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Syro-Malankara rite is the youngest of three Catholic
rites in India. It consists of Syrian Orthodox Christians
who returned to the Catholic Church in 1930. The
Syrian Orthodox Church had broken away in 1653 resisting
the Portuguese’s attempts to laitinize them.
Soon after the break off, the Syrian
Orthodox Church had placed itself under Jacobite
Patriarch of Antioch. However attempts were made
for re-union but in vain. In 1926, a synod empowered
Archbishop Mar Ivanios to negotiate with Rome.
The synod also conditioned that the customs and
traditions of the Malankara Church should be kept
in intact. Pope Pius XI accepted the condition
and welcomed the re-union.
Led by Archbishop Ivanios, a group
of lay people and some priests formally joined
the Catholic Church in 1930. They completed necessary
formalities before the then Bishop Aloysius Maria
Benzigar of Quilon at the Quilon pro-Cathedral.
Later, some more Jacobite bishops followed them
to the Catholic union.
The Malankara Church now has five
dioceses, including the archdiocese of Trivandrum.
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