#history
#memory
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Church of South India.
27th September is celebrated as the formation day of the Church of South India.
The day commemorate the signing of the Tranquebar Manifesto in 1919.
Rev. V. Santiago, of Batlagundu, Madurai, representing South India United Church ( SIUC was the first avatar of the Church of South India) was the first Indian Moderator of the unified church.
He had led a delegation of 26 church leaders of the SIUC and signed the historic Tranquebar Manifesto. The joint signatory was Rt Rev V S Azariah, who was the first Indian Bishop of the Anglican Church in India. He led a delegation of 6 church leaders of the Anglican Church.
They together signed the Tranquebar Manifesto in 1919, a milestone document which finally brought the Anglican Church into the Church Union Movement that had already brought in other denominations.
The movement culminated in 1947 with the formation of the Church of South India.
Rev. Santiago was a charismatic church leader. He was a professor of Mathematics in the American College, Madurai, and a musician and composer of some of the popular lyrics sung in Tamil churches the world over.
‘Dasarey Ithraniyai Anbai’ and ‘Indhai Kristhyesu Raja’, ‘Devaney Nan Umadhandaiyil’ are three of his most loved kirthaneys with a call to devotion and social justice.
Rev. Santiago was also a public servant having been re-elected four times as the Chairman of the Batlagundu Municipality in Madurai. He died in 1929, without witnessing the final formation of the C.S.I. that he tirelessly worked for throughout his life.
(adapted)
– Joy Kallivayalil.
