A 29-year-old priest from a southern Indian diocese in Kerala died of electrocution on August 15.
Father Mathew (Shince) Kudilil was dismantling a pole erected to hoist the national flag in the morning as part of the Independence Day celebration on the premises of Infant Jesus Church at Mulleria in Kerala’s Kasaragod district.
Following the mandatory flag drop at sunset, the pole accidentally touched a high-tension electrical line near the church premises.
A hospital in Mulleria, a village on the Kerala-Karnataka border and about 70 km south of Mangalore, declared him dead.
A team of archdiocesan officials has rushed to Mulleria.
Late in the evening, Father Mathew Muttathukunnel, the archdiocese chancellor, stated that Father Kudilil's body was at the mortuary of St. Joseph's Hospital Karuvanchal in Kannur district.
On August 17, the body will arrive at his home in Edoor, about 50 km southeast of Karuvanchal, by 7 a.m.
After an hour, people will transport the body to Edoor's St. Mary's Forane Church to pay homage.
The funeral services will start at 10 a.m., the chancellor added.
Kudilil’s death has brought the entire archdiocese into deep grief, as he was an energetic young priest.
Three years ago, he received his priestly ordination. On May 14, 2023, he arrived in Mulleria.
He had served as the assistant vicar at St. George Church, Chempanthotty, in Kannur district, from February 6, 2021, to January 25, 2022.
He was the assistant vicar of St. Sebastian’s Church Nellickampoil, also in Kannur, until February 3, 2023. He was in Fathima Matha Church, Kudiyanmala, Kannur, for three months.
He was the son of the first cousin of Father George Kudilil, a priest of the Tellicherry archdiocese and the chief editor of the Deepika newspaper.
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