Church of Our Lady of Hope

Church of Our Lady of Hope (Cochin Portuguese: Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Esperança) is a Latin Church parish in the Diocese of Cochin. It is located at Fort Vypin in the island of Vypeen, the point where the Vembanad Lake merges with the Arabian Sea, with Fort Cochin on the other side.

The church, with an area of 10 km2, occupies the southern end of Vypeen Island. Ministering to Latin Catholics of Malabar, its liturgies are according to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. The patron of the church is Our Lady of Hope a form in which Virgin mary is venerated as the patron of fishermen and navigators. The emblem of church is an anchor. It is one of the oldest churches in Kochi, built by the Portuguese in 1605 A.D. It is part of the Diocese of Cochin.

Ecce Homo:

The six-foot-tall statue of Ecce Homo (translated roughly as “Behold the Man”), carved on a single piece of rosewood, is a relic that has been preserved in the church for more than 400 years. It is a bruised and beaten embodiment of Jesus Christ, wrapped in a velvet cloak and venerated on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It was given to the church by the captain of a passing Portuguese vessel on its way to Macau.

Brief History
Established in the year 1605, the church of Our Lady of Hope, had the fortune to celebrate her quadric-centennial celebrations in the year 2005. The parish has about 455 families and more than 2,100 parishioners. The faithful are grouped into 15 Family Units. The church has the fortune to celebrate several feasts every year. With the ideal supervision and active participation of the parochial shepherds and encouraging and inspiring presence of the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters of Charity, the church of Our Lady of Hope is moving ahead.

During the Age of Discovery, the Roman Catholic Church established a number of Missions in the New World in order to spread Christianity. The missionaries of the different orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Augustinians, etc.) flocked out and began at once to build churches along the coast districts wherever the Portuguese power made itself felt.

This church was built by the Portuguese missionaries and blessed in 1605 A.D by Bishop Dom Andrea de Santa Maria O.F.M., the then Bishop of Cochin

The Dutch who conquered Cochin in 1663, destroyed all Catholic buildings in Cochin. Only the St. Francis Church, Santa Cruz Basilica, and St. Louis Church Mundamveli (2nd Parish Church) escaped this fate. The original wooden altar and screen of St Francis church were moved to this church when the Dutch took possession of St Francis church.

This imposing church was renovated in 2005 as part of its fourth centenary celebrations. The fourth centenary of her erection was celebrated on 19 November 2005.