| Holy Trinity Cathedral | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country: | India |
| State: | Tamil Nadu |
| Location: | Palayamkottai |
| Architecture and culture | |
| Architectural styles: | UK 1820s |
| History | |
| Creator: | Rev. C. T. E. Rhenius |
Holy Trinity Cathedral is a large church in Palayamkottai in Tamil Nadu, India. It was built by C. T. E. Rhenius to the public for worship on 26 June 1826.
Bishop Daniel Corrie named it Holy Trinity Church on 30 January 1836. Bishop Stephen Neill raised the status of the Church into a Cathedral.
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The church at Samathanapuram was renovated, extended and rebuilt.
The congregations in the Pastorate are:
In 1996 Rev Anand Asir, Rev Vedanbu and Rev Joshva Raja were the priests in the Cathedral. There are around 1500 families in this congregation which is around 6000 believers/members – the largest congregation in the Tirunelveli diocese.
The four part (treble, alto, tenor and bass) singing of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir is popular. The choir follows the CMS and Anglican tradition in all its activities. Mr. G. Masilamoni was the choirmaster in the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Samuel Gunaseelan is the present choirmaster, Mr. Thamburaj Victor assists the Choir Master.
The organ has served the services since 1980. It is a Reginald-made electronic organ with three sets of reeds. Before the electronic organ there was pipe organ with five octaves.
The formation of the tiny congregation at Palayamkottai consisting of just 40 members, the first being Clarinda, was the beginning of the Diocese of Tirunelveli, the biggest in Asia now. The infant church was nursed and nourished by the foreign missionaries from Trustbuster like Schwartz and Jaenicke and a few stalwarts like Sathianathan, Royappan, Savarirayan, Savarimuthu and Anandapragasam. Good news was spread to many areas, and churches were established in different parts of Tirunelveli District.
The establishment of a church at Mudalur the first Christian village in 1799 was a momentous event in the annals of the history of the Tirunelveli Diocese. It paved the way for the "en masse" conversion of Nadars thanks to the ministry among them by David Sundaranandam Gericke and Kohlhoff. James Hough oversaw the missionary work of the SPCK after Schwartz and Jaenicke.
The Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the Society for Propagation of Gospel (SPG) entered the Tirunelveli field and went on opening churches besides looking after the existing churches for almost a hundred years till they merged into the Diocesan main stream in 1924. CTE Rhenius, apart from building the Holy Trinity Cathedral at Palayamkottai, started 371 churches including Meignanapuram, Dohnavur, Pannaivilai and Nallur. Pettitt, John Thomas, Tucker, Schaffter, Hobbs, Barenbruck were the other important CMS Missionaries.
Nazareth, Sawyerpuram and Idayangudi were the important fields nursed by the SPG missionaries. The Rev Caemmerer and the Rev Canon A Margoschis worked strenuously for the stabilization of the Churches around Nazareth. Schools and a hospital were established at Nazareth, a model Christian settlement. Sawyer, a layman working for the East India Company, formed a village exclusively for Christians and it is called Sawyerpuram after him. Dr. GU Pope and Rev. Huxtable developed it into a model village.
Many pastorates in the east and south have adopted a village in the northern part of the Diocese. Besides, Tirunelveli Diocese has introduced outreach ministry. Committed people, clergy and laity, go to other districts for gospel work during the first week of September every year. It established the first indigenous missionary organization called the Indian Missionary Society (IMS) in 1903 to take the good news to the unreached areas in other states. The Rt. Rev V. S. Azariah, the first Indian Bishop, is one of the fruits of Tirunelveli Diocese. Now, the Diocese has 287 thousand members spread over 138 Pastorates in 1166 villages.