Diocese of Quilon

Kollam Diocese

Quilon was the See of one of the two Bishops consecrated by St. Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. In 1329 His Holiness Pope John XXII erected Quilon as the first Diocese in the whole of India and on 21.08.1329 appointed the French Dominican Friar Jordanus Catalani of Severace as the first Bishop of Quilon. On 26.05.1930, Bishop Aloysius Maria Benziger divided the Quilon diocese to create the Diocese of Kottar with the first bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Lawrence Pereira. He was the third native Indian bishop. The successor of the diocese the Most Rev. Thomas Roch Agniswamy detached the diocese from the Metroplitan See of Veropoly and attached it to the Archdiocese of Madurai on 11.10.1963. Most Rev. Dr. Marianus Arokiasamy who succeeded him in 1971. Most Rev. Leon A. Tharmaraj, the fourth bishop, who assumed office in 1989. Most Rev. Dr. Peter Remigius, the fifth and present bishop, assumed office in 2007.