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Chaldeo-Indian; but it was afterwards named Chaldeo-Malabar, and this
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designation is still in use.
3.3.1 The Origin and Meaning of the Name “Syro-Malabar”

The first official document, in which the term is officially used, is
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the apostolic letter Quod iampridem of Pope Leo XIII. When the Syro-
Malabar apostolic vicariates of Thrichur and Kottayam were formed in
1887, there were communities of St. Thomas Christians that were not in
communion with Rome. The non-Catholic communities were also knows as
St. Thomas Christians. In order to distinguish the St. Thomas Catholic
Christians from these non-Catholic St. Thomas Christians and from the
Latin Catholics, the name Syro-Malabar was given to the St. Thomas
Catholic Christians. The new name “Syro-Malabar” was officially coined to
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designate the Catholic Church of St. Thomas Christians.
The liturgical language of the time was East Syriac (Aramaic). The
first part of the hyphenated word, Syro, refers to both Syriac, the liturgical
language, and to the East-Syrian connection of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The St. Thomas Christians are known as Syrians because of their East
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Syrian connection and the Syriac language they used in the liturgy. “The
name Syro-Malabar would be consistently used in the future in such a way
that the expressions “Syro-Malabar Church” and “Syro-Malabar rite” would
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become common”.

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Cf. PODIPARA, P. J., The Hierarchy of the Syro-Malabar Church, Prakasam
Publications, Alleppey (Kerala), 1976, pp. 15-17.
12
Cf. LEO XIII, Apostolic Letter Quod iampridem, 20 May, 1887, in LEONIS XIII,
Pontificis Maximi Acta, Vol. VII, Romae, 1888, pp. 106-108, in Acta Sanctae Sedis,Vol.
19, pp.513-514. Cf. P. PALLATH, The Catholic Church in India, Mar Thoma Yogam,
Roma, 2003, p. 106. But the term Syro-Malabar is first encountered in the letters of
Aloysius Mary of Jesus, a Carmelite, who was Vicar Apostolic over Malabar from 1784 to
1802. Cf. PAYNGOT, C., “The Syro-Malabar Marriage”, in GIUSTINO FARNEDI (ed.),
La Celebrazione Cristiana del Matrimonio: Simboli e Testi, Pont. Ateneo S. Anselmo,
Roma, 1986, p. 262.
13
Cf. PALLATH, P., The Catholic Church in India, Mar Thoma Yogam, Roma, 2003, pp.
105-106.
14
Cf. PODIPARA, P. J., The Hierarchy of the Syro-Malabar Church, Prakasam
Publications, Alleppey (Kerala), 1976, pp. 15-17.
15
Ibid., p. 106.

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