OUR MATHICODE DISTRICT CHURCH HISTORY
Christianity was sowed here in the year 1810 by the renowned LMS missionary Ringle Taube. Those seeds have taken strong root and today the Mathicode Church has 12 branch Churches. It also has couple of schools and a newly built community hall under its wings. It also does mission works in the hill regions through DMPB.
Kanyakumari was a part of South Travancore and it was ruled by the Hindu kings. People who lived here had lot of superstitious beliefs and idol worships. There were also divided on Caste. During this period, South Travancore’s first missionary William Thobius Ringle Taube from London Missionary Society visited Mylaudy in response to a call from Mylaudy Maharajan Vedha Manickam. Ringletaube came to Mylaudy through Aralvaimozhi on 25-04-1806. He started his mission work with Mylaudy as its headquarters. In 1807, i.e within a year of starting his mission work he baptized 40 people and brought them in Christ. In 1809, government gave permission to build a Church and thereby the first protestant Christian Church was built by him in mylaudy in the land given by Maharajan Vedha Manickam. Later in 1810, he got permission from Government to build six more Churches in Mylaudy, Pitchaikudiyiruppu, Putthalam, Kovil Vilai, Athikadu, Ethamozhi and Thamaraikulam. He appointed preachers in all these Churches. Ringle Taube stayed in Udayagiri next to Thuckalay from 1810 to 1812 and was conducting worships for the European soldiers who stayed there. During that period, he visited the villagers nearby and preached the Gospel. He went to Ammandi Vilai, Anandhanadar Kudiyiruppu, Peyankuzhi, Moolachel and Mathicode. And so our ancestors knew the Gospel from 1810. The head of Mathicode village namely Mr. Maadan Marthandan, Mr. Sankaran Sathiyanathan and Mr. Senbaga Perumal came to know about Christianity through Ringletaube, and got baptized by visiting Mylaudy by foot. They were the first Christians of the Mathicode village.
These early Christians of Mathicode, spread the Gospel to the people of Mathicode. They worshipped Jesus under the trees and verandas. On Sundays they went to Mylaudy by foot and participated in worship. Ringle Taube left the mission field on 5th Feb 1816. He handed all the responsibilities to Maharajan Vedha Manickam. Even after that the Christians from Mathicode and its surroundings upto 15 miles, went to Mylaudy and participated in Sunday services.
In Dec 1817, Charles Meet came to Travancore as the second missionary. He changed the headquarters of mission work from Mylaudy to Nagercoil and started his ministry. As a result of his two years of hard work, the number of Churches increased. He spread the gospel in the villages nearby Nagercoil such as Kotti Kovilvilai, Thittu Vilai, Agastheeswaram, Krishnan Kovil, Kaliyankadu, Pattanam, Mathicode, Peyankuzhi, Ethavilai, Eraniel, Ethamozhi and Anandha Nadar Kudiyiruppu. In each of these villages where he preached the Gospel, he built a Church and a school before the end of 1819.
Our Mathicode Church was built by Charles Meet in 1819 as a small Church. A small school was started in 1825. Even today this school is continuing its service as L.M.S. Higher Secondary School in Mathicode. During the period of Balies who came after Charles Meet, the Church get destroyed in a fire accident and hence the roofing was reconstructed with tiles. During the period of next missionary I.H.Hacker, the number of Church members had increased and it forced them to extend the Church. I.H. Hacker decided to rebuild the Church in this place where it is standing today. This land was bought from the legal heirs of Mr. Maadan Marthandan and Mr. Sankaran Sathiya Nathan by Mr. Jeba Gnanam of Devicode who was working as the preacher of the Church that time. Foundation stone for the new Church was laid in 1883, and was inaugurated by I.H.Hacker. Mathicode Church had grown as a circle Church in 1905 and again during the period of evangelist Mr. Moses from Devicode, our Church was further extended.
Rev. V. Y. Moses was the first ordinated pastor of our Church and he worked in our Church from 1940. In 1947, the London Mission Churches in south Travancore merged with the Church of South India. South Travancore diocese was created and Most. Rev. A. H. Legg was appointed as the first Bishop. In 1958, during the period of Mr. S .Manuel who was the pastor in our Church, the very first electric connection was given to our Church. Foundation stone for extending the Church was laid by Bishop Most. Rev. A. H. Legg on 11-06-1956. The inauguration of the extended Church was done by Bishop Rt. Rev. I. R.H Gnana Dhason on 24th Dec 1956, during the period of evangelist Mr. Daniel L.Th of Azhagappapuram. In 1970, Rev. Y. J. J. Packia Nathan was appointed as the pastor of Mathicode pastorate Church. The foundation stone for our Church bell tower was laid in that period. Our beautiful bell tower was inaugurated on 10th January 1979. On 15th June 1979 our Church was promoted as a district Church and Rev. Y. Jacob became our Church’s first district chairman.
