About St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
Ernakulam was initially known as Anjikaimal. The northern border was Vaduthala and the southern border was Thekkumthala. Later on it became Thevara. There is also a tale that Thevara is the ‘Land of Thevar’. There is no tangible proof as to how Thevara became populous. It is believed that when the land in different parts of Cochin was acquired for the purpose of development, people started moving in to Thevara area as there were already some Christian families inhabiting the area. Since, most of the migrants were also Christians, Thevara became predominantly a Christian dominated area. During those days Thevara area was under the Venduruthy parish. Irrespective of Latin – Syrian rites, people used to attend the church at Venduruthy on Sundays and other important functions. As Venduruthy church was not accessible by road easily, people used to travel by canoes to attend the ceremonies.
Building of assemblage – Shrine
In those days, there were no places for worship other than a ‘Cappella’ ( Shrine) built by the Syrian Catholics in 1899 and another one built by the Latins at Mattammel Junction in 1908 in the name of St. Antony. In Malayalam year 1099 (1923) a small statue of St. Antony was obtained in the floods at the spot where the present Shrine is situated, by the local residents, and they in turn built a small shed and started with the ‘Prayer without Sleep’ program. There is also a tale that, one person tried to steal the ‘lamp with the chain’ and he wrapped it up in a piece of cloth and tried to carry it on his head and get away, and he could not do it until next morning. At that time, Late K.G Jacob, son of Varu Kuttamparambil, donated the land and the Shrine was built. Rev.Fr. Pinhero initiated the novena in the beginning. In 2008, the Shrine was renovated to accommodate more people to join the novena services.
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