Holy Qurbana for the late Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil

(April 02, 2011) It is quite significant that we, the children of St. Thomas, are to offer qurbana here in St Peter’s Basilica, on the sacred tomb of St Peter, the head of the apostolic college, united in grief and prayer to pay homage to our dear pastor, late Father and head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, said Bishop Bosco Puthur of the major archiepiscopal curia, of Ernakulam-Angamaly, presiding at the qurbana in the Vatican Basilica. He referred to the letter sent him by Pope Benedict XVIth , saying that he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the prelate's death and asking him to convey his sincere condolences to all the sons and daughters of the Syro-Malabar Church, especially to the faithful of the Archeprachy of Ernakulam-Angamaly. The cardinal died of cardiac arrest in the afternoon of Friday at Ernakulam in South India. “As a religious, he was a man of prayer , as a Redemptorist he was close to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as a priest he loved the Church and considered himself a simple servant of communion in the Syro-Malabar Church” said further Bishop Bosco Puthur at the Qurbana on Sunday. The Holy Qurbana refers to the Eucharist as celebrated according to the East Syrian and West Syrian traditions of Syriac Christianity. Both are extremely old, going back at least to the third century, and are the oldest extant liturgies continually in use. After expressing appreciation of the late Cardinal’s admiration for the Eastern Tradition and patrimony of our Apostolic Church, and grateful for the loving, fatherly concern he had shown to everybody, Bishop Puthur ended with a prayer that soon God bless the church with a new Major Archbishop . endowed with holiness like his predecessor. The funeral of the late Cardinal has been put off till Sunday 10^th April, because most of the Syro-Malabar Bishops are still in Rome completing their ad limina visits. Cardinal Vithayathil could not come because of his health conditions. The funeral services will be held in St Mary’s Basilica, Ernakulam, India