Christianity in Puducherry

Till 1674, Pondicherry was a small village. However after the arrival of Portuguese, it became a town. The Capuchins from Madras began their missionary activity here. By 1689, the Jesuits began their activity. In 1773, the Paris mission Society took up the mission. At that time there were 30,000 Catholics in Pondicherry. However lack of missionaries and opposition from Padroado mutated the mission.

The Pondicherry vicariate was established in 1845, and in 1887, it became an Archdiocese. Christianity accounts for 7% of Pondicherry's population.

History

With a land area of 11,348 square kilometers, the Archdiocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore extends over the Pondicherry and Karaikal civil districts of the Pondicherry Union Territory and the civil districts of Cuddalore and Vilupuram of Tamil Nadu State. In 2001, the total population of the area was 6,151,891. Ethnic groups in the territory include Tamils and French.

The Mission of The Jesuits And The Capuchins

The great ancestor of this Archdiocese is the Carnatic Mission, which was started around the year 1700 as Mission sui iuris. This Carnatic Mission was known as Missions of the Coromandel Coast and also as the Malabar Mission.

Before the establishment of the Carnatic Mission in 1700, the Jesuit Fathers of the Madurai Mission, especially St. John de Britto came into The Gingee Kingdom after 1660 and preached the Gospel up to the Palar river, South of Madras. Also, members of various religious orders, looked after the spiritual needs of the European communities in their trading centres along the coastal areas like Cuddalore, Porto Novo etc., The French Capuchins first settled in Pondicherry in 1674 and the French Jesuits, expelled from Siam (Thailand) also took refuge in Pondicherry in 1688. But, in 1693, the Dutch chased away all the religious from Pondicherry and they could come back only in 1699. While the Capuchins were looking after the Europeans in Pondicherry, the French Jesuits organized the Carnatic Mission for the Indian people.

The Boundaries Of Carnatic Mission

The boundaries of the Carnatic mission were as follows:

• On the South and West, the Pennaiyar River, beyond which were the Madurai Mission and the Mysore mission.
• On the East, the Bay of Bengal, and
• On the North, Kurnool including the Krishna and Godavari areas near the sea shore.

Jesuits Replaced By Foreign Mission Fathers

The continual wars in the 18th century, the ruin of Pondicherry town in 1761 and the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, hit badly this vast Carnatic Mission.

In 1776, the French Jesuit fathers were replaced at the order of Rome by the foreign Mission French Fathers. Although the Bishop of these new Missionaries had all the power of jurisdiction, he was not given the title “Vicar Apostolic”, but called as the “Superior of the Mission of the Coromandel Coast.” Rome successively gave him the jurisdiction over the Madurai, Coimbatore and Mysore areas, affected by the suppression of the Society of Jesus. So, around 1800, the extent of the Carnatic Mission was immense, but the laborers were very few.

The First Vicar Apostolic And The First Archbishop

The Carnatic Mission was reorganized when new Vicariates Apostolic were created: Vicariate Apostolic of Madras in 1832, of Madurai in 1836 and the Vicariates of Visakapattnam, Mysore and Coimbatore in 1845.

Pondicherry became a Vicariate Apostolic of the Coromandel coast, on 1-9-1836, with Mgr. Bonnand as its first Vicar Apostolic. This Vicariate Apostolic was raised to an Archbishopric on 01-09-1886, with Mgr. Laouenan as the first Archbishop.

Subsequently, subdivisions of the Archdiocese took place, erecting the new Dioceses of Kumbakonam in 1899 and Salem in 1930. In 1928 a great part of the present diocese of Vellore was separated from the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and attached to the Archdiocese of Madras. On a reorganization of the Archdiocese by Rome in 1969, Madurantagam Taluk of Chingleput District was transferred to the Archdiocese of Madras and the Tiruvannamalai Taluk to Vellore .

The Final Formation

As the Archdiocese of Pondicherry extended over the Pondicherry Union territory and the South Arcot District of Madras State, it was given a new title by Rome: "Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore" on 7-8-1953.

Originally, the Archdiocese was looking after the ex-French settlements of the Pondicherry Union territory namely Karaikal, Chandranagore, Mahe, and Yanam. Another ex-French settlement was also looked after by the MSFS Fathers in Vizagapattinam. Chandranagore was re-allocated to the Archdiocese of Calcutta and Mahe to the Diocese of Calicut in Kerala in 1949.

The present Archdiocese of Pondicherry & Cuddalore extends over the Pondicherry and Karaikal Districts of the Pondicherry Union Territory and the Cuddalore district (excluding Chidambaram and kattumannarkoil Taluks) and Villupuram District in Tamil Nadu.

Bishops and Cardinals from this Archdiocese

Bishops

There are totally six bishops of the Roman Catholic church were born in the current jurisdiction of the Archdiocese. They are:

• Most Rev. Dr. Ubagarasamy Bernadeth, Bishop of Coimbatore (1940)
• Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mark Gopu, Auxiliary Bishop of Pondicherry (1948), Archbishop of Hyderabad (1953)
• Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Thumma, Bishop of Vijayawada (1970)
• Most Rev. Dr. Michael Duraisamy, Bishop of Salem (1974)
• Most Rev. Dr. Michael Augustine, Auxiliary Bishop of Madras-Mylapore (1978), Bishop of Vellore (1981) and Archbishop of Pondicherry (1992)

File:Archbishop Michael Augustine and Mother Teresa.JPG

Archbishop Michael Augustine and Mother Teresa

• Most Rev. Dr. Yvon Ambrose, Bishop of Tuticorin (2005)

Cardinal

• Most Rev. Dr. Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy (1985)

Leadership

Vicars Apostolic

• Brigot (1776–1791)
• Champenois (1791–1801)
• Hebert (1810–1835)
• Bishop Clément Bonnand, M.E.P. (April 3, 1850 – March 21, 1861) - He was consecrated as a bishop in Our lady of victory church, Oulgaret.
• Godelle (1861–1867)
• Laouenan (1868–1886)

Archbishops

No.	Name	From	Until	Notes
1	Archbishop Joseph-Adolphe Gandy, M.E.P.	September 29, 1892	March 25, 1909
2	Archbishop Elie-Jean-Joseph Morel, M.E.P.	May 11, 1909	August 16, 1929
3	Archbishop Auguste-Siméon Colas, M.E.P.	June 24, 1930	October 28, 1955	Last foreign bishop. Played an important role in forming Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. A region called Colas Nagar (11.92372°N 79.82652°E / 11.92372; 79.82652) in Pondicherry is named after him for the services he rendered for the people of Pondicherry.
4	Archbishop Ambrose Rayappan	November 28, 1955	March 17, 1973	First Indigenous Archbishop
5	Archbishop Venmani S. Selvanather	March 17, 1973	1992	He participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as Church Father
6	Archbishop Michael Augustine	February 18, 1992	June 10, 2004	He was born, ordinated and served as a priest in same diocese. He is the 1st Archbishop of Pondicherry diocese to be named as its ownArchbishop.
7	Archbishop Antony Anandarayar	June 10, 2004	Present

Suffragan dioceses

Suffragan dioceses under this archdiocese are:

• Dharmapuri
• Kumbakonam
• Salem
• Tanjore

See also

• Giga-Catholic Information
• Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore at Catholic Hierarchy
• Archdiocese official website