Omzoor is situated at a distance of 14 km from Mangalore to the north east and is surrounded by Neermarga, Belloor, Modankap, Fermai parishes.
Omzoor is also known as Arkula or Mermajal. This parish is one of the three ancient parishes of the Mangalore diocese. In 1568, a Franciscan priest built a church at Arkula, where presently Nithya Sahaya Matha High School is situated. This place is very near to the present church structure.
Pietro della Valle, the Italian traveller who visited Mangalore in 1623 mentions three churches existed at that time : one is the Church of the Holy Rosary at Bolar, the other two being Our Lady of Mercy of Ullal and of St. Francis of Assisi at Farangipet.
Arkula church was later closed and in between 1601 and 1625 it was re-established and dedicated to the Holy Family. Bangera kings of Nandavar donated the land to build the present Holy Family Church at Omzoor.
It was one of the 27 churches in Canara destroyed by Tipu Sultan during the period 1784 - 1799 during which Christians were taken into captivity at Srirangapatna.
After the return of the Christians from the captivity at Srirangapatna in 1799, the church was rededicated and Fr Joachim Manuel Mendis became the first parish priest of the re-dedicated church.
Omzoor is the Mother Church of churches like Belloor (1920), Kelarai (1935) and Neermarga (1968). A shed that was built at Fermai by Fr Andrew D’Souza was officially erected in 1999 as a chapel and later, on 20 May 2004 into Fermai parish. He has built a presbytery cum hall at the basement and a church above it.
During the last 150 years the church building has undergone many renovations, additions and other improvements according to the needs of the time. Fr Aloysius Rodrigues (1953-1973) renovated and remodelled the building and it was blessed on 27 November 1959. Fr Andrew D’Souza (1997) renovated the church façade and changed the flooring. He also repaired and added a few rooms to the presbytery.
Fr James D'Souza is the 46th parish priest of Omzoor since 1759.
Parish Priests who have served in the parish :
- Fr Joachim Manuel Mendis
- Fr Aloysius Rodrigues (1953-1973)
- Fr L. A. Cutinho (1973-1976)
- Fr Xavier Pinto (1990 - 1997)
- Fr Andrew D’Souza (1997 - 2004)
- Fr Cyril Pinto (2004 - 2011)
- Fr James D’Souza (2011 - 2018)
- Fr Alwyn Edward D’Cunha (from 2018 onwards)
(Complete list will be updated soon)
Compiled by Catholic Time Staff with inputs from Wikipedia
Last updated in Dec 2018.
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