Fr. Devassy Chiramel
1854–1938
The first diocesan priest from Aranattukara ("Panjanachan"), long remembered at Poyya
Fr. Devassy Chiramel, known to many as Panjanachan, holds a small but proud place in the parish’s story. He was the first diocesan priest to come from Aranattukara.
A son of the parish
He was born on 5 January 1854, the youngest of three sons of Chiramel Panjan Anthappan and Cherchi. He was ordained a priest in 1887. That was the same year Rome created a separate Catholic vicariate for Thrissur under Bishop Adolph Medlycott.
He served as assistant vicar and vicar at several parishes of the Thrissur diocese, among them Parappur, Kallur and Puthussery.
Poyya
The parish he is most linked with is St. Ephrem’s Church at Poyya. He was vicar there from 1909 to 1912 and again from 1923 to 1936. In those years he started a chapel dedicated to St. Kochuthresia (St. Thérèse of Lisieux), founded in 1928. He also started the Marian Sodality (Mariyasakhyam) and a Catholic youth association for the parish. He left Poyya church a fund to help poor families pay for their daughters’ weddings and for funerals.
When he retired he chose to stay on at Poyya. He died there on 6 September 1938 and was buried in the tomb inside the old church at Poyya.
In Aranattukara, his name is a reminder of how far the parish’s influence spread. A village that once had to row to Pazhuvil for Sunday Mass was, within a century, sending priests out to serve other parishes.
