The solemn services inaugurating the new Church of South India were held in St. George's Cathedral, Madras, on September 27th, 1947. Three thousand worshippers gathered to witness the event. All who could crowded into the cathedral building; the overflow was accumulated in a temporary structure on the grounds.
Inauguration procession of Church of South India. Photo by Mark Kauffman (LIFE magazine)
Inauguration service of Church of South India. Photo by Mark Kauffman (LIFE magazine)
Also gathered to participate were those bishops of the Anglican church whose dioceses were to be incorporated into the new church.
To the strains of the processional, the officiating clergy filed past the pandal or temporary building into the cathedral. Inside the crowd, representing many groups hesitatingly at first, and then in increasing volume, raised the grand old hymns of the church.
Presiding Bishop Rt. Revd. C. K. Jacob at the Inauguration of Church of South India. Photo by Mark Kauffman (LIFE magazine)
As the last assent is given, the presiding Bishop takes his place before the altar and, the congregation standing, solemnly declares —
"Dearly beloved brethren, in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, who, on the night of His Passion prayed that His disciples might be one;
"and by the authority of the governing bodies of the uniting churches whose resolutions have been read in your hearing and laid in prayer before Almighty God;
"I do hereby declare that these three churches are become one Church of South India and that those Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons and probationers who have assented to the Basis of Union and accepted the Constitution of the Church of South India, and whose names are laid upon this Holy Table, are Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons of this Church."
As his words cease the notes of the organ fill the vaults of the Cathedral and choir and congregation unite in that ancient Te Deum of faith and of thanksgiving,— "We praise Thee, 0 God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord."
In the afternoon a processional again forms for the consecration of these Bishops-elect.
After a special sermon by Dr. J. S. Hooper, Secretary of the Joint Committee on Church Union, each Bishop-elect, vouched by two representatives of his church, is presented for examination.
Kneeling before the altar where they have stood for examination, the consecration of these Bishops-elect now takes place.
Nine clergymen,—three Bishops of the Anglican Church, three presbyters of the Wesleyan (Methodist) Church and three presbyters of the United Church,— jointly lay hands in consecration and prayer upon each candidate. The consecration of these additional bishops is the final act required to give form and being to the Church of South India.
The bells ring out. Not only in St. George's at Madras, but far and wide across the whole of South India, reaching northward to Medak, where congregations meet in praise and prayer and to the towers of Dornakal so long the seat of Bishop Azariah. And on their tones the bells bear tidings of this new Christian unity to church and chapel and to the humblest Christian home in all South India "That they all may be one