The Great Church of Ollur and the Angel Raphael - A Photo Feature

Prof.George Menachery

One remarkable feature of the Sistine (from Sixtus) Chapel in the Vatican is that
every square inch in the 133 ft. by 43 ft. rectangle - the ceiling, the mosaic
floor, the wall behind the altar, the side walls, the marble screen… is decorated
with the works of the greatest masters of the time including Michelangelo,
Pinturicchio, Ghirlandaio, Resselli, Botticelli, Mino da Fiesole…No wonder Pontiff
after Pontiff chose the Sistine as the most suitable venue for the conclaves to
elect the Pope. The breadth-taking grandeur of the Chapel has to be seen to be
believed.

The Author
There is one church in Kerala and only one church perhaps which can claim that
every inch of space in the church is decorated, under both western and indigenous
influences, with the highest achievements of the painter, the sculptor, the
ceramics worker, the carpenter, the goldsmith, the bronze artisan, or the
architect - using every media known or imaginable like gold, silver, iron,
bronze, wood, ivory, stone - including laterite, granite, and precious stones,…
Here there are large numbers of frescoes, murals - both Kerala and western style
murals, woodwork, metalwork, ivorywork… Of course, Ollur’s other name Chinna Roma
(Little Rome) is quite appropriate for this and many other reasons. Our If any
church in Kerala deserves to be named a basilica (a minor basilica, that is) it is
undoubtedly this great church. If any church is to be made a key attraction for
tourists, Indian or international, the first consideration must be given to this
church.

In an article of this sort there is no place for elaborate descriptions and long-
winded narratives, nor for many references and notes. Hence this opportunity is
used merely to rediscover for those who already know something of this great
church, and to introduce the newcomer to, certain aspects of the Ollur Church and
the Shrine of St. Raphael the Archangel especially from the standpoint of its
artistic and architectural excellence.

At one time, especially in the 19th century and the first three quarters of the
20th century there were only three Christian festivals in the erstwhile Cochin
State which used to attract countrywide attention. One was the Kanjoor festival of
St. Sebastian, another was the celebration in honour of the Koratti Muthy The
third festival of State significance which used to attract tens of thousands of
devotees was the St. Raphael’s festival of Ollur popularly known as Malakhayude
Perunnal.

Ollur church is famous for the large number of exquisitely carved sacred images in
wood. According to Kuriappan Kattookkaran’s book on the church, written a century
ago, there were seventy-three statues in the church and as many festivals. Even
today some of the best-carved statues of Kerala are to be found in this church.
Today every Sunday in the year is dedicated to the feast or festival of the
Trinity, Jesus, or an apostle, or a saint, and even so some festivals have to be
observed on week-days.
One of the reputed possessions of the church is the more than thirty- foot tall
wooden rostrum or Pushpakkoodu which have sculptures in the round and relief of
the evangelists and saints in addition to interesting representations of the flora
and fauna of Kerala and elsewhere on it. This is perhaps the tallest rostrum in
the whole of Asia. Among other astonishingly artistic wood carvings in the church
some are to be found on the three altars, the beams, and in the cupola.

As is the case with most churches in Kerala the St. Anthony’s Forane Church of
Ollur also is constructed on a hill-top which is the highest location in the
vicinity. Earlier people must have reached the church climbing the steep slopes.
But today there are large flights of steps leading to the church from various
directions in addition to the sloping roads for vehicular traffic.

Wooden Panel, Ollur Church, ca.1825

The church is surrounded by a huge protective compund wall called Aana Mathil or
Elephan(ine) wall either because of its elephant like shape (which helps it to
guard itself from the heavy monsoon downpours characterestic of the land), or
because of its elephantine size, or use (to safeguard the church from the fierce
attacks of elephants sent by angry kings), or for a combination of these reasons.
These walls enclose in addition to th e church itself the inner coutyard also.

Festival related and liturgical processions in Malabar are of at least four kinds
: certain pradakshinams or processions starting near the altar end at the
mukhamandapam or portico of the church, many others, importantly, enter the
courtyard and go round the rock cross, others go round the church, still others
wind along the valley-roads surrounding the church-hill, commencing and concluding
at the foot of the rock-cross. In the Ollur church we have processions of all
these classes. But the most important procession is in connection with

the festival of St. Raphael the Archangel. (True, the procession of St. Sebastian
goes to many more areas than the Angel’s procession which is restricted to the
streets or angadies demarcated by the four bridges.) The multicoloured Muthukkudas
(silk Umbrellas),the many types of Vadyams and Melams, the decorated Roopakkudus
carrying the statues of the four angels are are some of the attractions of the
great procession. The Vedikkettu or fireworks, the hawkers and vendors, the
largescale agape or Oottu, are other interesting features of the festival. The
Thullal which used to attract thousands of faithful is now a thing of the past
having been banned by the ecclesiastical authorities some years ago.

The gold and silver crosses, the gold candlesticks, gold kasa and pilasa, gold
censers, huge bronze vessels, bells, monstances, tabernacles… are some of the
artistic works in the church in various metals. Thr treasure of metal objects in
the church perhaps exceeds any such collection of other churches.

The Ollur church is the oldest church in the Thrissur Corporation area and the
grandest church in the Trichur Archdiocese although certain other churches are
today able to grab the limelight on account of their location and certain
accidental present-day benefits and lucky coincidences.

Proceeding towards the church from the Padinjare Angady or western bazaar first
of all one has to climb the smaller flight of steps. After this the flagstaff is
reached. Beyond the flagstaff is the great rock cross of Ollur. It is more than
twentyfive feet in height and is one of the best proportioned and well cut out
granite crosses of Kerala. Its monolithic main shaft is thicker than usual. The
open-air rock-cross of Malabar is an obelisk, a tall stone column, with four,
sometimes decorated, slightly stapering sides. Rome has many obelisks (from Egypt
and the East) which have been sometimes made into cross-bearing structures
decorating the piazzas and squares); London has one on the banks of the Thames
(Cleopatras Needle); Paris has one at the place d la concorde; and even New York
has one in the central park. Many memorials like the Washington Memorial are
obelisk-shaped. The Asoka Pillar and other such Indian pillars must have been
inspired by the Graeco-Parthians, under Egyptian-Persian influence. The Nazraney
sthamba is a direct descendant of the obelisk.,and much closer to it than the
other Indian pillars - in shape, method of constuction and transportaion, method
of erection, function, and solar symbolism. The Roman obelisk, bearing crosses
today, have been converted to Christianity, while Keralas cross-shaped obelisks
were born Christian.The obelus and the double-dagger reference marks in printing
may be profitably recalled here.

The three-tier gabled indigenous architecture of Kerala churches, which lacked

facades until the coming of the Portuguese, immensely gains in richness, symmetry,
and beauty because of the open-air rock crosses, some of them more than 30 feet in
height including the intricately carved pedestals, and monolithic shafts. No other
community in Kerala has such a huge monumental stone structure, and no other
Christianity has such a universal and huge emblem in front of the churches. The
indoor counterparts of these crosses have the earliest carvings in Kerala of the
national flower lotus and the national bird peacock. Perhaps even the national
animal tiger is first depicted in Kerala art in church sculpture. There was no
rock carving in South India prior to the period of these indoor crosses. The
motifs, message , and images on these crosses and their pedestals display a
remarkable degree of Indianness and Malayalee Thanima or identity.

A unique feature of the church is the number and variety of the angel images in
the church. There are more than five thousand images of angels in the church – in
fresco, mural, wood, plaster, stone, metal, ivory and many other media. The
paintings in the church which cover an area of thousands of square feet are the
pride of Kerala’s artists and Kerala’s Christianity.

Rock Out - door Cross of Ollur

Old St. Raphael's Church- now cemetery

The seven storey belfry of the church was it is said the tallest structure in
South India at the time it was constructed.

It must be a matter of pride for the students and staff of the Holy Angel’s School
that their institution has its name from the great miracle-working angel of the
Ollur Church - the parish church of fully three thousand five hundred families
today even after giving birth to many daughter parishes - who is considered the
patron saint of the about-to-be-marrieds and the newly-marrieds, of couples in
general, of travelers and wayfarers, of the blind and the sick, of those who have
lost wealth or objects, and of course of the devil-afflicted.

[There are a number of books, souvenirs, journals which give additional

information on the St. Anthony’s Forane Church, Ollur and St. Raphael the
Archangel – which can be consulted in the office of the Manager of the Holy
Angel’s EMBHS. The author is the chief editor of the St. Thomas Christian
Encyclopaedia of India, The Thomapedia, The Indian Church History Classics - The
Nazranies etc. and Chairman of the Silver Jubilee Souvenir Committee]