MONTHLY EVENTS
Newsletter Volume 4 Issue 1
2.30 PM Sunday school
2 30 to 3 30 PM Adoration
of the blessed Sacrament
3 30 PM song practice
4.00 PM Prayers before the
Holy Mass
4.30 PM Holy Mass
Contact Information: Fr. John Kuriakose,
222 Ridley Blvd,
Toronto, ON, M5M 3M6
Tel: (416) 485 7781
Sunday Liturgy
Malankara Catholic Church St. Mary’s Mission Toronto
St. Eugene’s Chapel◊13 Regina Avenue◊Toronto, Ontario◊M6A 1R2
www.stmarysmalankaracatholicchurchtoronto.ca
Inside the Issue
Defender of our Faith 2-3
Recite-The Holy Rosary 4-5
Snippets from science 6-8
Saint of the month 8-9
Altar Service Schedule 9
Kids Korner 10
July 2012
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
July 7 - New Comers
Meeting @ 6pm
July 14 - Women‟s
Prayer Meeting (Jaison
& Jessy) @ 6:30pm
July 21 - Parish Picnic
July 22 - General-Body
Meeting
July 28 - Monthly Pray-
er meeting (Thomas &
Bindhu) @ 6:30pm
sary given by our Blessed Mother.
Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote, “It is
important not to lose this precious inher-
itance. We need to return this practice of
family prayer and prayer for families,
continuing to use the Rosary.” This is also
confirmed by Servant of God Father Pat-
rick Peyton, who said “The family that
prays together stays together”.
In the article with this bulletin,
the reason behind these bold statements is
uncovered and explained. We also uncov-
er another important aspect of our faith;
the Holy Scripture. In this month‟s Snip-
pets of Science, Amit Mathews divulges
the origins of the Bible and how man
compiled the Holy Book that guides us
through life. Additionally there is a bonus
section regarding ancient mathematical
problem. Lastly, we focus on the life of
St. Maria of Goretti as Betty Thazhamon
reveals what this young saint went
through at the tender age of eleven and
her journey to sainthood. So, we hope you
can take the time to remember our Fa-
thers, learn about the gift of our Mother,
understand our Holy Book came to be and
be inspired by the life and faith of young
St. Maria of Goretti in this month‟s bulle-
tin! Thank you and God bless!
- The Editors
This month‟s bulletin focuses on
the commemoration of our fathers; from
our faith to our families. On July 3rd, the
founding Father of the Church in India
joined with our Heavenly Father and, co-
incidently, our founding Father of the
Malankara Catholic Church who re-joined
with the Holy Father on September 20th ,
also joined our Father in heaven, in July
as well, on the 15th. Both of these Fathers
of our faith contributed to the fruition of
Jesus‟ mission to us before He ascended
into the heavens. In an article by Francis
Thazhamon the fruition of our Malankara
Catholic Church is shown by following
the life and journey of St. Thomas to that
of Servant of God Mar Ivanios. Through
their steadfast faith and defence of unity
they allowed for us to be a part of this
Church, where fathers can pass this mes-
sage down to their sons.
This month we also commemorate
those fathers who we know personally
within our own families. On July 17th, St.
Mary‟s Toronto children, MCYM and
Sunday School, showed its appreciation
with meaningful words, heartfelt songs
and thoughtful present. However, it is not
just to our own Church Fathers and our
own fathers that we focus on in this bulle-
tin. In an article by Rajesh Jacob, we
delve into the importance of the Holy Ro-
Page 2 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
The uniqueness of the Christ-
experience of St.Thomas very well
reflected in the three texts of St.
John`s gospel. St. Thomas was
ready even to forsake his life for
his master (John 11:16). He real-
ised that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God is the Way, the Truth and the
Life (John 14:16). The climax is
the profound manifestation of his
faith and total surrender of his life
for the kingdom of God, in his fa-
mous confession "My Lord, My
God" (John 20:26)
The steadfast faith and sacrificial
love for the Lord made St. Thomas
gladly take all the challenges in-
cluding travelling to the distant
land of India with totally unfamil-
iar culture and language. St. Thom-
as is traditionally believed to have
sailed to India in 52 AD to spread
the Christian faith among the Jews,
who were present in Kerala at the
time. He is supposed to have land-
ed at the ancient port of Muziris
near Kodungalloor. He then went
to Palayoor (near present-day
Guruvayoor), which was a Hindu
priestly community at that time.
Then he went to the southern part
of what is now Kerala State, where
he established the Ezharappallikal,
or "Seven and Half Churches".
These churches are at Niranam,
Palayoor, Nilackal (Chayal),
Kottakavu (Paravoor), Kokkaman-
galam, Kollam, Maliankara
(Kodungallur) and Thiruvitham-
kode (Half Church)
The hymns of St. Ephraem provide
the beautiful picture of the sum-
mary of the missionary work of St.
Thomas in India. "It was to a land
of dark people he was sent, to
clothe them by Baptism in white
robes. His grateful dawn dispelled
India's painful darkness. It was his
mission to espouse India to the
One-Begotten. The merchant is
blessed for having so great a treas-
ure. Edessa thus became the
blessed city by possessing the
greatest pearl India could yield.
Thomas works miracles in India
and at Edessa and he baptized peo-
ple."
St. Thomas, The Apostle of India
was martyred in 72 AD by a fanat-
ic at Little Mount, near Madras and
his body was brought to Mylapore
and was buried there. We celebrate
his feast: Dukhrana or commemo-
rate his martyrdom on July 03.
Mar Ivanios: The Defender of
Faith
The church St. Thomas founded in
India went through many challeng-
es, though she had her own eccle-
sial, liturgical, spiritual and admin-
istrative traditions. Intervention of
Portuguese missionaries during the
16th century and their efforts to
latinise the St. Thomas Christians
led to divisions in the church. Arri-
val of the Protestant missionaries
during the 19th century contributed
to further splits. By the end of 19th
century there were numerous de-
nominations among the St. Thomas
Christians, some were apostolic
and some were non-apostolic.
Many leaders made numerous ef-
forts including mediation since the
16th century to unite the divided
church and most of them were fu-
tile. In the meantime there were
tremendous litigations, fights and
disputes among many divisions for
wealth and power. The situation
becomes more chaotic due to disa-
greement in faith and lack of spirit-
uality!
...continued to next page
Page 3 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
“The Catholic Church is the only
true and perfect embodiment of
historical Christianity; the religion
that Jesus Christ brought into the
world…The Catholic Church alone
fulfils the purpose for which God
became man, for the salvation of
individuals and society. She alone
is the mystical body of Christ on
earth. She alone teaches the truth
and gives the life that is in Jesus
Christ, our Lord and God…The
Catholic Church is the home of the
Holy Spirit on earth.” These are
the words of a great visionary, who
realized the truth and devoted his
life and activities to the fulfillment
of that truth. He is none other than
Archbishop Geevarghese Mar
Ivanios, the Prophet of Ecumenism
and the father of Reunion Move-
ment in the 20th century Malanka-
ra Church.
In 1925, the Malankara Associa-
tion chose Fr. P.T. Geevarghese as
Bishop-candidate at the order of
the Malankara Metropolitan. He
insisted to consecrate him as Bish-
op of Bethany, a congregation that
he established when he was a
priest. He was not interested in
becoming a diocesan Bishop, as he
was disillusioned with the conflicts
in the church for money and pow-
er. It was a time when the Malan-
kara Orthodox Church suffered
serious setbacks in the law suites
and litigation and the Episcopal
Synod decided to merge the Ortho-
dox Church into some other an-
cient church. Mar Ivanios had al-
ready realized that the only solu-
tion to unite the church is to return
to the true church – the Catholic
Church. He suggested in the Synod
to re-unite with the Catholic
Church. The Synod appointed Mar
Ivanios to make dialogues with
Rome.
In 1929, the Orthodox Church won
the law suit against the Jacobites.
The other Bishops, along with the
Malankara Metropolitan decided to
revoke their decision to re-unite
with the Catholic Church. But Mar
Ivanios was firm on his decision.
He abandoned everything that he
had and while leaving his own
Bethany monastery at Perunad, he
blessed it saying: Bethany Malaye
Push Bashlomo (The hill of Betha-
ny, abide in peace). On 20th Sep-
tember 1930, Mar Ivanios and Mar
Theophilos along with Fr. John,
Deacon Alexander and Kilileth
Chacko, knelt before H.E. Aloys-
ius Maria Bensiger, Bishop of Qui-
lon and made their profession of
faith in the Catholic, Apostolic,
One and Holy Church. On 11th
June 1931, the Malankara Hierar-
chy was established by H. H. Pope
Pius XI. Mar Ivanios was raised to
the status of Archbishop of Trivan-
drum and Mar Theophilos became
the Bishop of Thiruvalla. Servant
of God Archbishop Geevarghese
Mar Ivanios passed away to his
eternal reward on 15th July 1953.
We all believe that Jesus Christ
sent St. Thomas to India to found
His Church here. We believe Jesus
Christ Himself chose Mar Ivanios
by the prayer of St. Thomas to de-
fend the faith of Malankara Church
and many through this church.
During this month, when we com-
memorate the martyrdom of St.
Thomas on July 03rd and the feast
of Servant of God Archbishop Mar
Ivanios on July 15th, let us pray to
both of them to intercede for us to
the Lord to help us achieve His
dream: “I have other sheep that
do not belong to this fold. I must
bring them also, and they will lis-
ten to my voice. So, there will be
one flock and one shep-
herd” (John 10:16).
- Babu Thazhamon
Page 4 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
The Holy Rosary is a great spiritu-
al tool to have our blessed mother
intercede for us. It‟s one of the
most spiritually rewarding tradi-
tions the Holy Catholic church has
handed down over generations.
Looking back into each of our an-
cestral generations we can defi-
nitely find grandparents who have
well realized the power of this
great prayer and who depended on
it to seek graces from our heavenly
father, and thus bring showers of
blessings on our families. Howev-
er, in these days we let aside this
great spiritual tool with abhorring
excuses like lack of time, being
busy, boredom from monotonicity
of the prayer etc. Yet all the saints
in the past have held the Holy Ro-
sary close to their heartbeat. Have
we travelled far enough from God
so as to be blinded about the inter-
cessory power of our blessed
mother?
St. Elizabeth received our blessed
mother into her house, and she was
filled with the Holy Spirit, sang
praises and the infant in her womb
leapt with joy. The scripture says
thus, “During those days, Mary set
out and travelled to the hill country
in haste to a town of Judah, where
she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth. When Eliz-
abeth heard Mary‟s greeting, the
infant leaped in her womb and
Elizabeth filled with the holy spirit
cried out in loud voice and said
“Most blessed are you among
women and blessed is the fruit of
your womb” and how does this
happen to me that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? For
at the moment the sound of your
greeting reached my ears, the in-
fant in my womb leaped for
joy.” (Luke Ch: 1 Vr: 39-45
NAB).
St. Elizabeth‟s prayer was so in-
spired that the church later on uses
her prayer repetitively as we recite
the rosary. We can infer from this
Holy Scripture that when our
blessed mother is in our house, we
too will receive the Holy Spirit
like St. Elizabeth. We too can
praise and cry out in a loud voice
praising God, and our infants
(children and family) will leap
with true joy. Not transient joy and
gratitude towards parents that
comes when their momentary de-
mands are met (e.g. getting the
right Christmas gift, prompt pay-
ment of their mobile phone bills or
shopping the most trendy attires)
but an everlasting gratitude for
providing them with what they
really need. Bringing our blessed
mother home, transforms each of
us, she intercedes for the Holy
Spirit to work freely in each of us
and the ultimate gift is true and
everlasting joy and peace.
A true dependence on our blessed
mother‟s intercession is depicted
by relentless recitation of the Holy
Rosary. Just as repetitive and mo-
notonous it may sound to those
who have not experienced its
power, the graces it bestows on
the one who recites it, and their
family is overwhelming. In to-
day‟s day and age with the rosary
being recorded as a melodious
hymn on a CD, and being visually
presented with attractive pictures
on television media, many faithful
are tempted to put that on the
background and get engrossed in
many other day to day chores as
the rosary is being played on a
music player, or on the television.
By doing so we somehow derive
some solace that we have been a
part of it. Audio-visual media def-
initely plays a great role in pre-
senting the Holy Rosary to us in
an inspirational manner, but it
cannot be a substitute for our ac-
tive participation in reciting the
Holy Rosary verbally ourselves.
The Holy Rosary is not to be just
heard or seen with us paying no
attention to it, but rather it needs
to be actively recited. In doing so,
it makes us recite the scripture, the
faith of our church and reminds us
to prepare for the final destiny of
our soul.
...continued to next page
Page 5 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
Following are a few noteworthy
points from the Apostolic letter
Rosarium Virginis Mariae written
by Blessed Pope John Paul II:
Among creatures no one knows
Christ better than Mary; no one
can introduce us to a profound
knowledge of his mystery better
than HIS mother. The Rosary
though clearly Marian in charac-
ter, is at heart a Christocentric
prayer. With the Rosary the Chris-
tian people sit at the school of
Mary and is led to contemplate the
beauty on the face of Christ and to
experience the depths of HIS love.
Through the Rosary the faithful
receive abundant grace, as though
from the very hands of the Mother
of our Redeemer.
The Rosary is an exquisitely con-
templative prayer. Without this
contemplative dimension it would
lose its meaning. Pope Paul VI
pointed out “Without contempla-
tion, Rosary is a body without soul,
and its recitation runs the risk of
becoming a mechanical repetition
of formulas - - -“
Psalm 55: 23 says, “Cast your
burden on the Lord and HE will
sustain you.” To Pray the Rosary
is to hand over our burdens to the
merciful hearts of Christ and HIS
mother.
Blessed John Paul II exhorts in
this apostolic letter to pray the Ro-
sary in our families.
He writes thus “It is important not
to lose this precious inheritance.
We need to return this practice of
family prayer and prayer for fami-
lies, continuing to use the Rosary.
The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer, which brings the family together. Individual family mem-bers, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God. To pray the Rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underesti-mated. It could be objected that the Rosary seems hardly suited to the taste of children and young people of today. But perhaps the
objection is directed to an impov-erished method of praying it. Fur-thermore, without prejudice to the Rosary's basic structure, there is nothing to stop children and young people from praying it – either within the family or in groups – with appropriate symbol-ic and practical aids to under-standing and appreciation. Why not try it? Blessed John Paul II ends this ap-ostolic letter by saying thus “May this appeal of mine not go un-heard!” Let us all trust in HIS divine Mercy and open our hearts so that we can experience her love and care and thus call upon the mother of our Lord, as my mother !!! AMEN - Rajesh Jacob
Page 6 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
THE PATH THAT LEADS TO THE BIBLE
Modern Biblical Scholarship
Ever wonder how the Bible we read arrived in our
hands? The answer is mind-blowing. From studying
sheepskins and exploring dusty caves to utilizing
razor‟s edge NASA technology, the Bible is the
culmination of centuries of intense hard work and
some incredible scholarship. Advanced infrared
imaging retrieves invisible words from a fragment
of parchment. Statistical analysis shows correlations
and discrepancies in the phrasing of the Pentateuch.
Breakthroughs in DNA research make it possible to
trace the lineage of recovered manuscripts to the
animals whose skins were used to make them. The
late 19th and 20th centuries have witnessed major
biblical documentary finds at St. Catherine‟s mon-
astery in the Sinai, the Cairo genizah in Egypt, and
among university collections. The most important
discovery and for the past half century a laboratory
for cutting edge technologies has been the Dead Sea
Scrolls, some of the oldest known biblical manu-
scripts. The remains of some 900 of the scrolls are
currently being probed, digitized, photographed,
and analyzed – paleographically, statistically, ge-
netically and chemically – and are being meticu-
lously assembled together (For more information,
check out the article “The Dead Sea Scrolls” in the
June 2012 issue). Displays in Bible bookshops re-
veal the growing demand for Bibles tailored to the
interests of niche markets. There are storybook Bi-
bles for parents to read to their children, devotional
Bibles, study Bibles such as the HarperCollins®
Study Bible, which is about 60% scripture and 40%
notes, with updated information based on recent
study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other archeologi-
cal discoveries. Among the most popular Bibles are
those designed to be used in private devotion. Peo-
ple who commute to work can listen to the Bible
being read on audio CDs. For those who like to read
Scripture wherever they may be, there are pocket
Bibles. What‟s more, there‟s even a Bible „app‟ for
the iPhone™! Supplementing the many Bibles are
such works as Bible encyclopedias, dictionaries,
atlases, concordances and commentaries. An esti-
mated 9 out of 10 households in North America have at
least one copy of it and 75% have more. The Bible is
the most awe-inspiring, paradigm-shifting and game-
changing manuscript to have ever been written down. It
is not only divinely inspired, it is also a testament of
History and a Science anthology rolled into one. It is all
encompassing and the source of all knowledge. It is the
Book. Besides, it remains the best selling book in the
cumulative history of all mankind.
The Cairo Genizah
Since Jewish Law forbids the destruction of sacred
texts, when such items suffer damage they are often
stored in a room in the synagogue called the genizah.
The immense value of the genizah was recognized in
the 19th century. In 1896, two learned Scottish twins,
Margaret Dunlop Gibson, and Agnes Smith Lewis,
bought some manuscript pages from a Cairo dealer.
They took their purchase to University of Cambridge
researchers, where it was identified as part of the long
lost Hebrew original of the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Sus-
pecting that the documents had come from the ninth-
century Ben-Ezra synagogue in Cairo, researchers set
off to “empty” the synagogue‟s genizah. They swal-
lowed the “dust of centuries” as they removed more
than 100,000 fragments dating from as early as the 6th
century. Among the fragments were biblical and tal-
mudic texts, liturgical and legal documents and letters,
including one by Maimonides. Perhaps the most excit-
ing finds were two incomplete and overlapping copies
of a text now known as the Damascus document. Re-
searchers dated these manuscripts to the 10th and 12th
centuries and because they used biblical Hebrew, they
dated the text on which they were based to before the
destruction of the temple in 70 AD. References to the
“Teacher of Righteousness” and the “Man of Scoffing”
led them to believe that the manuscripts described a reli-
gious sect. When fragments of the Damascus fragments
were also found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Uni-
versity of Cambridge manuscripts were identified with
the Qumran sect.
Piecing the jigsaw Before scholars can begin to study the contents of badly
fragmented scrolls and parchments, they must sort out
Page 7 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
which pieces belong to which documents. Easier
said than done. Most of the times it‟s even worse
than looking for a needle in a haystack, for the nee-
dle is also a piece of hay! The amount of work it
takes is mind-boggling. Paleographers can work
for months reconstructing a single page. Research-
ers usually begin by looking at the type of material
used to make the scroll, whether papyrus or parch-
ment, and at the relative thickness and color of
fragments. They also match up the “guide” lines,
or scorings, used by the scribe to write his text
evenly, and consider the relationship of script to
lines. Paleographers often assist in matching pieces
by distinguishing the hands of individual scribes.
The computer‟s ability to amass and provide rapid
access to huge amounts of data has proved ex-
tremely useful in several areas of biblical study.
Computers can swiftly compare script styles and
fragment shapes and identify and chart linguistic
formulations, such as repetitions of words, gram-
matical construction, punctuation, and sentence
and syllable lengths. In addition, computer generat-
ed concordances allow scholars to do searches for
specific words and thereby make close compari-
sons of the use and context of those words in the
various biblical manuscripts. Many of the scrolls
are non-biblical also and scholars must match frag-
ments only on the basis of similarities in their
physical characteristics, subject matter, and the
pattern of the damage they have sustained. Genetic
research provides further physical evidence. Scien-
tists have recovered DNA from the remains of
Egyptian mummies and woolly mammoths, so un-
less the parchment has suffered extensive damage,
there‟s a fair chance that they can recover DNA to
carry on the analysis. Beginning in 1994, scholars
at Hebrew University recovered the DNA from
minute samples of various scrolls. After examining
some “key” genes, the team identified the sample
skins as mostly goat. Moreover, by checking the
DNA against genetic material taken from animal
bones at other sites in the area, scholars hope to
establish the geographic origins of the herds and,
extrapolating from that information of the docu-
ment itself. For the Dead Sea Scrolls, DNA testing
may prove whether all of the scrolls came from the
Qumran community, or if the caves, served as a
repository for documents originating in other parts
of Palestine.
Bringing the Word to light Biblical scholarship now benefits from technology devel-
oped by NASA. Whereas the human eye sees only a lim-
ited portion of the light spectrum, the use of infrared pho-
tography extends the visible range. When Dead Sea Scroll
fragments are photographed with infrared-sensitive film,
written words appear darker and backgrounds are blanched
out (See the accompanying Figure). Technologies pio-
neered by NASA for the space program – including ad-
vanced infrared techniques for remote sensing of the
earth‟s surface – discern even longer wavelengths in the
light spectrum than infrared photography. In the summer of
1994, researchers from the Ancient Biblical Manuscript
Center, Hebrew University, and NASA‟s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory were able to make substantial gains over all
earlier efforts to read a number of the most damaged Dead
Sea Scrolls. The fragments were recorded with an instru-
ment called an imaging spectrophotometer, which picks up
slight variations in light, and the resulting digitalized pic-
tures were fed through computers. The images were then
“tuned” on the computer screen, highlighting and defining
features of the text and bringing out more of the previously
obscured words. Most biblical scholars are especially inter-
ested in obtaining precise dates for the sectarian Dead Sea
Scrolls. They believe that the dates may shed further light
on Judaism and the origins of Christianity. Dates obtained
by paleographers can now be compared to the results of
radiocarbon dating, a procedure that indicates the amount
of Carbon-14 isotope – a class of atomic element – present
in a formerly living material, goatskin for instance. Carbon
-14 decays at a known rate; so by measuring the amount of
Carbon-14 in a given artifact, it is possible to determine an
age for the artifact. In 1995, a team of University of Arizo-
na scientists and Israeli scholars examined fragments from
18 Qumran documents. The carbon dating tests confirmed
the results reached independently by paleographers. Time-
honored methods of scholarship still raise intriguing ques-
tions. In 1995, Carsten Thiede of Germany asserted that
papyrus fragments from a copy of the Gospel of Matthew
at Oxford University are the remains of the oldest known
New Testament document. The handwriting style, he not-
ed, along with the appearance on one fragment of an early
Christian abbreviation for divinity, suggest a date from the
mid 1st century. It is highly unlikely that it is validated.
Next time we hold the Holy Bible in our hands, let us take
a moment to reflect upon the centuries of indefatigable
hard work, meticulousness and scientific dexterity that
have sifted through eons worth of dust and rubble to bring
out the Bible in all its glory.
Page 8 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
As a child and even today, whenever saints are mentioned, an image that
comes instantly to mind is usually that of a pious and holy man or woman but
rarely that of a child. I guess it is due to the association I made that all chil-
dren were like me growing up in the faith – going to church not because we
understood the importance of it but merely attending because our parents
made sure we did. So how is it children could be made saints? Growing up I
always thought of saints as these extremely spiritual and religious individu-
als, who prayed constantly and lived in seclusion from society much like a
hermit. The children I knew were neither spiritual nor religious and were
constantly playing video games or playing outside and definitely did not live
on their own. Thankfully as I grew up and matured, I realized my notion of
saints was misconstrued. In fact there are many young saints and the saint we
are focusing on this month is St. Maria Goretti – one of the youngest saints to
be canonized in the Catholic Church.
St. Maria Goretti was the third out of the six children to Luigi Goretti and
Assunta Carlini. She was born on October 16 1890, in Corinaldo, in the
Province of Ancona, then in the Kingdom of Italy. Her family was so poor
that they were forced to sell their land and move and work for other farmers.
Her father became sick with malaria and died was she was nine years old.
With the passing of her father, the family moved to Le Ferriere, where they
lived in a building called “La Cascina Antica” were they shared with another
family which included Giovanni Serenelli and his son, Alessandro. St. Maria
took on the role of doing all the household chores, while her mother, brothers
and sisters worked on the field. Although the family went through many
hardships because of their deep love and faith in God, they never saw their
life as a burden or curse.
On July 5, 1902, St. Maria was attacked by was Alessandro when she was
….continuation from page
Fun with Numbers:
Ganita Sara Samgraha
The Ganita Sara Samgraha dated 850 AD is special for several reasons. First it is the only existing treatise on
arithmetic by a Jain scholar. Second, it included essentially all mathematical knowledge of mid-ninth century
India. It is the earliest extant Indian text devoted entirely to mathematics. It was written by Mahavira, who lived
in southern India. It was noted for its explicit assertion that the square root of a negative number did not exist.
One particular problem in the book has delighted scholars for centuries, and was worded as follows: A young
lady has a quarrel with her husband and ends up damaging her necklace. One-third of the necklace‟s pearls
scatter toward the lady. One-sixth falls on the bed. One-half of what remains thereafter and one-half of what
remains after that and so on, counting six times in all falls everywhere else. A total of 1161 pearls were found
remaining on the necklace. How many pearls did the young lady originally have in total? The astonishing an-
swer is that the young lady originally had 148,608 pearls on her necklace! Let‟s reflect on the problem. One-
sixth fell on the bed and one-third scatted toward her. This means that the remaining pearls that are neither on
the bed nor near her are half of all the pearls. The remaining pearls are halved six times, so ((1/2)7) x = 1161,
where x is the total number of pearls; thus x is 148,608. A necklace with 148,608 pearl beads. It sure was worth
quarrelling over!
- Amit Mathews
Page 9 Malankara Catholic Church
© St. Mary`s Malankara Catholic Church Toronto
alone in a room sewing. He threatened to kill her if she
did not comply to want he said in which he was intending
to rape her. She would not submit, rather she protested
that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and could go
to hell for it. She desperately fought to stop the nineteen
year old from abusing her and kept screaming “No! It is a
sin! God does not want it!” As she insisted more and more
that she would rather die that submit to him, he stabbed
her eleven times. The injured Maria tried to reach for the
door but Alessandro stopped her by stabbing her three
more times before running away. Maria's little sister Tere-
sa awoke with the noise and started crying, and when Se-
renelli's father and Maria's mother came to check on the
little girl, they found the bleeding Maria and took her to
the nearest hospital. She underwent surgery and halfway
she woke up and insisted that it stay that way. The phar-
macist of the hospital in which she died said to her, "Maria,
think of me in Paradise." She looked at the old man: "Well,
who knows which of us is going to be there first?" "You,
Maria," he replied. "Then I will gladly think of you," said
Maria. The following day, twenty hours after the attack, hav-
ing expressed forgiveness for her murderer and stating that
she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, Maria died of
her injuries, while looking at a very beautiful picture of the
Blessed Mother, and clutching a cross to her chest.
On June 24, 1950 St. Maria was canonized by Pope Pius XII
and is the patron saint of chastity, rape victims, youth, teen-
age girls, poverty, purity and forgiveness. Let us learn from
St. Maria that we all be called saints, simply by living ac-
cording to God‟s will and not giving into sin.
- Betty Thazhamon
Date Candle 1 Candle 2 Marbahasa 1 Marbahasa 2 Bell Thurible Readings
July 1 Alexi Cyrus Isac Jerome Br. Jobin Lynn Sebin
July 8 Alvin Annugrah Sarath Aaron Samson Br. Jobin Deepak
July 15 Alexi Sarath Aaron Neil Christopher Br. Lynn Br. Jobin
July 22 Annugrah Jerome Aaron Cyrus Neil Br. Jobin Sebin
July 29 Alvin Christopher Isac Deepak Samson Lynn Deepak
Assigned Readings Names Backups Date
Ex 25: 1-9, Isa 40:27-31, Hos 14: 1-9 Babu Mammotil Ashwathy Mathew July 1
Deut 21: 18-21, 2 Chr 4: 18-31, Isa 43: 22-28 Roji Thomas Rajesh Jacob July 8
Ex 34: 29-35, 1 Sam 4: 12-18, Ezek 16: 1-4 Abhilash Sam John Thomas July 15
Lev 26: 3-13, 2 Sam 2: 1-7, Isa 57: 14-21 Jincy Binoy Joshua Joseph July 22
Deut 12: 1-14, Eccl 7: 1-14, Isa 55: 1-9 Stephina Alexander Jonathan Mani July 29
Top Related