Father Immanuel Lopez, a Catholic priest, born in May 1908 and brought up in the heart of Kochi, was declared a Servant of God here at his home Chathiath Mount Carmel parish on Wednesday by Varappuzha archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil during a concelebrated mass.
A person is declared Servant of God by the Catholic Church to indicate that the process of her or his being possibly declared a saint (canonisation) is on. It is the first of the four steps to canonisation. In the next step the Servant of God will be declared Venerable after which she or he may be beatified and declared Blessed and finally a Saint depending on the results of the inquiries by the Church authorities appointed for the purpose or the cause. The process of declaring a person a saint is directly supervised by the Congregation for the Causesof Saints under the Catholic Church.
‘Good Samaritan of Kochi’
Monsignor Lopez is often referred to as the Good Samaritan of Kochi or Kerala Vianney (the latter being a French saint of the Catholic Church). He was born into an Anglo-Indian family in the city as the eldest of four children of Elias and Teresa. He completed his schooling in the city. His seminary training was completed in Kochi and in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He was ordained a priest in 1934. He passed away in Kochi at the age of 96 on March 20, 2004.
Around 5,000 people attended the ceremonies on Wednesday when he was declared Servant of God. Kannur bishop Alex Vadakkumthala, former bishop of Kottappuram Joseph Karikkassery, archbishop emeritus Francis Kallarakkal and Neyyattinkara bishop Vincent Samuel were among those who concelebrated the mass. A biography of the Servant of God was released on the occasion.
