Malankaresi

MALANKARESI. - The word is in itself synonymous with Malabaresi, but it is used to mean the Catholics of the Syro-Western rite of the Malabar coast, in order to distinguish them from those of the Syro-Eastern rite called Malabaresi (v.). Both are of the same origin. Those faithful who since 1930 have converted from Monophysitism to the Catholic Church are called M.

The Monophysites or Jacobites of India derive from a schism that took place in 1653 among the Malabaresi. In that year almost all the Eastern Catholics of India, discontented with the severe regime of the Latin Jesuit bishops, temporarily broke away from the Catholic Church. Those who, under the guidance of the archdeacon Thomas de Campo, persisted in the separation passed to the obedience of the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch. The archdeacon asked for his help, and the latter sent a Jacobite bishop in 1665. Thomas was consecrated bishop and had to anathematize Nestorius and accept Severian Monophysitism. His adherents also passed to the rite of the patriarch of Antioch, that is, to the Syro-Western one. A part of the Jacobites of India united with the Anglicans at the beginning of the 19th century. Their clear separation from their own coreligionists took place in 1837. At the beginning of the 20th century another division struck the Jacobites of India. About half withdrew in 1909 from the obedience of the patriarch of Antioch in order to declare themselves independent, and subsequently gave their own metropolitan the title of katholikà. The Catholic M. come from this latter group. In order to emerge from the isolation caused by the rupture with Antioch, they began negotiations with Rome, which concluded in 1930. Two bishops converted: Mâr Ivanios, bishop of Bethany, and Mâr Teofilos, bishop of Tiruvalla. By the end of 1931, already 35 priests, 19 religious, 6 seminarians, 39 nuns and 4700 faithful had passed to the Catholic Church. On 11 June 1932 Pius XI, with the constitution Christo Pastorum Principi, erected an ecclesiastical province immediately subject to the Holy See. Mâr Ivanios was appointed metropolitan of Trivandrum and Mâr Teofilos his suffragan as bishop of Tiruvalla. In 1937 another bishop, Mâr Severios, became a Catholic.

The Malankarese Church had a rapid development. It already numbers today 58,537 faithful, 113 priests, 34 religious (Congregation of the Imitation of Christ of Bethany), 291 churches and chapels. There exist two congregations of nuns: that of Bethany for the education of young women, with 18 members, and that of the Daughters of Mary for the teaching of catechism to the poor, with 18 nuns and 24 novices.

There are 66 schools, and a small seminary of St. Louis for the formation of the clergy. The theologians study in the interritual seminaries; 12 Carmelites and 8 Franciscans collaborate with the native clergy. The Jacobites are still about 300,000, and 100,000 "reformed," a group that originated in the second half of the last century.

Guglielmo de Vries

THE MALANKARA RITE

It is nothing other than the rite of the West Syrians, accepted in India by the Malabarese who had broken away from union with Rome. In 1665 Thomas Parambil received episcopal ordination from Mâr Gregorios, Syriac Jacobite archbishop of Jerusalem.

(from R. P. Strong, Stitt's diagnosis, prevention and treatment of tropical diseases, I. London 1915, p. 2, pg. 2 [with modifications]) MALARIA - Sporogonic cycle (A) in the anopheles mosquito, and schizogonic cycle (B) in man, of the malarial parasite. A - At the bottom, maturation and fertilization of the gametes: formation of the oökinete or vermicule (a). At the top, oöcysts and formation of the sporozoites. B - At the top, formation of the gametocytes. At the bottom, various phases of schizogony.

Details about that change of rite have not been transmitted. The Syriac language remained the principal language, but Arabic gave way to Malayalam as the secondary language.

The following editions are known: Missal (with 5 anaphoras, Pampakuda 1886); Ritual (ibid., about the same time); Weekday Office (Kottayam 1898); Festal Office (ibid. 1920); Holy Week, Lent, Rogations of the Fast of Nineveh (Pampakuda 1931, 1932, 1933); Missal (with 16 anaphoras, ibid. 1931).

In 1930 Mâr Ivanios with a group of his own reunited with Rome and kept his rite. As a result Rome for the first time recognized the legitimacy of the addition: « Qui crucifixus es pro nobis » to the singing of the Trisagion. A Missal was published at Pampakuda (with anaphoras) in 1934. In recent years the Catholics have been subject to a double ritual influence, that coming from the Latins and that, no less strong, of the Malabarese, who were already considerably Latinized.

Alfonso Raes