The first to stay

For years a priest had only ridden through. Then the mission judged the place worth a house of its own, set as it was on the border of Travancore and the Pandiyan country and convenient to both. The first priest sent to live here, about 1698, was Fr Bernard de Saa. From him the parish's roll of pastors begins, and it has run on without a break to the priest who says Mass this morning.

DocumentedThis moment rests on 2 sources.

Besse (Moumas tr.)

Fr. Bernard de Saa was ordered in 1698 to go to Vadakenkulam.

What this source establishes

The first resident priest, named and dated from the mission's own records: Fr Bernard de Saa, 1698. On the same page Besse gives the village's origin — a residence built where the road ran between Travancore and the Pandiyan kingdom. The unbroken roll of pastors after de Saa is the parish's own reckoning; the first pastor is not. In copyright: quoted, not reproduced.

This is as much of the book as this site prints. It is named in full in the bibliography below.