By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Sept 17, 2025: Emeritus Archbishop Jacob Thoomkuzhy of Trichur, former vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, founder of the Society of Khristudasis (Handmaids of Christ) congregation and founder chairman of Jeevan TV, has died.
The death occurred at 2:50 pm on September 17 at Thrissur’s Jubilee Mission Medical College Hospital where he was admitted a few days ago for treatment of old age-related illnesses. He would have turned 95 on December 13 this year.
The funeral services and burial will be conducted in two parts on September 21-22.
Archbishop Thoomkuzhy was the first bishop of Mananthavady and the second bishop of Thamarassery, two Syro-Malabar dioceses in Kerala’s northern region. He then became the second archbishop of Trichur on February 15, 1997, a post he held for ten years until his retirement in 2007.
The archbishop was born on December 13, 1930, as the fourth among 12 children of Kurian and Rosa Thoomkuzhy, farmers at Vilakkumadam near Palai in Kottayam district. Later the family migrated to Thiruvampady in Kozhikode district.
In 1947, he joined the minor seminary at Changanacherry. After completing philosophy studies at the major seminary in Alwaye, he studied theology in Rome, where he was ordained a priest on December 22, 1956. He remained in Rome for four more years to obtain a doctorate in Canon Law.
On his return to Kerala, he served as secretary to Bishop Sebastian Valloppilly of Tellicherry and chancellor while assisting in several parishes of the first Syro-Malabar diocese in northern Kerala, erected in 1953.
As the Mananthavady bishop, he started the Tribal Community Development Project for the advancement of indigenous people, who form approximately 19 percent of Wayanad district’s population, the highest tribal presence in Kerala.
The prelate also founded the Society of Kristudasis in 1977 as a response to the pastoral and missionary needs of Mananthavady diocese was created four years earlier for the migrant population from central Kerala. He recognized the need for a group of dedicated women who would directly serve the people in local parish communities.
Started with 18 candidates, the congregation now has 318 members in 76 convents serving 18 dioceses both within and outside India.
He was instrumental in the launch of Jeevan TV, a Malayalam language news and entertainment channel in 2002.
Archbishop Thoomkuzhy also founded Marymatha (Mother Mary) Major Seminary, Mulayam, a Thrissur suburb. He organized the CBCI biennial general body meeting in 2004 at the seminary. He also founded the Jubilee Mission Medical College and Jyothi Engineering College, Cheruthuruthy, Thrissur.
He also started a grand pilgrimage to Palayur, where St Thomas the Apostle is believed to have made his first converts in India in the first century.