SEVENTY five years after it was inaugurated as the first church of the breakaway Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral at Palayam was on Monday elevated to the status of Basilica.
From now on, the pro-cathedral will be known as the St Mary Queen of Peace Basilica, Thiruvananthapuram. Also, Monday’s announcement has given the Catholic community in the State its fourth Basilica.
``In response to the request of the Syro-Malankara Episcopal Synod, I am extremely happy to announce the elevation of the pro-Cathedral to the status of a Basilica in the Universal Church,’’ said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches in Vatican, who read out the Papal Decree.
``Hereafter, the Church will be known as the St Mary Queen of Peace Basilica, Thiruvananthapuram,’’ he said to cheers from thousands of faithful who had assembled at the St Mary’s Cathedral, Pattom, to greet him.
The St Mary’s Church was established at Palayam in 1933, three years after Mar Ivanios founded the Syro-Malankara Catholic congregation by entering into communion with Rome. For decades, the church served as the spiritual headquarters of the Syro-Malankara Catholic community in Thiruvananthapuram, as the population grew from a mere five to five lakhs.
But its importance diminished somewhat with the establishment of the larger St Mary’s Cathedral at Pattom. It celebrated its platinum jubilee last year.
Today, the Syro-Malankara archi-episcopal apostolic church, headed by Catholicos and Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis, who is in fact the youngest church head in the Catholic family, has six dioceses in three states of the country.
The other basilicas in the State are, the St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam; Santa Cruz Basilica, Fort Kochi and the Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours (Puthen Pally), Thrissur.