St. Francis CSI Church is the oldest European Church in India.
Vasco da Gama, discovered the sea route from Europe to India in the year 1948. He was followed by Pedro Álvares Cabral and Afonso de Albuquerque and the Raja of Cochin permitted them to engage in trade. They built a fort at and within the fort, they built a church with a wooden structure, which was dedicated to St. Bartholomew.
Francisco de Almeida, the Portuguese viceroy, was allowed, in 1506, by the Raja of Cochin to reconstruct wooden buildings in stone and masonry. The wooden church was rebuilt, presumably by the Franciscan friars, with bricks and mortar and a tiled roof was erected. The new church was completed in 1516 and dedicated to St. Antony.
Towards the end of 1524 Vasco Da Gama returned to Cochin where he died on the Christmas eve of that year and was buried in this Church. Fourteen years later, his remains were shipped to Portugal and deposited at Vidigveria where they remained until 1872 when they were removed to the monastery of Jeronimos in Lisbon, its present abode.
Later the church witnessed various European invasions and during the Dutch invasion of Kochi in 1663. The Dutch reconditioned it and converted it into a government church.
In 1804, the Dutch surrendered the church to the Anglican Church following the British invasion of Kochi in 1795. The church was renamed and renovated in 1886. The Church of South India (CSI) took over the administration and management of the church in 1949.
The Clock on this Church was erected in the year 1923 in memory of Hal Harrison Jones, a former Managing Director of Aspinwall & Company. There also stands a cenotaph in the middle of the lawn and it was built in 1920 in remembrance of the Kochilites who laid down their lives in World War I.
An old Dutch baptism and marriage register (1751 to 1804), the Doop Book, is preserved in the church. Records say that the register was maintained by a Predikant Cornelies. Many Dutch citizens visit the church to try and trace their family roots from the register. The church also has a British register.
Website: http://stfranciscsichurch.org/
Vasco da Gama, discovered the sea route from Europe to India in the year 1948. He was followed by Pedro Álvares Cabral and Afonso de Albuquerque and the Raja of Cochin permitted them to engage in trade. They built a fort at and within the fort, they built a church with a wooden structure, which was dedicated to St. Bartholomew.
Towards the end of 1524 Vasco Da Gama returned to Cochin where he died on the Christmas eve of that year and was buried in this Church. Fourteen years later, his remains were shipped to Portugal and deposited at Vidigveria where they remained until 1872 when they were removed to the monastery of Jeronimos in Lisbon, its present abode.
Later the church witnessed various European invasions and during the Dutch invasion of Kochi in 1663. The Dutch reconditioned it and converted it into a government church.
In 1804, the Dutch surrendered the church to the Anglican Church following the British invasion of Kochi in 1795. The church was renamed and renovated in 1886. The Church of South India (CSI) took over the administration and management of the church in 1949.
The Clock on this Church was erected in the year 1923 in memory of Hal Harrison Jones, a former Managing Director of Aspinwall & Company. There also stands a cenotaph in the middle of the lawn and it was built in 1920 in remembrance of the Kochilites who laid down their lives in World War I.
An old Dutch baptism and marriage register (1751 to 1804), the Doop Book, is preserved in the church. Records say that the register was maintained by a Predikant Cornelies. Many Dutch citizens visit the church to try and trace their family roots from the register. The church also has a British register.
Website: http://stfranciscsichurch.org/
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