A large number of the faithful thronged the St. Mary’s Cathedral at Pattom on Monday to witness the opening of the tomb of the architect of the Reunion Movement and the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram, Mar Ivanios. The tomb was opened to enable the expert committee appointed by the Vatican to carryout canonical verification to ascertain the historical importance of Mar Ivanios, which is a prerequisite for the canonisation procedure.
Offer prayersThe tomb was opened by the committee in the presence of Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis Catholics, head of the Syro-Malankara Church, and the mortal remains covered in vestments were taken to the church for the faithful to offer prayers.
The mortal remains were taken back and entombed in the evening. The tomb opening ceremony commenced with a concelebrated mass. The ceremony was attended by all Metropolitans.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy; Assembly Speaker G. Karthikeyan; Deputy Speaker N. Sakthan; Ministers K.C. Joseph, P.J. Joseph, V.S. Sivakumar and Anoop Jacob; and MLAs K. Muraleedharan, Mons Joseph, V. Sivankutty, Palode Ravi, M.A. Wahid and R. Selvaraj visited the church and offered prayers, the church said in a release.
