Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon

Diocese of Quilon Dioecesis Quilonensis
New cathedral of Quilon at Tangasseri
Location
Country	India
Ecclesiastical province	Trivandrum
Metropolitan	Trivandrum
Statistics
Area	1,950 km2 (750 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2010) 5,309,000 48,501 (0,9%)
Parishes	42
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	9 August 1329 (687 years ago) 1 September 1886 (130 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Co-cathedral	Infant Jesus Cathedral
Patron saint	Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Secular priests	129
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Stanley Roman Bishop of Quilon
Metropolitan Archbishop	Maria Callist Soosa Pakiam
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon or Kollam is the first Catholic diocese in India in the state of Kerala. The diocese,which covers an area of 1,950 km². (753 square miles), and contains a population of 4,879,553 - 235,922 (4.8%) of which are Catholic. It was first erected on 9 August 1329, and was re-erected on 1 September 1886.

It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Trivandrum. As of 2013^[update] the bishop was Stanley Roman.

According to tradition, St. Thomas the Apostle established seven churches along the southern part of west coast of India, and Quilon (pronounced Koy-lon) is the second in the list of the above seven churches.

John of Monte Corvino, a member of the Societas Peregrinantium Pro Christo on his way to China, landed in Quilon in 1291 and ministered the Christian community. The Venetian traveller Marco Polo who visited India in 1292 testified to the presence of a Christian community in Quilon.

Since the latter half of the 13 th century, Quilon became the chief centre of missionary expeditions. Franciscan and Dominican Missionaries in the 13 th and 14 th centuries visited Quilon and their letters confirm the existence of a vibrant Christian community in Quilon.

In 1329 Pope John XXII, from the Holy See then in Avignon (France), erected Quilon as the first Diocese in the whole of Indies as suffragan to the Archdiocese of Sultany in Persia through the decree "Romanus Pontifex" dated 9 August 1329 . By a separate bull, tah goes "Venerabili Fratri Jordano", the same Pope, on 21 August 1329 appointed the French or Catalan Dominican friar Jordanus Catalani" as the first Bishop of Quilon.