The Koonan Kurishu Oath
The story of the Holy Cross of Mattanchery — its beginnings under the Portuguese, the devotion that grew around it, and the oath of 3 January 1653 remembered as the Koonan Kurish Sathyam.
The history of the Koonan Kurish (Kuriyachan)
The Portuguese, who came to India for trade at the beginning of the 15th century, transformed Mattanchery into a world-renowned centre of commerce. Alongside trade they spread the Christian faith in India, bringing with them the missionaries of the Society of Jesus.
They bore exceeding faith and devotion to the Holy Cross and to the Blessed Mother. As an emblem of the triviality of this worldly life and the greatness of the life to come — through the word of God, through the witness of the Holy Cross and through a life of humility — the church the Portuguese raised at Mattanchery in the graceful idiom of oriental craftsmanship, dedicated to Our Lady of Life (Jeevamatha), and the chapel of the Holy Cross beneath it still stand tall on the pathway of history.
The people once united through the cross were later divided on the ground of certain misunderstandings, forgetting the ideals of life the Holy Cross had given them. Declaring that they would not accept the Jesuit missionaries, they held the rope bound to the cross and made the oath of 3 January 1653 — the Koonan Kurish Sathyam. This event has become part of history. It is said that when a great crowd pulled on the rope tied to the cross, the cross leaned a little (Koonan Kurish, the bent cross) and was later set upright again.
Though the first Christian community of Kochi was divided, the Holy Cross remained forever a haven of protection for the merchants who crossed the seas and for the traders of this land alike.
The story of the Kuriyachan
The cross planted by the wayside — the Vrantha Kurish, as the Portuguese called it — was ever a refuge for those who came to Kochi for trade and commerce. Stepping up to the cross for even a moment, they found consolation. In those days a great many goods were stolen from a merchant of Mattanchery. Having lost everything, the man sat at the steps of the cross and began to pray. Days later a person suffering distress of mind came to the steps of the cross, begged pardon for the wrong done through his want of knowledge, and handed the goods back.
From that day the awe, devotion and reverence of the faithful toward the Holy Cross grew, and the Vrantha Kurish became the Bhranthan Kurish, and thereafter came to be Kuriyachan. To this day thousands arrive in the shade of that faith, seeking solace for their broken families, their broken minds and their abandonment.
Holy Cross · Coonan Cross
- Cross chapel established
- 1550
- Koonan Kurish Oath
- 3 January 1653