SAWYERPURAM
Tirunelveli – the
biggest of the Dioceses that formed the Church of South India in 1947, is the
consummation of the labours from time to time of Missionary Societies in the
West – SPCK, CMS, SPG. For very long the name ‘Tirunelveli’ has been known all
over Christendom as that of a field most congenial to the sowing of the Gospel
and very responsive to the missionary effort. Surveying it in 1857, Dr.
Caldwell wrote with just elation, “there the eye and heart … are gladdened by
the sight of the largest, the most thriving, and the most progressive Christian
community in India.”
G.U.POPE
George Uglow Pope was born on 24 April 1820 in Prince
Edward Island in Nova Scotia. His family migrated to England when he was an
infant. Even as a child he cultivated many a language. He left for South India
in 1839. It was at Sawyerpuram near Tuticorin.
"The Student of Tamil" bloomed into a scholar of Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu. Pope setup several schools and taught Latin, English, Hebrew, Mathematics and Philosophy. As he was a martinet he was always in trouble. Of him Bishop Caldwell said: "The chief drawback to his success was the severity of his discipline which led, after a succession of petty rebellions, to his withdrawal". Pope believed in the theory: "Things have tears". He worked with the motto: "Conscience within and God above". He completed his translation of Tirukkural on September 1, 1886. His "Sacred Kural" contains introduction, grammar, translation, notes, lexicon and concordance. It also includes the English translation of F.W.Ellis and the Latin Translation of Fr. Beschi. It is a tome of 436 pages. He had, by February 1893, translated Naaladiyaar. His magnum opus, the translation of Tiruvachakam appeared in 1900. Of this he says: "I date this on my eightieth birthday. I find, by reference, that my first Tamil lesson was in 1837. This ends, as I suppose a long life of devotion to Tamil studies. It is not without deep emotion that I thus bring to a close my life's literary work". The much coveted Gold Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society was awarded to him in 1906. He passed away on 12 February 1908. The services of this great soul to Tamil and Saivism defy reckoning by weights and measures. In his last days he was a mature Saiva Siddhanti, with his faith as ever rooted in Chiristianity. He delivered his last sermon on May 26, 1907.
Dr. G U Pope’s efforts were equally directed to the extension of the Church. He built the All Saints Church at nearby Subramaniapuram enduring extreme hostility and insult. The lovely red-brick Holy Trinity Church at Sawyerpuram was built by Rev. Huxtable and Rev. Sharrock and dedicated on 11 November 1877 by the Most Rev.Johnson, Metropolitan of India.
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