THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A canonical examination was performed on the mortal remains of Archbishop Geevarghese Mar Ivanios at the St Mary’s Cathedral, Pattom here, as part of the cause of canonisation.
The remains were exhumed in the morning and the examination, as per procedures laid down by the Vatican, was performed by a 21-member team which included six doctors and experts on Canonical laws.
Mar Ivanios, the founder of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and the architect of the Re-unification Movement, had died in 1953 aged 70. The Church had launched efforts to get him named a saint, and the process was officially started in 2007 when he was declared a ‘Servant of God’. The exhumation and examination of the candidate’s mortal remains is one of the numerous initial steps involved in the canonisation process.
In the morning, the ritual began with prayers led by Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis, Archbishop Thomas Mar Koorilos and the bishops of the Syro-Malankara Church. Latin Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram M Soosai Pakiam was present at the opening and closing ceremonies of the examination. From the morning onwards, the faithful had started flocking to the cathedral premises. But, the exhumation and examination of the mortal remains were held in secrecy as demanded by Church law.
Later in the day, the remains were wrapped in a ceremonial habit and placed in a special casket. By this time, the cathedral premises were packed with people.
The casket was then placed inside the cathedral for a few hours. To the accompaniment of hymns and prayers, the faithful paid their respects to the founder and first bishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.
At five in the evening, the mortal remains were re-interred.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Speaker G Karthikeyan, Deputy Speaker N Sakthan, Ministers K C Joseph, P J Joseph, V S Sivakumar and Anoop Jacob and MLAs visited the cathedral.