St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara
1805–1871
Carmelite priest, Church reformer and saint, who founded the Elthuruth monastery with Aranattukara's help
Kuriakose Elias Chavara was born at Kainakary in Kuttanad in 1805. He became one of the great reformers of the Syrian Catholic Church in Kerala. He helped found the congregation of Carmelite priests now known as the CMI. The book also credits him with starting the CMC and CTC congregations of sisters. His call for a school beside every church led Christian communities all over Kerala to open schools.
The meeting in the churchyard
Aranattukara has a special place in his story. He was looking for a site for a monastery in the north, and he chose a lonely island at the western end of Aranattukara parish: Elthuruth. In 1856, the book records, the vicar called a special meeting in the churchyard so that Fr. Chavara could explain his plan. The parishioners raised their hands and waved their shoulder cloths to show they agreed. The elders of several families from the western side promised help.
The monastery was founded in 1858. While the work went on, Fr. Chavara would say Mass at the Aranattukara church before going on to the island. Local tradition links him with much that followed. Bunded kol farming (paddy grown in low wetlands, protected by earth banks) began near the monastery in his time. Two old mango trees there are said to date from its founding. Later, the school beside the monastery grew into St. Aloysius College.
Saint
In 1861 he stood firm against Mar Rokos, a bishop sent from outside to take control of the Kerala Church. He died in 1871. Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed during his visit to Kerala in February 1986, and he was declared a saint in Rome in November 2014. The book says that Aranattukara counts itself blessed to have had him walk its paths. Today the Elthuruth monastery is the clearest sign of that link.
Related
Elthuruth Ashram
The Carmelite monastery founded in 1858 by St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara on an islet at the western edge of Aranattukara parish.
St. Aloysius College, Elthuruth
The CMI college at Elthuruth, which grew from a small boarding school for boys opened beside the monastery around 1889.
St. Thomas Church, Aranattukara
The parish church at the heart of Aranattukara, whose story runs from a first church in 1796, through a long division, to reunion in 1964 and the church we see today.
Aranattukara Today
Ponds, paddy and bamboo gave way to roads and houses, and a market village became a ward of Thrissur city. What has changed, who has spoken for Aranattukara, and what is still worth keeping.
The Schools That Shaped Aranattukara
From village writing schools taught by Hindu teachers to Tharakan's School, the girls' high schools and St. Aloysius College at Elthuruth, this is how Aranattukara learned to read, and how its classrooms helped heal a divided parish.
Temples and Older Faiths
Long before the church bells, Aranattukara had its sacred groves, its kol paddy fields and its temples. This chapter looks at the land's older faiths, the Brahmin settlement of Thrissur, the temples of Lalur and Kizhakkeppuram, and the village healers.