Jordanus

Jordanus Catalanus de Severac, often also Jordanus Catalani, (c. 1290 probably in Sévérac -le- Château, southern France, † 1336 in Bombay, India) was a Dominican priest, missionary and from 1329 the first diocesan bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon in Kerala. He was also the first Catholic bishop of the Latin rite in India.

Life and work

Jordanus Catalanus de Severac was French, and probably originated in Sévérac -le- Château. He entered the Dominican Order and became a priest.

Pope John XXII. († 1334 ) established in 1318 a new ecclesiastical province, the Archdiocese Sultaniya in Persia, today Soltaniyeh, in the Iranian province of Zanjan; at that time the capital of Christianity against open-minded dynasty of the Ilkhanate. Especially the Khans Arghun († 1291 ) and his son Öldscheitü († 1316), investigated - for political reasons - sustained contact with the Christian Europe, the latter was even baptized Christian.

Jordanus Catalanus came in 1320 with four Franciscans - one of them the Blessed Thomas of Tolentino - via Tabriz and Sultaniya the Persian Gulf. There, they set sail and originally wanted to China. The group landed late in Thane near Bombay and found a friendly reception in a community of local Thomas Christians.

When Father Jordanus was staying on a mission trip, were his four brothers in Thane, beheaded publicly on April 9, 1321 by Muslims. It was the already mentioned Thomas of Tolentino, Peter of Siena, James of Padua and Demetrius of Tiflis ( Armenian lay brother ). All four martyrs were in 1894 by Pope Leo XIII. declared Blessed.

After his return Jordanus Catalanus buried the dead Franciscan and moved on alone to the south of the subcontinent. On October 12, 1321 Dominican reported in a letter to his religious family in Tabriz, on the martyrdom of his companions and asked for deployment of the brothers for his mission. He wrote a second letter from Tana, on 20 January 1323.

From about 1323, the residence of Father Jordanus in Quilon ( Kollam = ) on the Malabar Coast, is in today's Kerala; an ancient Christian capital of India, which is one of the seven, was founded here by St. Thomas Christian communities. Numerous baptisms, the Dominicans there fully dressed, he seems to have taken from here but also more mission trips in the country. 1328 he went to Avignon and told Pope John XXII. about his Christian community in Quilon, whereupon the latter on August 9, 1329, the Bull " Romanus Pontifex " adopted and therefore the Diocese of Quilon, first of all Catholic dioceses Indian officially brought to life. On 21 August the same year, the Bull " Venerabili fratri Jordano " followed by which the pontiff Father Jordanus certain for the first pastors. Quilon as suffragan was under the aforementioned Latin Archdiocese Sultaniya in Persia, now Soltaniyeh.

1330 returned Jordanus Catalanus as bishop to Quilon back and was received by the Christians with great jubilation. He had received an order from the Pope to hand over the pallium go in Sultaniya, the new Archbishop Johannes de Cori. He also conveyed greetings of the pontiff to the local rulers in Malabar. The letter to the rulers of South India are adopted on April 8, 1330 in Avignon; from February 4 dated a letter from the Pope to the newly appointed Archbishop John in Sultaniya in which he him about bringing the pallium by Jordanus or his episcopal Konfrater Thomas (later active in Uzbekistan) announces and recommends that one of the two bishops also the necessary consecration grant leave to. The return of Jordanus Catalanus after Quilon should therefore be carried out until at least the end of the year 1330.

Based on local, Indian tradition Bishop Jordanus 1336 was stoned at Bombay by Muslims. He has a detailed description of India and the states encountered by him leave, which is preserved under the title " Mirabilia descripta " and was repeatedly published in English.

When the missionary and papal legate Giovanni de Marignolli 1348 came to Quilon, he no longer met Bishop Jordanus, but found there a going back to him, Latin Christian community, which he supervised a year and four months and whose church he embellished with paintings before he traveled further.