MALANKARESE CATHOLIC CHURCH

an Antiochene-rite member of the Eastern Catholic church, composed of former members of the Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Church of Kerala, India, who united with Rome in 1930. The Syrian Orthodox Church came into existence in 1653, when the Christians of St. Thomasas the Indian Christians of Malabar (now Kerala) called themselvesbroke with Rome after severe Latinization by Portuguese missionaries. Most of the schismatics returned to the Roman Catholic church in 1661, but a small body of dissenters continued as the Syrian Orthodox Church. These Jacobites made several unsuccessful attempts to reunite with Rome in the 18th century. In 1930, through the efforts of Bishop Ivanios, reunion was achieved. The Malankarese Catholics retain the Antiochene liturgy that they adopted as Jacobites, with the characteristic translation of the Syriac into the vernacular Malayalam language.