Alexander de Campo

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Alexander de Campo or Chandy Parambil

Alexander de Campo , often also Chandy Parambil (* around 1615 in Kuravilangad , Kerala , India ; † January 2, 1687 there ) was the first native bishop of the Catholic Thomas Christians in India and Vicar Apostolic of Malabar .

prehistory

Kodungallur near Ernakulam , in today's Kerala , is considered the arrival point of St. Thomas and was for a long time the seat of the metropolitan of the Thomas Christians of India. Later the residence was moved to Udayamperoor (Diamper), and finally to Angamaly . Before the arrival of the Portuguese and still at the beginning of their colonial activity, the Indian metropolitans were sent by the East Syrian Catholic von Seleukia-Ctesiphon. Since Mar Johann Shimun Sulaqa was consecrated bishop in St. Peter's Church in Rome in 1553, a faction of this patriarchate has been in union with the Pope, today known as the Chaldean Catholic Church .

Initially, the bishops sent to India from Mesopotamia were tolerated by the Portuguese colonial rulers, the more they were able to establish their own political rule and ecclesiastical organization there, but they were increasingly suppressed. As a result of the disputed validity of the Synod of Diamper , in December 1599 the metropolitan seat of Angamaly was subordinated as a suffragan to the Latin Archdiocese of Goa . This in turn was under the sovereignty ( padroado ) of Portugal, which claimed the sole right to appoint bishops in its domain and established and expelled other bishops, including Catholics.

The last metropolitan and archbishop of Angamaly appointed by an East Syrian patriarch in India was Mar Abraham († 1597). He was followed in this seat by the Latin Archbishops Francis Roz SJ († 1624), Stephen Britto († 1641) and Francis Garcia († 1659). Archbishop Roz had moved the seat of the diocese from Angamaly back to Kodungallur (formerly Cranganore). The Latin pastors were reserved about the Syrian liturgy, corrected it according to Western ideas and had Latin orders of worship translated into Syriac. The native Christians found the disempowerment of the archdeacons at least as depressing . H. local priests who, together with the bishops of Mesopotamian origin, had led the Thomas Christians' community.

Alexander de Campo

origin

Archdeacon Thomas Parambil, who was proclaimed anti-bishop

Alexander de Campo, whose Indian name is Chandy Parambil , was born as the son of the local Thomas Christians Cyriak and Ignatia in Kuravilangad, Kerala. His historical tombstone in the church there passed on. The exact year and date of birth are unknown. Kuravilangad was already a famous Marian pilgrimage site in South India.

Revolt from the Coonan Cross

Under Archbishop Francis Garcia of Angamali / Cranganore there was a revolt of the Thomas Christians, because this u. a. appointed a vicar general of the Latin rite for them and they feared even greater oppression. The immediate cause was the arrest of the former Syrian Archbishop of Damascus' Attalāh († 1654 in Paris) by the Portuguese, who was called to India by Archdeacon Thomas Parambil. The leaders of the Thomas Christians swore at Coonan Cross in Fort Cochin in 1653 that they would never again tolerate Jesuits as pastors. It was expressly avoided to renounce Rome; they only asked for bishops from their own Eastern Church tradition. The majority of the Thomas Christians joined the uprising. Thomas Parambil was proclaimed a metropolitan and was ordained bishop in an "emergency ceremony" by 12 simple priests. His relative Chandy Parambil (= Alexander de Campo) supported him as best he could; he even belonged to the closest circle of the four advisors to the "Metropolitan", from 1658 "Patriarch" Mar Thoma I († 1670).

Reconciliation and appointment as bishop

Tomb of the bishop in the Kuravilangad pilgrimage church
Monument to Bishop Alexander de Campo, in front of his Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Kuravilangad

When it became clear that there would be a final break with the Roman Catholic Church, many shied away from a schism and broke away from the revolting group, including the priests Chandy Parambil (= Alexander de Campo) and Chandy Kadavil (= Alexandros Hendwāyā). Rome had sent Carmelites to India to contain the looming schism and to determine the causes. The apostolic commissioner was Giuseppe di Santa Maria OCD (Girolamo Sebastiani, † 1689). With the help of the two local priests Chandy Parambil and Chandy Kadavil, it was possible to reconcile the majority of the Thomas Christians with Rome. Archbishop Francis Garcia died in 1659 and Sebastiani, OCD, succeeded him in 1661; however only as titular archbishop and apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Angamaly, which was now based in Kodungallur. He had received permission from Pope Alexander VII , if necessary, to ordain two Indian Thomas Christians as bishops and to appoint them as Apostolic Vicars . Archbishop Sebastiani had to leave his diocese as early as 1663 because the Dutch had defeated the Portuguese on the Malabar coast and expelled him. In order not to leave the Thomas Christians subordinate to him without legitimate authorities, on January 31, 1663, shortly before his forced departure, he consecrated Chandy Parambil in Kaduthuruthy as titular bishop of Megara and appointed him vicar apostolic of Malabar.

Bishop Chandy Parambil alias Alexander de Campo was the first Indian Thomas Christian to receive episcopal ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. He saw himself as the “Metropolitan of all India”, in the tradition of the historical archbishops and resided in his hometown Kuravilangad, which became the center of the Catholic Thomas Christians for about 25 years. The smaller part, which persisted with the decision of 1653, lost its ancestral and meanwhile partly Latinized Chaldean rite , since this group had to connect with the Syriac Orthodox Church , which is the West Syrian , especially for the dispensation of episcopal ordinations Rite cultivates.

Death and further development

Bishop Alexander de Campo died on January 2, 1687 and was buried in his home church of St. Maria (Kuravilangad) . His grave with an antique grave slab in the choir area is preserved there. His successor as Apostolic Vicar of Malabar was the Latin Raphael de Figueredo-Salgrado. He was placed at his side as coadjutor in 1677, while he was still alive . Rome had commissioned the Carmelites in India to name Bishop Campo an Indian successor, which they only followed to the extent that Bishop Figueredo-Salgrado was born in India, but as a Latin and the son of Portuguese parents. The Apostolic Vicariate Malabar later became part of the (Latin) Archdiocese of Verapoly and the Latin bishops ruled the Catholic Thomas Christians until 1887 by local priests without episcopal ordination, one of whom, curiac Elias Chavara (1805–1871), was beatified. Then the jurisdictions were separated and until 1896 Latin and from that year Syro-Malabar titular bishops followed, as special apostolic vicars of the Thomas Christians. It was not until St. Thomas's Day, December 21, 1923, that Pope Pius XI. the orderly hierarchy of the Catholic Thomas Christians of India was restored after more than 300 years, today's Syro-Malabar Church .

literature

  • B. Spuler: Handbook of Oriental Studies. 1st section, 8, volume, 2nd section "Religious history of the Orient in the time of the world religions", 1961; Scan from the source
  • Bernard of St. Thomas TOCD: A brief sketch of the History of the St. Thomas Christians. St. Joseph's Press, Trichinopolly, 1924.
  • Abraham Kunnatholy: St Thomas Christians in Madhy Pradesh. Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore 2007, ISBN 81-7086-419-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the pilgrimage church of St. Mary, Kuravilangad
  2. ↑ On Joseph of S. Maria de Sebastiani, OCD (1st person) ( Memento from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Father Bernard of St. Thomas TOCD: A brief sketch of the History of the St. Thomas Christians. St. Joseph's Press, Trichinopolly, 1924, p. 65.
  4. ↑ On Raphael de Figueredo-Salgrado (3rd person) ( Memento from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Campo, Alexander de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Parambil, Chandy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian clergyman, bishop and vicar apostolic in India
DATE OF BIRTH around 1615
PLACE OF BIRTH Kuruvilangad, Kerala , India
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1687
Place of death Kuravilangad, Kerala , India