Ancient History
Gregory XVI, the Pope of Rome, agreed to the division of the vicariate of Verapoly into three for administrative convenience - Mangalore in the North, Verapoly in the centre and Quilon in the South. The new pro-vicariate of Quilon was provisionally formed on 12th May 1845 and the territory of the present diocese of Kottar became a prominent part of this ecclesiastical unit.
In 1904 the coadjutor Bishop of Quilon, Aloysius Maria Benzigar sent his proposals to Rome for the creation of the new diocese of Kottar, Trivandrum and Quilon. The positive response came from Rome. Kottar diocese is the Southern most diocese of India, comprising the district of Kanyakumari in the state of TamilNadu . Kanyakumari (Cape-Comorin) the lands end of India, which is a parish under Kottar diocese. The unique feature of the new diocese is the fact that out of the 32 priest working in the parishes of the diocese at the time of its erection, 28 were secular priests and all of them were native Indians. Out of these 28, seven were hailing with in the area of the new diocese itself. Another Unique feature was that Kottar was the third diocese in India to be entrusted to the native clergy, and her first Bishop, Lawrence Pereira, was the third native Indian, who occupied the post of Bishop.
