page_title: Syro-Malabar Catholic Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Syro-Malabar Catholic Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Mar Jacob Manathodath, bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic diocese of Palakkad, releasing the biography of Servant of God Mar Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly by handing over a copy of it to his great-nephew Mathew Payyappilly Palakkappilly.
context_page_description: The Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly is an archeparchy and the See of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Mar Cardinal George Alencherry is the present Major Archbishop, and his vicar is Archbishop Mar Antony Kariyil CMI, who is responsible for the ordinary administration of the archeparchy. He reports to the major archbishop and the Holy Synod of the Syro Malabar Church. Mar Jacob Manathodath, Bishop of Palghat was the former apostolic administrator sede plena. Kothamangalam and Idukki are the two suffragan eparchies of the archeparchy.
context_section_description: In 1896, Pope Leo XIII established the Vicariate of Ernakulam by the Papal Bull Quae Rei Sacrae, which was then the third Vicariate of Syro Malabar Church, in addition to the previous two Apostolic Vicariates, Kottayam and Trichur. Mar Aloysius Pazheparambil was appointed as the first Apostolic Vicar, who assumed charge on 5 November 1896. The third vicariate was first envisaged by  Rev. Fr. Varghese Valiaveettil  of Vazhakkulam, who was a professor of Syriac and Latin of Varapuzha Puthenpally Seminary. Mar Pazheparampil governed the Vicariate till he died in 1919, and Mar Augustine Kandathil was appointed the Bishop the same year.
  Archbishop Kandathil guided the life and work of the archdiocese and of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy for well over three decades. The Syro-Malabar Hierarchy was established in 1923, and Ernakulam was raised to the Metropolitan status or Archdiocesan status, and Mar Augustine Kandathil was made the first Archbishop and Head of Syro-Malabar Church. Ernakulam was the See of Syro-Malabar Church in 1923, a title which was abrogated after the death of Mar Augustine Kandathil, but reinstituted in 1992. Mar Augustine Kandathil served the Archdiocese till his death in January 1956.
  On 20 July 1956, Mar Joseph Parecattil became the Archbishop of Ernakulam. On 29 July 1956, Ernakulam was bifurcated and the Diocese of Kothamangalam was erected. The dioceses of Thrissur, Thalassery and Kothamangalam became suffragan dioceses of Ernakulam archdiocese. Mar Parecattil became Cardinal on 28 March 1969 and Mar Sebastian Mankuzhikary was appointed as his auxiliary on 15 November 1969. A large number of churches, monasteries, convents, seminaries, schools, colleges, technical institutions, printing presses, hospitals, homes for retired priests, social centres and various associations and institutes dedicated to intellectual and vocational apostolates came into being in this archdiocese during Cardinal Parecattil's tenure of office.
  On 1 April 1984, Mar Joseph Parecattil retired from the office, and Mar Sebastian Mankuzhikary was designated as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese. In the year 1985, Mar Antony Padiyara was appointed as Archbishop of Ernakulam archdiocese. Mar Antony Padiyara was made Cardinal in 1988 and Mar Jacob Mananthodath became the auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese in 1992. On 16 December 1992 the Syro-Malabar Church was declared a Major Archiepiscopal Church Sui Iuris with the title of Ernakulam-Angamaly, by Pope John Paul II. This was a landmark in the history of the Syro Malabar Church and especially in the history of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam. The Archdiocese of Ernakulam was re-established as the See of Syro Malabar Church. Thereby the Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly is also the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. By this, the name of the archdiocese was changed from Ernakulam to Ernakulam-Angamaly. Angamaly, an ancient residential See of the Bishop of St Thomas Christians and now a municipal town in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam, also got associated with the title of the Major Archbishop. During this period, the powers of Major Archbishop were vested in the Pontifical Delegate Mar Abraham Kattumana (1992-1995). Major Archbishop Antony Padiyara retired from his office on 18 December 1996.
  On 6 January 1997, Mar Varkey Vithayathil C.Ss.R. was nominated titular Bishop of Antinoe and the Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese. Mar Thomas Chakiath was made auxiliary bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly in February 1998. On 23 December 1999, the Vatican appointed archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil as Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. Mar Sebastian Adayantharath was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly by Pope John Paul II on 3 January 2002. Mar Bosco Puthur was appointed as Curia Bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly on 15 January 2010.
  On 1 April 2011 Mar Varkey Vithayathil died. Mar Bosco Puthur was apostolic administrator until installation of new Major Archbishop. On 24 May 2011 Mar George Alencherry was elected as new Major Archbishop and installed followin
caption: Mar Jacob Manathodath, Former Apostolic Administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly, releasing the biography of Venerable Payyappilly Mar Varghese Kathanar during his 82nd death anniversary by handing over a copy of it to his great-nephew Mathai Payyappilly Palakkappilly
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Jacob Manathodath and Mathew Palakkappilly", "Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE C713 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "KODAK EASYSHARE C713 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Artist": "Rahul Johnson Palakkappilly (Payapilly)", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Rating": "5", "Image Tag 0x4749": "99", "Image ExifOffset": "2484", "Image XPTitle": "[74, 0, 97, 0, 99, 0, 111, 0, 98, 0, 32, 0, 77, 0, 97, 0, 110, 0, 97, 0, ... ]", "Image XPAuthor": "Rahul Johnson Palakkappilly (Payapilly)", "Image XPSubject": "[86, 0, 97, 0, 114, 0, 103, 0, 104, 0, 101, 0, 115, 0, 101, 0, 32, 0, 80, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "18218", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5208", "EXIF ExposureTime": "7791/1000000", "EXIF FNumber": "24/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:03:02 10:35:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:03:02 10:35:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7", "EXIF ApertureValue": "113/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "113/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3056", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2292", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "17842", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "6/5", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "108", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4204"}