Kerala church revels in twin joys

A church believed to have been built in the 9th century in the memory of two Italian saints, who were twin brothers, in Kerala’s Kottayam district is paying tributes to them in a unique way: by inviting twins to pray at the altar.
As many as 151 twins gathered at the church in Kothanalloor on the occasion of a feast for the saints—St Gervasis and St Prothasis— last month. “The annual festivities spread over 10 days in June are to invoke the blessings of the twin saints. They are the patron saints of the church,’’ says vicar Joesph Puthenpura.
The first event took place two years ago when the church realised that there were at least 55 twins in the 702 Catholic families in the diocese. “We asked the parishioners if they would want to invite twins from other places. They welcomed it,’’ says Puthenpura. The first gathering in 2007 attracted 35 twins. The number went up to 96 the next year. There were also three triplets this year.
There is a touch of twins to every ritual. Twin fathers conduct the special mass, twin sisters lead the choir and twins lead the festival procession. “The oldest to attend the event this year were 82-year-old twins with the same name as the patron saints, Gervasis and Prothasis. There was also a female pair by the name Gervasia and Prothasia, both 18-year-old nursing students,’’ the vicar reminisced. The youngest participants were twins born on June 19 this year. As they were born during the festival, their parents named them after the patron saints.