Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, November 15, 2009: The sesquicentennial celebrations of the CSI Christ Church, Palayam, will be held on the church premises today.

Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi will inaugurate the celebrations. J.W. Gladstone, moderator, Church of South India, will be the chief guest. Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, will release a sesquicentennial souvenir.

The church, which completes 150 years on Sunday, was consecrated by Bishop Dealtry of Madras in 1859.

Bishop Middleton, the first Bishop of Kolkata, initiated service for the members of the Church of England by deputing Rev. Hutchinson in 1817. There were also a small number of Tamil Christians who were employed in the government or in the households of Europeans.

A Tamil congregation was formed in 1837 through the efforts of a man with knowledge of English, Christian David. The Malayalam congregation was started in 1876 by M. Chandy followed by regular services by M.P. Mathen in 1878. At this time, General Cullen, a British Resident, arranged divine services for Europeans in the Residency.

In order to build a permanent place of worship for the members of the Church of England, both Europeans and English, they collected about Rs.2,600 and received an equal amount from the Government of Fort St. George. The Travancore government granted the site and timber free and lent the services of an able surveyor, Shedden, to supervise the construction work.

It was General Cullen who in the presence of the Prince of Travancore and many Christians and non-Christians laid the foundations of the Church in December 1858. The then Maharaja of Travancore gave a ‘Neetu’ to the Church in which the land and taxes were given free to the worshipping community. The church has around 1,000 families and 5,000 members belonging to the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India.

As part of its social service initiative, the church has been supplying noon meals on a daily basis to 100 patients and their helpers at the Government Hospital, Peroorkada, since 2006.

Many senior officers of the British government and military officers who served Travancore prior to Independence and a large number of citizens of repute have been laid to rest in its cemetery.

(News agency)