Pages from History: Birth of Alexander Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan (1913)
10 April, 1913: Birth of Alexander Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan. Alexander Mar Thoma was born in 1913 as the son of Rev. M. C. George (17 Apr.1874-23 Oct.1923), Maliyekkal, Kuriannoor.
Before his ordination, he was a teacher at Kottayam C M S High School for 12 years. He took his Ph.D. on the Bhagavad-Gita (Holy Book of the Hindus) from the Kennedy School of Mission of the Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
He was ordained in 1945 and became bishop on 23 May, 1953. He became the Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church in 1976 and passed away on 11 January 2000.
Alexander Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan
Pages from History: Council of Trent adopts Jerome’s Latin Bible translation (1546)
8 April, 1546: At its fourth session, the Council of Trent adopts Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible (called the Vulgate), completed in 405, as the only authentic Latin text of the Scriptures. It became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vulgate is an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin, and largely the result of the labours of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of old Latin translations.
Its Old Testament is the first Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Tanakh, rather than the Greek Septuagint. It became the definitive and officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, and ultimately took the name ‘versio vulgata, which means “the published translation”.
There are 76 books in the Clementine edition of the Vulgate Bible: 46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, and three in the Apocrypha.
Saint Jerome in his Study, by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Pages from History: Strange But True – Malpan ex-communicates his cousin
6 April, 1839: Abraham Malpan ex-communicated his cousin brother for plucking vegetables (Colocasia) on Sunday. Sunday was regarded as a day of rest for the Syrian Christians and no one was allowed to work on that day.
Abraham Malpan, as vicar of the Maramon Mar Thoma parish ex-communicated his cousin brother because he uprooted a Chembu- Colocasia (a vegetable similar to potato) on a Sunday morning to make vegetable curry. He was taken back only after a proper written apology.
Abraham Malpan
Pages from History: Panditha Ramabhai passes away (1922)
5 April, 1922: Panditha Ramabhai (b.23Apr.1858) was an eminent Indian Christian social reformer and activist. She was a poet, scholar, and a champion of improvement in the plight of Indian women. As a social reformer, she championed the cause of emancipation of Indian women.
A widely travelled lady, she visited most parts of India, and even went to England and the U.S. Her father was Anant Shastri Dongre, a scholar of Sanskrit, and her mother was Lakshmibai. They were a Chitpawan Brahmin couple. Her father taught her Puranic Sanskrit and she made quite a name for herself as a scholar in Puranic circles. She acquired great reputation as a Sanskrit Scholar. Fluent in seven languages, she translated the Bible into Marathi, her mother tongue.
Deeply impressed with her knowledge and ability, Sanskrit scholars, at the Calcutta University, conferred on her the titles “Saraswati” and “Pandita”. Although she was a Brahmin, she married (13th Nov.1880) Babu Bipin Behari Madhavi, a Bengali lawyer at Bankipore (Patna, Bihar), who was not a Brahmin, and this created a stir in the orthodox circles of Hindu society. Bereft after her husband’s death shortly thereafter, she found herself unable to play the role traditionally reserved for upper-caste Hindu widows, and converted to Christianity, an action which created a scandal even in liberal Calcutta society.
She was given a scholarship to study medicine in England; when she arrived there, she found that her hearing was defective and so she could not participate in lectures. While in England, she wrote the feminist classic “The High Caste Hindu Woman”, a scathing attack on traditional practices including widowhood, polygamy and child marriage.
She established the Mukti Mission in 1889 as a refuge for young widows who were abused by their families. In Marathi, her native tongue, the word ‘mukti’ means liberation. The Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission is still active today, providing housing, education, vocational training, and medical services, for many needy groups including widows, orphans, and the blind. Mukti Mission is located near the city of Pune (Poona) and receives support from several foreign countries including the United States and Australia.
In 1919, the King of England conferred on her the Kaiser-i-Hind award, one of the highest awards an Indian could receive during the period of the British Raj. Her contributions as a builder of modern India were recognized by the Government of India by issuing a commemorative postal stamp on 26th Oct 1989 in honour of her. The work of Pandita Ramabai continues today as a tribute to the Saviour whom she faithfully followed, Jesus Christ.
26 October 1989, in recognition of Pandita Ramabai’s contribution to the advancement of Indian women, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp.
Pages from History: Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis (1968)
4 April, 1968: Civil rights leader and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He was born Michael Luther King, Jr. (b.15 Jan 1929), but later had his name changed to Martin.
His grandfather began the family’s long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father served from then on, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor.
On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through non-violence.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the March on Washington (1963)
Pages from History: Bishop Reginald Heber dies at Thiruchirappalli (1826)
3 April, 1826: Bishop Heber (b.21 Apr.1783) was the second Anglican Bishop of Calcutta. He is known for his hymn Holy, Holy, Holy sung on Trinity Sunday.
He was on his way to the Southern Kingdom of Travancore to visit the Syrian Christian Church Leaders as part of a visit to the churches in South India to look into issues of caste plaguing the church. He baptized 42 people the day before he died. “On 3 April, after attending an early-morning service at which he gave a blessing in the Tamil language, Heber returned to his bungalow for a cold bath. Immediately after plunging into the water he died, possibly from the shock of the cold water in the intense heat.”
Heber died at the age of 42 on 2 April, 1826 of a cerebral hemorrhage at Thiruchirappalli. He is buried at St. John’s Church, Thiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India (north side of the altar)
Portrait of Reginald Heber at the British Library
Pages from History: Parliament orders the publication of the Book of Common Prayer (1548)
1 April, 1548: The British Parliament orders the publication of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). Though Thomas Cranmer is rightly credited with the final form of the BCP, he worked with a committee of scholars, including Reformer Martin Bucer, to shape his famous liturgy.
The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the breach with Rome.
Prayer books, unlike books of prayers, contain the words of structured (or liturgical) services of worship. The work of 1549 was the first prayer book to contain the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship in English and to do so within a single volume; it included Morning Prayer, evening prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion. The book included the other occasional services in full: the orders for baptism, confirmation, marriage, ‘prayers to be said with the sick’ and a funeral service.
Title page of the 1662 Prayer Book, printed by John Baskerville in 1762
Pages from History: Hamilton’s start VBS (Vacation Bible School) in India (1952)
Rev. Lester John Hamilton and Mrs. Mary Hamilton
The Hamiltons (American Missionaries,) arrived in India in 1951 and were given only a brief period of language study before being plunged into the activities of the South India Bible Institute in Bangarapet, Kolar District, Karnataka. But they both continued to learn Kannada throughout their ministry in India, and found themselves quite at home with the language.
In 1952, Mrs. Mary Hamilton was requested to prepare materials for a model Vacation Bible School, and this was so well received that it has grown to become an annual event in many parts of India, and other countries in the world.
Now millions of children are attending VBS classes in different countries in different languages. Even though the Hamilton’s turned over the leadership of the VBS office into national hands, they continued to remain involved with it and gave their time and assistance until they left India in 1985.
Rev. and Mrs. Hamilton were teachers in the South India Biblical Seminary in Bangarapet, in Karnataka. They both were highly talented and have enriched the lives of many who came in contact with them. Their many and varied contributions to the ministries of South India Biblical Seminary and the Vacation Bible school movement will not be soon forgotten and we thank God for having brought them to serve in India.
Rev. Lester John Hamilton and Mrs. Mary Hamilton
Pages from History: Birth of Mariamma Joseph – Co-founder of Hoskote Mission
31 March, 1917: Birth of Mrs. Mariamma (Pennamma) Joseph (d.19 June 1986), Co-founder of the Hoskote Mission near Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Mariamma was the daughter of Mammen Mammen and Mariamma of Manalukalayil, Kumbanad. She did her Teacher’s Training Course (TTC) from Peringara School near Tiruvalla, after which she taught in many schools including Arrangatu School, Pullad, Perumbara School near Charal Mount; Kanjeettukara and Nedumprayar (Maramon).
She had the privilege to attend the classes conducted by the CMS Missionary, Miss Kellaway (Australia) of Vanitha Mandiram. Pennamma was greatly influenced through the life and testimony of this missionary. She had an earnest desire to go for mission work in Karnataka but her parents did not allow it (according to the then prevalent customs/ norms, Syrian Christian parents were scared to send their unmarried daughters to unknown ‘foreign’ lands).
However, after her marriage with Mr. M.T. Joseph, (Manon House, Maramon) her desire was fulfilled as he got the call to go to Karnataka for mission work during one of the Maramon Conventions. Because she was obedient to this heavenly call, she resigned from her teacher’s job, of a permanent income, to an uncertain future. This journey led to the humble beginnings of the Hoskote Mission.
Mrs. Mariamma Joseph and Mr. M.T. Joseph (Co-founders of Hoskote Mission)
Pages from History : Death of Charles Wesley (1788)
29 March, 1788: Death of Charles Wesley (b.18 Dec.1707). Charles Wesley was a leader of the Methodist movement and the younger brother of John Wesley.
Despite their closeness, Charles and his brother did not always agree on questions relating to their beliefs. In particular, Charles was strongly opposed to the idea of a breach with the Church of England into which they had been ordained.
Charles Wesley is chiefly remembered for the many hymns he wrote. In the course of his career, Charles Wesley published the words of over five and a half thousand hymns, writing the words for a further two thousand, many of which are still popular.
He was said to have averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years. He wrote 8,989 hymns. He composed some of the most memorable and lasting hymns of the church: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “And Can It Be,” “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” “Soldiers of Christ, Arise,” and “Rejoice! the Lord Is King!” (http://www.christianitytoday.com)
Charles Wesley preaching, by William Gush.
Nalloor Library 