Created by Wleness
Last edited March 31, 2026


St. Francis Xavier Forane Church, Velur
Religion
AffiliationCatholic
DioceseThrissur
1712; 314 years ago (1712)
Location
LocationIndia Velur, Thrissur, Kerala
StateKerala
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Dome1
Website
www.arnoschurchvelur.com

St. Francis Xavier Forane Church is at the center of Velur, Kerala, India. It is a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and a protected monument[1][2] in the Archdiocese of Thrissur with considerable antiquity and spiritual heritage. Historically this Forane church has been the mother church of many parishes. Four Forane divisions have come into existence out of this church.

The church's founder, Fr. Johann Ernst Hanxleden,[1] who is popularly known as Arnos Padiri, wrote the first Malayalam – Portuguese Encyclopedia [3][4] He was a Jesuit priest from Germany. It is believed that the Velur church was founded on 3 December 1712 in honor of St. Francis Xavier.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Pillai, R. Chandran (2001). A Hand Book on Protected Monuments of Kerala. Department of Archaeology, Government of Kerala. OCLC 63125677.
  2. "Remembering the man who wrote 'Puthen Pana'". Times Of India. TNN. 17 January 2017.
  3. Mathew, K. S. (2001). The Portuguese and the socio-cultural changes in India, 1500–1800. Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, MESHAR. p. 463. ISBN 978-81-900166-6-7.
  4. "The times and life of Arnos Paathiri". The Hindu. 7 August 2015.

External links[edit | edit source]


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