Bl. Chavara burial place dispute goes to court

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Oct 20, 2014:  The dispute over the final resting place of Belssed Chavara, after 143 years of his death, has finally landed in the court as the Church prepares for the canonization of the saintly priest.

A petition has been filed before the Munsiff Court, Ernakulam, seeking an order to restrain a Kottayam-based publishing house from publishing a book on Fr Chavara written by M K Sanu.

The petitioner, Basil Attippetty, allege that the book contains distorted facts and perverted history about the life of Fr Chavara, the Indian Express reported.

The petitioner also sought a directive to Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio that the canonization of Fr Chavara be confined to his burial place at Koonammavu, in Ernakulam District, and to the St Phelomina’s Church and the shrine at Koonammavu.

The petition alleged that the narration in the book that the mortal remains of Fr Chavara were transferred from the St Phelomina’s Church to the Mannanam Monastery in Kottayam District, was not true.

The vice-postulator of the St Joseph’s Syro Malabar Monastery (CMI) has distorted the fact only to make unlawful monetary gains, by misleading the faithful,” the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner argued that as per Article-25 of the Constitution, a buried dead body should not be removed, altered or shifted from the buried place. “Shifting a dead body from the burial place without the sanction of the authority concerned is an offence punishable under Section-297 of the IPC,” the petition stated.

“If anyone has claimed to have shifted the mortal remains of Fr Chavara from Koonammavu to Mannanam it is a continuing offence and barbaric act. “The theft of the mortal remains of a person is an offence and the claim of continuity of that offence is also an offence,” the petitioner submitted.

The petitioner further alleged that the narration in the book about the transfer of the mortal remains was aimed only at demeaning and denigrating the reputation of Fr Chavara.

“Spreading false news through the book is a willful act done with ulterior motive and malafide intention to support and help the persons who have vested interests,” the petitioner said. Another argument raised by the petitioner is that Vatican, which is a foreign state, should have obtained prior sanction from the Government of India to canonise Fr Chavara, who was an Indian citizen.