Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Tellicherry

The Archeparchy of Tellicherry (also anglicized as the Archdiocese of Thalassery) is a Syro-Malabar Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in India. The boundaries of the Thalassery ecclesiastical province were extended to include Mangalore, Chickmangalore, Mysore, Shimoga and Ootty as there were settlers in the neighbouring States. The diocese covers an area of 18,000 km² and a Catholic population of 273,826. Since 2022, Joseph Pamplany is the Metropolitan Archbishop.^[2]

Archeparchy of Tellicherry Archeparchia Tellicherriensis ܐܲܪܟܝܕܝܘܩܝܣܵܐ ܕܬܲܠܲܣܲܪܝ‎ തലശ്ശേരി അതിരൂപത‎
Location
Country	India
Statistics
Area	4,958 km2 (1,914 sq mi)[1]
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2020[1]) 3,814,247 274,460[1] (7.2%)
Parishes	254[1]
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
Rite	East Syriac Rite
Established	31 December 1953; 71 years ago (31 December 1953)
Cathedral	St Joseph's Cathedral in Palissery, Thalassery
Patron saint	Saint Joseph[1]
Secular priests	475 (304 diocesan, 171 religious)[1]
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Major Archbishop	Raphael Thattil
Archeparch	Joseph Pamplany
Bishops emeritus	George Njaralakatt George Valiamattam
Website
archdioceseoftellicherry.org
[1][2]

The ecclesiastical province came into existence on 31 December 1953 through the papal bull Ad Christi Ecclesiam Regendam issued by Pope Pius XII. The boundaries of the new diocese were the same as those of the Latin Church Diocese of Calicut. Later, as Syro-Malabar Catholics migrated even to the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the boundaries were extended to the present Latin Diocese of Mangalore, Chickmangalur, Mysore, Shimoga, and Ootacamund by a decree of the Holy See on April 29, 1955.

Malabar Migration

The history of the Malabar Migration and that of the ecclesiastical province of Thalassery are closely connected. The Thalassery diocese took up the struggle of the settlers, who were mostly Syriac Rite Catholics not accustomed to Roman Rite ceremonies. Petitions were sent to the Holy See by the bishops of the settlers, who had migrated to the British Malabar since 1930, requesting for a diocese of their own. Cardinal Tisserant, the Prefect of the Oriental Congregation came to Malabar and personally saw the pitiable situation of the settlers. With the help of locals and priests, they started to make changes in the region.

Ordinaries

Bishops and Archbishops

Ordinary	Designation	Year of appointment	Last year of service
Sebastian Valloppilly	Bishop	1956	1989
George Valiamattam	Archbishop	1989	2014
George Njaralakatt	Archbishop	2014	2022
Joseph Pamplany	Archbishop	2022	present

Auxiliary Bishops

Ordinary	Designation	Year of appointment	Last year of service
Joseph Pamplany	Auxiliary Bishop	2017	2022

Suffagran eparchies

• Source: GCatholic^[3]

• Eparchy of Belthangady
• Eparchy of Bhadravathi
• Eparchy of Mandya
• Eparchy of Mananthavady
• Eparchy of Thamarassery

Saints and causes for canonisation

• Armond Madhavath^[4]

See also

• Sacred Heart Schools, Angadikadavu