Photo taken during Centenary celebration Holy Cross Church, Pavur celebrated on 24 October 2013 | Courtesy : donboscoindia.com
The only place in the world where a range of church services are conducted in Tulu is at Pavoor in Kerala, 25 kms south of Mangalore. The Holy Cross Church there is the host for these services. Incidentally, though the church is in Kerala, Kasargod Deanery, with about a dozen churches, it comes under Catholic Diocese of Mangalore.
Whereas in other churches the services are conducted in Konkani, English and Kannada, the main service at Pavoor Church at 7-30 am on Sundays is in Tulu. The service at 11 am, mainly for children, is in a cocktail of languages. On the first Sunday of the month the service is in Konkani, on the second Sunday in Tulu and on the third and fourth Sundays in Kannada. At the main morning service, the hymns are sung in Tulu, prayers are recited in Tulu and the sermon is preached in Tulu.
Tulu in this church is not a modern inculturation transplant. The credit for introducing Tulu at Pavoor Church goes to an Italian Jesuit priest who came to Mangalore in 1897. Fr Alexander Camissa, born in 1868 in Italy, spent one year at Surathkal learning Tulu. He continued his Tulu studies at Jeppu Seminary where he was a teacher. While there, he came across persons belonging to a nomadic tribe who made a miserable living weaving baskets and doing odd jobs for a pittance.
When Fr Alexander started the Pavoor Mission in 1913 it was a barren landscape. He obtained 300 acres of land from the government and settled them there. For the first time they had land of their own to settle down and give up their nomadic life.
Thus, the Tulu language services were initiated because the original settlers of Pavoor parish were illiterate, knowing neither Kannada nor Konkani, the dominant church service languages in the region. Even today the original settlers constitute about 95% of the 110 families in the parish, the rest 10 being Konkanis. But, today the settlers are better educated and economically.
Centenary celebration :
Holy Cross Church, Pavur celebrated the centenary of its foundation on 24 October 2013, bringing to a fitting conclusion a three year preparation that was on since 2010. The mission was founded by Fr. Alexander Camissa SJ in 1913. For the past 17 years, the Salesian Province of Bangalore has been serving the mission.
The Centenary Celebrations concluded on 24 October 2013. The high point of the day was the Holy Eucharist presided over by Most Rev. Dr Bernard Moras , Archbishop of Bangalore and concelebrated by Rt. Rev. Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Bishop of Mangalore and Mar Lawrence Mukkuzhy , Bishop of Belthangady, along with about 40 priests in the presence of nearly 1000 people. Bishop Mukkuzhy also preached the homily.
Before the Eucharist, Mar Lawrence blessed the newly constructed cemetery chapel, inaugurated by Fr. Thomas Myladoor SDB, by cutting the ribbon. A new grotto of Our Lady at the church premises was inaugurated by Fr. Thomas Anchukandam SDB , Salesian Provincial of Bangalore, and blessed by the Archbishop of Bangalore.
Archbishop Moras, of Bangalore presided over the public function held after the Mass. The gathering was addressed by the Salesian Provincial and Mr Abdul, the MLA of Manjeshwar.
Prior to the conclusion of the centenary, on 23 October, the feast of the parish was celebrated with the Holy Eucharist presided over by the Bishop of Mangalore. He also blessed a parish hall renovated with relief images of Fr. Alexander Camissa SJ, the revered founder of the Pavur missions.
After the Mass, the religious nuns of Apostolic Carmel, who have made significant contributions to the mission, were felicitated.
Parish Priests who have served in the parish :
- Fr. Aloysius Santiago SDB (till 2016)
- Fr Joseph Koorappillil SDB (2016 - 18)
- Fr Varghese Chakkala SDB (from 2018 onwards)
(Complete list will be published soon)
Compiled by Catholic Time Staff with inputs from facebook.com/holycrosschurchpavur and donboscoindia.com.
Last updated in Dec 2021.
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