# Holy Cross Church, Mattancherry

Holy Cross chapel, often called as Holy Cross Church, Mattancherry is situated at Mattancherry, in Kochi. Under the Diocese of Cochin, it is a place where both Christians and non-Christians of all religions come to pray.[1]
History The Portuguese travellers who came to India started missionary works in Cochin which became a success. The Portuguese established the Our Lady of Life Church in Mattancherry, which was a main centre of trade that time and a chapel devoted to the Holy Cross. The chapel was established in A.D. 1550.
The Portuguese missionaries were reluctant to the traditions of the Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala and was against many of their practices, which of coruse, was actually catholic. In the Synod of Diamper these Indian Christians were brought under the control of Latin bishops and the liturgy was completely Latinized, against the wishes of St. Thomas Christians. In such a situation a bishop named Ahatallah arrived in India in 1652, coming first to Surat.[2] There he made the acquaintance of the Capuchin monks, but afraid of being taken by the authorities and subjected to the Inquisition, he quietly boarded a Dutch vessel bound for Mylapore, which he reached most likely in August 1562.[3] There, he began claiming that the Pope had commissioned him as "Patriarch of the Whole of India and of China", and that his patriarchal name was Ignatius. The Portuguese decided he was an impostor, and possibly a heretic, and summarily arrested him and put him in the custody of the Jesuits. However, the Jesuits extended considerable kindness and freedom to him, and allowed him to meet with Zachariah Cherrian Unni and two other members of the Saint Thomas Christian clergy. Ahatallah greatly impressed the native clergymen, who returned to their home region of Kerala with a letter from their community's new "Patriarch".[4]
Ahatallah's appearance had joyed the Saint Thomas Christians, who had hoped for a new ecclesiastical leader to free them from the power of the Portuguese Padroado, which since the Synod of Diamper in 1599 had formally controlled church life in India. Soon, however, the Jesuit Manoel de Leira secretly alerted the Portuguese authorities about Ahatallah's activities, and they put him on a ship headed for Cochin and Goa.[5] Hearing of this, Archdeacon Thomas led his militia to Cochin and demanded to meet with Ahatallah and examine his credentials. The Portuguese officials refused. They noted that no Patriarch could be legally assigned to India without the dispensation of the Portuguese, and informed Thomas that Ahatallah had already been sent to Goa.[6]
Ahatallah was never heard from again in India, and the Saint Thomas Christians soon suspected that the Portuguese had murdered him. Rumours spread that the Portuguese had drowned him in Cochin harbour before the ships even left for Goa, or even that they had tried him for heresy and burned him at the stake. In reality, it appears that Ahatallah did in fact reach Goa, and was then sent on to Lisbon with the ultimate goal of having his case decided in Rome. Evidently, however, he died in Paris in 1655, before reaching Rome.[7][8]
After suspecting Ahatallah's death representatives of the Thomas Christians came together at this church on 1653, January 3 and tied a rope to the cross to which the chapel was devoted and by pulling it took an oath that they would not remain under the subjugation by the Portuguese missionaries. however, this oath was not against Catholic faith. The cross bent ( called coonu in Malayalam)a little due to this act and as a result, the oath came to be known in history as the 'Bent Cross Oath' or Coonan Cross Oath.
Miracles Once a trader of Mattancherry lost his valuable objects and began to pray at the foot of this cross. After some days, the thief came to the owner and gave back the stolen things to the owner saying that he had no peace of mind after the theft. Thus began the miracles at the chapel.[9] All the traders in Mattancherry come here almost every day to pray here. The cross was given many names in malayalam like panthan kurishu (cross helping in travelling), bhranthan kurishu (cross that can make people mad, especially who are thieves etc. It is presently called as kuriyachchan by the residents of Kochi.
There is no decrease in the number of miracles even today. [Citation Needed]
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