KOCHI: The Archdiocese of Verapoly will formally launch celebrations for its 150th jubilee year on September 1, marking 140 years since it was elevated to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese.
A thanksgiving mass and flag-hoisting ceremony will be held at 7am at St Francis Assisi Cathedral in Ernakulam, with Archbishop Dr Joseph Kalathiparambil as the principal celebrant. Jubilee flags will also be hoisted at all parish churches under the archdiocese on the day.
The celebrations will mark the beginning of a decade-long journey towards completing 150 years in 2036. The archdiocese traces its history to 1657, when the Vicariate Apostolic of Malabar was established through the efforts of Carmelite missionaries.
Its headquarters was later shifted to Varapuzha, which became the Vicariate of Verapoly in 1709. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII raised the Vicariate of Verapoly to a metropolitan archdiocese through the apostolic constitution Humanae Salutis Auctor.