St Antony's Church, Kanjiracode is a

Latin Catholic Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

located in

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major La ...

in the Indian state of Kerala. The parish priest is Tomy Kamans. The Assistant Parish priest is Rev. Fr. Lenin Darwin Leon.

History

St. Antony's Latin Catholic Forane Church, Kanjiracode is listed among the first churches of Quilon diocese and of Kerala. The church occupies three acres on the northern side of old ceramics road (Sir C.P. Road) in an area dominated by a fishing community. St. Thomas Christians migrated arrived near

Kundara Kundara is a satellite town in Kerala and is part of the Kollam Metropolitan Area, India. Kundara is situated at the eastern end of Kollam city. Kundara is significant for its historic involvement in the Indian independence movement. Kundara w ...

in the ninth century. The parish was officially established in 1502. St. Antony's was originally built and blessed in the name of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

by the administrator of Cochin diocese. The construction was financed by Lakshmi Ammal (Mary Ammal), a Brahmin convert. The foundation stone was laid on 27 October 1609 and the church was blessed on 30 April 1609. The church was reconstructed and named after

Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua, Order of Friars Minor, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. ...

in 1633. After the diocese of Quilon was officially established, Kanjiracode remained under the jurisdiction of Cochin diocese under Padravado and remained there until 1893. In 1975 reconstruction was begun to accommodate more believers. The church was finally blessed on 26 January 1986 by the Bishop of Kollam, Joseph G. Fernandez, in the presence of A. Solomen, parish priest and dedicated to the papal visit of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in Kerala.

Festival

Patron saint Antony of Padua is celebrated on the Sunday preceding

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

. The feast starts with the unfurling of the flag on the prior Sunday. The unfurling is a colourful function with religious pageantry that is attended by thousands of devotees. Besides liturgical functions, a religious discourse is held at St. Antony's shrine in Mukkada, in the evenings. People of all religious faiths attend these functions. On Saturday the day before the festival a procession is taken from the Church along with colorful floats of saints. The procession proceeds to Perayam, the northern boundary of the Parish and touches the southern boundary at Elampalloor and Mukkada. The Procession is attended by thousands of devotees from across the Diocese and beyond. On the feast day High mass is celebrated in the morning by a senior church functionary. This is followed by Snehavirunnu (

agape (; ) is "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for uman beingsand of uman beingsfor God". This is in contrast to , brotherly love, or , self-love, as it embraces a profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists rega ...

), a community Lunch partaken by ten thousand and more devotees, distribution of clothing to the poor, etc. The closing ceremony is the lowering of the flag in the evening with a procession around the church. One important feature is the participation of non-Catholics in the celebrations.

Religious status

Average church attendance numbers two thousand. Bible study groups,

Charismatic movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity, with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gift ...

s, Little way association,

Legion of Mary The Legion of Mary (, post-nominal letters, postnominal abbreviation L.O.M.) is an international association of members of the Catholic Church who serve on a Voluntary association, voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, as a Roman Catholic ...

Sodality In Christian theology, a sodality, also known as a syndiakonia, is a form of the Universal Church organized in a specialized, task-oriented society, as opposed to a local, diocesan body (a ''modality''). In English, the term ''sodality'' is most ...

, Franciscan 3rd order, Jesus youth movement and KCYM active. St. Antony's

Novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

is conducted Tuesday evenings.

Administration

The parish council consists of 25 members. The parish priest is the president of the council. The members are elected from the 8 parish wards. A four-member finance committee is selected from the council. This four-member committee assists the priest in other financial activities. B.C.C.:- 54 B.C.C. group are actively participating in all church activities.

Status of women and children

Women of Kanjiracode Parish are independent and employed. Catechism classes are conducted by sisters of St. Margaret's Convent for children aged 5–17. A Bible festival is conducted every year and parish children won prizes in Forane, Diocese and State level.

Services

Financial assistance is offered to poor families for education and also to help with illness. Parishioners help solve family and neighborhood disputes.

Former pastors

The names of the Parish Priests up to 1888 were not recorded.

Chapel and shrines

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news, url=https://www.panoramio.com/photo/31341049, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003303/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/31341049, title=Panoramio – Photo of St.Antony's Church, Kanjiracode, url-status=dead, access-date=9 February 2021, archive-date=4 March 2016, work=

Panoramio Panoramio was a geo-located tagging, photo sharing mashup active between 2005 and 2016. Photos uploaded to the site were accessible as a layer in Google Earth and Google Maps. The site's goal was to allow Google Earth users to learn more about ...

{{cite web, url=http://www.quilondiocese.com/uploads2/Ordo-2013%20for%20WEB.pdf, title=Diocese of Quilon, author=BHSE, date=19 November 2012, page=4, access-date=30 May 2013{{Dead link, date=February 2021, bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes {{cite web, url=http://wikimapia.org/20001851/St-Antony-s-Church-Kanjiracode, title=St.Antony's Church Kanjiracode, publisher=wikimapia.org, date=8 November 2012, access-date=30 May 2013 Roman Catholic churches in Kerala Churches in Kollam district