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PAPAL BULL IN
MALAYALAM,
ENGLISH,
LATIN
ESTABLISHING THE VICARIATE IN 1911
AND
DECREE ELEVATING
AS ARCHDIOCESE
The Papal Bull
by Pope St. Pius X instituting the
Vicariate
Apostolic of Kottayam for the
Knanaya, Community.
IN MALAYALAM, ENGLISH, AND LATIN
The Papal Bull by St Pius X instituting the
Vicariate Apostolic of Kottayam
for the Knanaya Community.
Pius PP. X
Ad futuram rei memoriam. In Universi Christiani gregis regendi munere Nobis
divinitus commisso Nostrum praesertim esse ducimus eos Ecclesiis fines terminare
qui cum praesidum optatis, tum fidelium bono apprime respondeant. Hac mente ad ducti
quo gentis Syro-Malabaricae fidei ac pietati melius consultum sit novum
Vicariatum Apostolicum in illorum regione constituere decrevimus. In hac enim
natione rec. me. Leo PP. XIII Dec. Noster suis hisce similibus litteris die
duodetricesimo Julii anno MDCCCXCVI datis, tres Apostolicos Vicariatus id est
Trichurensem, Ernakulamensem et Changanachernsem condidit, eisque tres
antistites ex ipso Syro-Malabarico populo delectos praeficiendos censuit et
curavit. Nunc vero cum tres Vicarii Apostolici eorumdem, quos supra memoravimus,
Vicariatuum, initis inter se consiliis per epistolam diei primi Martii huius
vertentis anni a Nobis enixe petierint, ut ad spirituali illarum regionum
commoditati satius prospiciendum et ad dissidentium animos consiliandos novus
Apostolicus Vicariatus in urbe vulgo "Kottayam" nuncupata erigeretur. Nos
ominibus rei momentis cum VV. FFr. NN. S.R.E. Cardinalibus S. Congregationis
Christiano nomini propagando pro negotiis ritus orientalis mature ac sedulo
perspectis, huiusmodi preces benigne excipere, atque illi preafatae nationi
benevolentiae Nostrae pignus exhibere statuimus. Quare motu proprio, ex certa
scientia ac de potestatis Nostrae plenitudine a duplici Vicariatu Apostolico
Ernakulamensi et Changanacherensi omnes paroecias et Ecclesias- Suddisicas
dismembramus easque in novum Vicariatum Apostolicum in urbe vulgo "Kottayam" pro
gente Suddistica constituimus. Quis idcirco complectatur omnes Ecclesias et
Sacella pertinentia ad Deccanatum Kottayamensem et Kaduthuruthensem in Vicariatu
Apostolico Chenganacherensi una cum Ecclesiis Suddisticis Apostolici Vicariatus
Ernakulamensis. Haec volumus ac precipimus, decermentes praesentes litteras
firmas, validas, efficaces semper existere et fore suosque plenarios et integros
effectus sortiri et obtinere, illisque ad quos spectat et in posterum spectabit
in omnibus et per omnia plenissime suffragari, sicque in praemissis esse
iudicandum, atque irritum esse et inane si secus super his a quoquam quavis
auctoritate scienter vel ignoranter contigerit attentari. Non obstantibus
Nostrae Cancellariae Apostolicae regula de iure quaesito non tolenda aliisque
Constitutionibus Apostolicis in contrarium facientibus quibuscumque. Datum Rmae
apud S. Petrum sub anulo Piscatoris die XXIX Augusti MCMXI Pontificatus Nostri
Anno Nono.
PIUS. X. PONT. MAX
(Seal)
Sd/-
Raffaele Card. Merry del Val
a Secretis Status
THE
PAPAL BULL BY POPE ST. PIUS X
INSTITUTING TIIE APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF KOTTAYAM FOR THE SOUTHISTS PEOPLE
PIUS PP. X
For the future record of the fact. In the office divinely entrusted to Us for
governing the Universal Christian flock we consider it especially ours to
determine for the churches such boundaries which correspond to the good of the
faithul and to the desires of those who preside over them. For this reason in
order to provide better for the faith and piety of the Syro-Malabar people we
have decreed to constitute a new Apostolic Vicariate in their region.
For this people our predecessor of happy memory Pope Leo XIII by a letter
similar to this dated July 28, 1896, established three Apostolic Vicariates,
namely of Trichur, Ernakulam and Changanacherry and thought it fit to appoint
over them three prelates selected from among them.
Now, however, since the three Vicars Apostolic of the same above mentioned
Vicariates, after mutual consultation have insistently petitioned us by a
letter, dated March 1 of this year, that a new Apostolic Vicariate may be
erected in the town commonly called Kottayam in order to satisfactorily cater to
the spiritual needs of those regions and to reconcile the minds of the
dissidents, we having maturely and diligently considered all the important facts
of the matter with our venerable brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
in the Sacred Congregation of propagating the Christian Name for the Affairs of
the Oriental Rite, decided to kindly accept such request and show proof of our
benevolence to the aforesaid nation.
Therefore, by motu proprio, with sure knowledge and fullness of our power we
separate all the Southist parishes and churches from the two Apostolic
Vicariates of Ernakulam and Changanacherry and constitute them into a new
Apostolic Vicariate in the town commonly known as “Kottayam” for the Southist
people. On that account it shall include all the churches and chapels pertaining
to the Kottayarn and Kaduthuruthy foranes in the Apostolic Vicariate of
Changanacherry and also the Southist churches of the Apostolic Vicariate of
Ernakulam.
We want and command these things, decreeing that this letter shall always exist
firm, valid and efficacious, and shall gain and obtain full and integral effect
and shall most fully favour in all things and every way those whom it pertains
and shall pertain in the future, and thus it must be judged invalid and void if
it happens to be tampered with by any one of whatever authority knowingly or
unknowingly.
Not withstanding our apostolic chancery’s rule of not removing the acquired
right, and whatever other Apostolic constitutions to the contrary,
Given at Rome before St. Peter under the fisherman’s ring on the 29th day of
August 1911, in the ninth year of our pontificate.
PIUS X THE SUPREME PONTIFF,
(Seal)
Sd/-
R. Card. Merry del Val
Secretary of State.
Decree
of elevating the Eparchy of
Kottayam to the Metropolitan See
Prot. No. 264 / 2005
Varkey Cardinal
Vithayathil, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, sends his fraternal
greetings to Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry and Mar Mathew Moolakatt, brother bishops
in the episcopate and to the people of God of the Eparchy of Kottayam.
The Eparchy of Kottayam, having been erected by H.H. Pope St.Pius X, of holy
memory through the Papal Bull in Universi Christiani, on 29 August 1911, for the
Knanaya community, has achieved commendable growth under the leadership of its
Vicars Apostolic and Eparchial Bishops Mar Mathew Makil, Mar Alexander
Choolaparambil, Mar Thomas Tharayil and the present Eparchial Bishop Mar
Kuriakose Kunnacherry which was strengthened also by the appointment of an
Auxiliary and later Co-adjutor Bishop Mar Mathew Moolakatt. The request for
raising the See of Kottayam to the Metropolitan status was made by the present
Eparchial Bishop of Kottayam to the Apostolic See through the erstwhile
Syro-Malabar Bishop’s Conference and later through the Syro-Malabar Bishop’s
Synod. After the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church was granted the
exercise of all its faculties, the request was renewed and the Synod of Bishops
of the Syro-Malabar Church in its session held from 1 to 13 November 2004 gave
its consent and the Holy See gave its no-objection with the explicit
understanding that the Metropolitan See of Kottayam is to remain without a
suffragan eparchy.
Therefore, in virtue of CCEO c. 85 and by the authority vested in him as the
Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church to provide the
people of God entrusted to his care with pastors and efficient systems of
governance, and guided by the consideration of the good of the faithful of the
Eparchy of Kottayam and of the entire Syro-Malabar Church, the undersigned
Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, hereby elevates the Eparchy of Kottayam to the rank
of a Metropolitan See without a suffragan eparchy. By a separate decree, Mar
Kuriakose Kunnacherry, the present Eparchial Bishop of Kottayam has been
appointed as the first Metropolitan of the newly erected Metropolitan See of
Kottayam.
All contrary dispositions notwithstanding
Given at Kakkanad, from the Major Archiepiscopal Curia at Mount St. Thomas, on
the 9th day of the month of May of the year 2005.
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