By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Oct 28, 2022: The body of a Capuchin priest was recovered five days after he was drowned in the Godavari River in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
“We have found the body of Tony Pullattukalayil (earlier reported as Pulladen) at 11:10 pm,” says a message from Father Melvin, the secretary to the provincial of the St Joseph’s Capuchin province, Kottayam.
The body was recovered from Kollur, almost 3 km from the spot of drowning.
The funeral is scheduled at 2:30 pm on October 30 at Capuchin Vidyabhavan in Thellakam, Kottayam, Kerala.
The Capuchins in India had intensified their prayers as Father Pullattukalayil’s body remained untraced.
Father Pullattukalayil and seminarian Brother Bijo Thomas Palampurackal were taking bath in the river around 6 pm on October 23 when undercurrents swept them away near Errayipet village near Chennur town. The body of Brother Palampurackal was recovered the following morning.
Father Antony Alphonse, another priest who was with them, escaped unhurt. He later explained that Brother Palampurackal had first entered the river to bathe but got stuck under the water. Father Pulladen had gone to his rescue the Brother but himself got drowned.
The three have been serving the Capuchins’ Adilabad mission in Telangana state.
The Adilabad Mission comes under the St Joseph’s Capuchin province based in Kottayam.
A message from provincial Father George Antony Assaricheril on October 27 says hundreds of people, police force, expert fishermen, priests, religious and volunteers had conducted the search with motorized and normal boats and drone cameras.
Earlier, the body of Brother Palampurackal was taken to the province headquarters. The burial is scheduled at 2:30 pm on October 28 at the Capuchin Vidyabhavan Chapel,Thellakom, Kottayam, the provincial’s message says.
Father Pullattukalayil was born March 10, 1991, under St. George Forane Church, Kaipuzha in Kottayam. He joined the Capuchins on May, 14, 2010, and was ordained a priest on November 18, 2019.
At the top of the memento card he had prepared for the ordination was a quote from the Book of Psalms: “The deep calls to deep” with its reference Psalm 42.7. The complete verse is: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents,
The image printed above his picture depicted Jesus reaching down from the surface of the water into the deep to lift someone from the depths of the waters.
Brother Palampurackal was born on August 24, 1984, at Thellakom, and entered the congregation on June 5, 2016. He made his first vows on May 15, 2019.