Nachiyarkoil is a small town in the outskirts of Kumbakonam main town. This little town is considered as a popular Hindu spiritual abode as the Hindu God Vishnu, popularly known as Thirunarayur Nambi, is located here. This temple is built with a medieval Tamil architectural style, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi known as Nachiyar This temple is believed to have been built by Kochengat Cholan of the late 3rd century CE with later contributions from Medieval Cholas. Therefore, this little town is proud of having mixed religious traditions like Hindus, Muslims and Christians. In this context, the Catholic church standing amidst the strong Hindu religious faith traditions is a symbol of light shining the presence of Jesus to all people, emanating peace, joy, hope and fraternal solidarity. Moreover, the parish of Nachiyarkoil along with its substations belonged to the nearby parish of Mathur as its substations for a long time. As the diocesan administration was deliberating about the possibility of dividing the parish of Mathur and create a new parish under Nachiyarkoil, Fr. A. Santhiyagu, msfs came to know about it through his diocesan friend priests in the diocese of Kumbakonam. He initiated contacting priests from a few of the Vicar Forane centers in the diocese whom he knew personally and asked their support to entrust the new parish to the MSFS missionaries as they had not taken any parish in the diocese of Kumbakonam. Fr. A. Santhiyagu also personally contacted Most Rev. F. Antonysamy, the bishop of Kumbakonam and requested him to invite the MSFS missionaries. At the guidance of the bishop, Fr. A. Santhiyagu informed Fr. A. Dharmaraj, msfs who was the provincial at that time about the possibility of getting a parish in the diocese of Kumbakonam and asked him to contact the bishop, who offered the invitation to the MSFS missionaries. The provincial then contacted the bishop and responded to his invitation positively and designated Fr. J. Savarimuthu, msfs to the bishop who appointed him as the parish priest. The inauguration of the parish and the installation of the first parish priest took place on 4 May 2014. There are no Catholic families at all in the town of Nachiyarkoil itself but there are quite many Catholic families in the villages surrounding the town.
There are 15 substations under this parish, namely, Anthoniyar Koil Street (130 families), Keezhamathur – around 40 families, Arulanandapuram – around 50 families, Nalladai – around 60 families, Sithalathoor – around 20 families, Perappadi – around 10 families, Kovanur – around 40 families, Santhanamadha street around 25 families, Kothangudi – around 40 families, Kumaramangalam – around 25 families, Erichathiram – around 35 families, Veeraragavapuram – over 40 families, Thirpanthurai – around 100 families, Kutthanur – around 4 families, Thirunaraiyur – over 10 families. As there was no presbytery in the new parish, a temporary arrangement was made for the residence of the parish priest and so Fr. J. Savarimuthu first stayed in a rented house for two years. He carried out his pastoral ministry from here with dedication and enthusiasm. As the first parish priest, he took a lot of initiatives to organize the various pastoral activities in all the villages like introducing family card subscription, maintaining the sacramental records, forming youth group, altar servers, women’s group and coordinating the parish elders (parish council). The province and the diocese have not yet formalized any pastoral contract regarding the parish of Nachiyarkoil. The bishop first agreed to support the parish priest with mass intentions but no priest’s remuneration. The province takes care of the needs of the priests so far.
Developments undertaken at various times
Fr. J. Savarimuthu, msfs was the first parish priest and he served the parish for two years from 2014 – 2016. He worked very hard, despite the initial challenges to organize and develop the parish. He took the initiative to contact the people concerned on the direction of the province and bought 85 cents of land for the province near the state highway from Kumbakonam to Thiruvarur. He planned out and organized liturgical celebrations and the annual feast days in collaboration with the committee of elders in each village.
Fr. P. Ananda Raj, msfs was appointed to succeeded Fr. Savarimuthu, msfs as parish priest and he served the parish for two years from 2016 – 2018. He also stayed in a rented house and took the initiative to do the spade work and constructed the parish office and the priest’s house which was blessed by Most Rev. F. Antonysamy, the bishop of Kumbakonam and opened by Fr. K. Ignaci Muthu, msfs the provincial. He was passionately committed to catering the spiritual needs of the people and supported the people’s effort, helping them to complete the construction work of the churches they initiated in three of the substations. Then he was transferred with the intention of joining the Malawi mission in Africa.
Fr. V. Yesuraja, msfs was appointed as the parish priest to succeed Fr. Anand, and he also served the parish for two years from 2018 – 2020. He showed his enthusiasm and commitment in serving the parish in all possible ways.
Fr. A. Arockiyasamy, msfs was appointed as the parish priest and he served the parish for one year from 2020 – 2021. It was the time of lockdown due to Covid-19, and yet he organized various spiritual activities both in the parish and in different substations to help people deepen their faith.
Fr. A. Edward, msfs was as the parish priest succeeding Fr. A. Arockiyasamy, msfs and he is actively involved in organizing and animating the parish to grow in faith, promoting people’s spiritual activities. As the parish church was in a very dangerous situation and dilapidated condition, he organized the people and decided to build a new parish church. He took the initiative to demolish the old church and started the church construction. He constructed a small hall on the first floor of the parish office with the help of the province, and that was used for saying mass as the church construction was in progress, He worked very hard to mobilize the funds needed with the help of the people and support from the province and built a beautiful church.
Participatory Structures in the Parish: Natamai system (parish council), BCC
Associations in the Parish: Youth Group, Alter Servers, Legion of Mary
Succession of Parish Priest
Fr. J. Savarimuthu, msfs 2014 – 2016
Fr. P. Ananda Raj, msfs 2016 – 2018
Fr. V. Yesuraja, msfs 2018 – 2020
Fr. A. Arockiyasamy, msfs 2020 – 2021
Fr. A. Edward, msfs 2021
Succession of Assistant Parish Priests / Deacons
Dn. S. Desas, msfs 2019 – 2020
Dn. S. Nirmal Kumar, msfs 2020 – 2021
Dn. Anbu Stalin, msfs 2021 – 2022
Fr. I. S. Jesusraj, msfs 2022 – 2023
Fr. A. Mahimai Arokia Raj, msfs 2022 – 2023
Fr. T. Anto Prabin, msfs 2023 – 2024
Fr. A. Arockiya Renold Anand 2024 – 2025
Fr. A. Dony Diamond Raj, msfs 2025 – 2026