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Kochi, Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica |
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Name: |
Kochi, Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica | |||||||||||||
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Estd: |
15th Centuary | ||||||||||||||
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Feast Day: |
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| E-mail: | santacruzcathedralbasilica@gmail.com | ||||||||||||||
Website: |
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| Telephone (O) | +91 484-2225799 | ||||||||||||||
| Contact: Santa Cruz Rd, Fort Nagar, Fort Kochi, Kochi, Kerala 682001 | |||||||||||||||
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History |
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| The history of Santa Cruz Basilica begins with the arrival of Portuguese missionaries along with the second Portuguese fleet under Pedro ÃÂlvares Cabral on December 24, 1500AD. The Cochin King Godha Varma I received them very warmly. This caused the Zamorin of Calicut to declare war against Cochin. But the Portuguese army under Commander Dom Afonso de Albuquerque who reached Cochin in 1503 defeated the enemies of the King of Cochin and in return he gave them permission to build a fort in Cochin. It was built originally by the Portuguese and elevated to a Cathedral by Pope Paul IV in 1558, was spared by the Dutch conquerors who destroyed many Catholic buildings. Later the British demolished the structure and Bishop D. Jo Gomes Ferreira commissioned a new building in 1887. The basilica serves as the Cathedral church of the Diocese of Cochin, the second oldest Diocese of India. It is one of the eight Basilicas in the country.  It is a place of devotion as well as a center of historic significance, endowed with architectural and artistic grandeur and colours of the gothic style. Consecrated in 1905, Santa Cruz was proclaimed a Basilica by the Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1984. | |||||||||||||||
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