Special surveillance cameras were fitted at vantage points to monitor the mammoth crowd and to avoid any untoward incidents. History of Kottar: The area under the Diocese of Kottar had known the Christian Faith even several centuries before the arrival of the Portuguese on the West Coast. Monuments recently excavated in a place called Chinna-Muttom amply testify to this fact. The presence of St. Thomas Christians in places like Thiruvithancode and Kottar, presently parishes in the diocese, has been attested by several missionaries under the Padroado. However, with the coming of the Portuguese missionaries, a small section of the local people, whose descendants still form a significant part of the diocese, became Christians. They are known as Paravas. About seven years after their conversion, in December 1544, over 10,000 fishermen known as Mukkuvas, living on the sea coast from Poovar to Pallam, were baptised by one of the greatest missionaries of modern times, St. Francis Xavier. With the renewed efforts of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of Faith (founded in 1622), Christian missionaries began to penetrate into the interior parts of the area. Initially, attention was given to the conversion of Nairs. There were several Christians those days from the Nair community. It is to this community of early Nair converts that the great Martyr of the Diocese, Devasahayam, belongs. He was born in 1712, converted to Christian faith in 1745 by the gentle efforts of one captured captain of the Dutch Navy, called E.B. De Lannoy in 1752, and killed for the Christian faith at Aralvaimozhy. His mortal remains have been interred in the church of St. Francis Xavier, which in 1930 became the Cathedral of the new Diocese of Kottar. Rapid growth: The 18th century saw rapid growth of Christianity in the interior parts of the area, following a large-scale conversion of people belonging to the Nadar community. Vencode and Karenkadu were centres of such conversions. With the creation of the Vicariate of Verapoly, the Church of Kottar came under the efficient supervision of the Carmelites. The Carmelite Bishop of Quilon, Aloysius Maria Benziger, took pains to organise and strengthen the existing Church of Kottar. Thanks to his recommendation to Rome, the present diocese of Kottar was created on 26.05.1930 with Lawrence Pereira as its first bishop. He was the third native Indian to become a bishop. Linguistically, Tamil has always been the language of the people of the area. Keeping in mind, therefore, the linguistic aspirations of the people, Rome appointed a successor to Bishop Pereira, a Jesuit from Tiruchirapally, Thomas Roch Agniswamy, and eventually detached the diocese from the Metropolitan See of Veropoly and attached it to the Archdiocese of Madurai on October 11, 963. Evangelisation activities received much impetus during the tenure of Bishop Agniswamy. A great number of parishes, mission stations and schools came into being. His special interest in the promotion of vocations ensured that by the time he retired in 1971, practically all the priests of the diocese were from within the area. Bishop Marianus Arokiasamy who succeeded him in 1971 was committed to the implementation of the reforms of Second Vatican Council, especially in the fields of liturgy, catechetics, Bible and pastoral activity. The establishment of sixteen diocesan commissions, the pastoral centre, the animation centre and youth centre and the erection of parish councils in more than fifty percent of the parishes bear witness to his interests. Conscious of the needs of the wider Church, he gladly sent his priests to serve in various capacities at national and international levels. He was promoted as archbishop of Madurai in 1987. Leon A. Tharmaraj, the fourth bishop who assumed office in 1989 and who hails from this diocese, faithfully carried forward the polices of his predecessor and went on further in making the Diocese a Church of the laity, concentrating on the formation of Basic Christian Communities and pastoral councils and encouraging lay leadership in the mission of the diocese. With his demise in January 2007, Bishop Peter Remigius was transferred to Kottar from Kumbakonam. The diocese consists of the taluks of Thovalai, Agasteeswaram (minus the Parish of Azhagappapuram belonging to the Diocese of Thoothukudi) Kalkulam and Vilavancode (minus the eight villages along the coast belonging to the Diocese of Thiruvananthapuram) of the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
