FUNERARY MONUMENTS IN THE COURTYARD & INSIDE THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF HOPE, VYPIN

   

Photograph: January, 2023

 

This church is situated in Vypin Island directly opposite to Fort Cochin. Tradition has it that the first church of Vypin was built in 1503 by the Franciscan Friars; the second in 1596, which was located in the south-east corner of the present cemetery; and the current sanctuary was consecrated in 1605 as a Parish Church under the title 'Nossa Senhora de Esperanca' (Our Lady of Hope) by Dom Andrea de Santa Maria (1588-1610), the Bishop of Cochin Diocese. Perhaps the earliest reference to a church in Vypin is from a letter written by the Jesuit priest, Fr. Gaspar Soeiro from Cochin on September, 1560, where he mentions of a church in an Island called Vaipim (Vypin) or Ilha Santa (Holy Island) belonging to the Franciscan Friars. This would indicate that the first Church in Vypin was built before 1560. The Portuguese also had a fortified residence of the bishop indicated as 'Caza do Bispo' in Vypin. At the time of the siege of Cochin (1662-63), the Bishop House was demolished and the Dutch built 'New Orange Fort' nearby, but the church was left unharmed. The long-standing tradition is that, to this Catholic church, the Dutch allowed the transfer of the holy relics and altar of the Portuguese St Francis church, after the latter was converted to a Protestant church. It is said that the Dutch permitted three altars together with their adjoining screens of St Francis Church to be removed to the Church of Our Lady of Hope in Vypin. The sacred items remained in Vypin church until they were shifted to the Indo-Portuguese Museum in 2000. 

 

The 16th century altar piece of the former Portuguese St Francis church displayed in the Indo-Portuguese Museum of Fort Kochi

The Portuguese altar piece from the 16th Century is carved in teak wood (?), painted in green marbling with vestiges of gold, and has a size of 334 x 300 x 156 cm (Pinto, Mendes M. H. et. al., Indo-Portuguese Museum, Bishop's House, Cochin. published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 2011). Photograph: January, 2023
 

 

Today, there are 4 tombstones inside the church and one in the courtyard near the open-air granite cross. 

 

Inside the church

1) A prominent VOC (Dutch East India Company) officer

2) A wealthy businessman of probable Portuguese descent

3) A master ship builder of Cochin

4) A woman well-known enough to get a burial inside the church

 

Location of the grave monuments (1 to 4) inside the church.

 Photographs: August, 2022

 

Outside the church

5) A young woman aged 21

The yellow arrow marks the position of the gravestone in the courtyard. Photograph: January, 2023

 

Interestingly, all five tombstones appear in the inventory of Roberts and Chekkutty (2017, pp. 163-166), under Christian Cemetery of Palliport. However, Palliport (Pallippuram) is at the northern end of Vypin Island, which is about 25 km from from the church we are discussing. It must be, therefore, the 'Church of Our Lady of Hope' at South Vypin has been mistakenly identified with the 'Church of Our Lady of Snow' at Pallippuram in North Vypin. The inventory has a total 32 names, and out of which, 23 are reported with a gravestone. Therefore, if this statistics stands valid, 18 tombstones are lost now. Also, 8 of the graves mentioned are for Reverends of the Dutch church. The 4 epitaphs inside the church are as follow:

1) Johan Hendrik Medeler (died 4 August, 1777)

This funerary marker belongs to a Dutch VOC staff named Johan Hendrik Medeler, who professed the Catholic faith, and attended the St Francis church of Cochin, says Bauke van der Pol (2014, p. 199). Van der Pol identifies him as the only VOC official to be buried in Malabar in a Catholic Church. A different view is that the grave belongs to the wife of Medeler and not Medeler himself as speculated by van der Pol.

 Photograph: August, 2022

 

The epitaph, as you can see is heavily abbreviated and not easy to decipher. Thanks to Rene ten Dam and Valentine Wikaart (sharedcemeteries.net), I now know how the inscription can be read. Their take on the 5-lined inscription is given below. The original script, expanded Dutch version and the literal English translation are as follow:

1) H. R. De. W. Ed. Gst. Mh. Hr. Ih. Hr.
Hier Rust De 'Wel Edele Gestrenghe' Manhafte Heer Johan Hendrik
Here Rests the Honourable Brave Lord Johan Hendrik

(This line was the most difficult to decipher and I owe a special thanks to Valentine for cracking the code. Take note that 'Weledelgestrenghe' is one word in Dutch, and it can be translated as 'honourable'. How does one read the tombstone for the wife of Medeler? Rene points out that if you miss the punctuation between 'W' and 'Ed', the word becomes ' WEd, which could be an abbreviation for either Weduwe (Widow) or Weduwnaar (Widower).

2) Medeler. I. Z. Lv. Maioor. E. Hoofd.
Medeler In zijn leven Majoor en Hoofd
Medeler in His Life Major and Head

3) D. Militie. V. D. Kuste. Mal.
De Militie van de Kust Mal
The Militia of the Coast Mal

4) Labaar.  Geb. d. 17. Dec. Ao. ?
Labaar. Geboren op 17 december Anno ?
Labaar. Born on 17 December Year ?

5) Overld. d. 4. Aug. Ao. 1777
Overleden op 4 Augustus Anno 1777
Died on 4 August Year 1777

The epitaph should therefore translate: "Here rests the Honourable Brave Lord Johan Hendrik Medeler. In his life a Major and Head of the Militia of the Coast Malabar. Born on 17th December (year?). Died on 4th August, year 1777". In the Dutch volume, 'De Wapenheraut' (Vol. 3, 1899, p. 198), we find Major Jan Hendrik Medeler was the chief of militia at Malabar, and died there in 1777. The British Indian Army Officer and Orientalist, T. W. Venn reports Medeler's grave site specifically at Vypin in tolerably good order at the time of his writing (1950, pp. 16-17). Venn notes that Medeler was buried within the altar rails of Vypin church according to his wish. In a lengthy article published by Major R Raven-Hart in 1958 entitled 'Major Medeler's Relief Expedition 1765', a brief biography is included as a separate note in the appendix. To my knowledge, this is the most detailed study on Major Medeler available, and it identifies all the key dates in his official and to some extend his personal life. The following details are compiled from this study.

 

Jan Hendrik Medeler-A Biography
Medeler, Jan Hendrik was born in Brakel, a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland.

 

How Jan Medeler rose in the VOC service from Trumpeter to Major shows well of his military capabilities. There is no dispute now that the person buried inside the Vypin church is Major Jan Hendrik Medeler and and not his wife. Is there any information on Medeler's wife? We learn from Raven-Hart (1958) that their marriage occurred on 4th November, 1741 at Colombo and that she was a widow while marrying Medeler, but her name is not revealed. We get this crucial information from John Perry Lewis (1913, p. 79), who reports the death of Susanna Petronella Charlotte Sluysken, the wife of Colombo's Chief Administrator, Pieter Sluysken on the 3rd October, 1786 and burial in the Pettah Cemetery Colombo, Sri Lanka. Susanna is identified as the "daughter of Major Jan Hendrik Medeler of Braeckel, who married on November 4, 1741, at Colombo, Gertuida Augustin of Batavia, widow" by Lewis (1913). However, we don't have information regarding the burial sites of Gertuida and her other children. The year of Medeler's birth is mentioned in the tombstone, but unfortunately it is illegible now (see the end of the 4th line). If Roberts and Chekkutty's version (2017) is accepted, the tombstone is reread as "Medeler-maj. of the Dutch Militia, died 4 August 1777, age 59/8", and which means Medeler was born on 17 December, 1718 or 1719. Although, Medeler lived most of his four-decades-long official life in Ceylon, fate took him to Cochin where he spent 7 years, and became his final resting place.

 

With the year of his birth included we can complete the inscription as follows: "Here rests the Honourable Brave Lord Johan Hendrik Medeler. In his life a Major and Head of the Militia of the Coast of Malabar. Born on 17th December 1718/19. Died on 4th August, year 1777".

 

A detailed article on Major Medeler and the 'Medeler Family' in general has appeared recently in sharedcemeteries.net (see here).

 
2) C M D'Queiros (died 1849)

Queiros or Quieros Street

Photograph: January, 2023

 

In Fort Cochin, there is a street named 'Queiros Street', so the first thought that came to my mind is whether he has some connection to it. Why was he buried in Vypin? He must be some one important to get interred inside the church. The famous Queiros in Cochin was Joachim Marques D'Queiros, who was a secretary of the Civil & Criminal Courts, Public Notary and Auctioneer. "As an auctioneer he seems to have been kept pretty busy, and the fact that he acquired sufficient property for Breede Street to be renamed De Quieros Street is not without significance" wrote Venn (1950, p. 15). As per VOC archives, J M D'Queiros lived in Breestrat (Wide Street) in 1792 (Singh, 2010, p. 272), and van der Pol also assumes (2014, p. 181), that after the VOC era this particular street was named after him. J M Queiros was also once the owner of the inn at the Cochin Port (presently the Old Harbour Hotel on Tower Road of Fort Cochin) as evident from the deed of sale dated 30th December, 1788 (van der Pol, 2014, p. 181). He seems to be our candidate, but the one major discrepancy is that the epitaph records his name as C M D'Queiros and not J M D'Queiros. 

 

The solution to this paradox appears in the same work by Venn (1950, p. 66). Apparently, there is another Queiros named 'Charles Marques de Quieros' (C M D'Queiros), who was 'a conductor in charge of the ordinance stores collected at Cochin for the British armies campaigning against Tipu Sultan, facilities for which both the Dutch and the Rajah of Cochin, in their own interests, had granted', notes Venn. He was a wealthy man with property of considerable extent, and under the provisions of his will a bequest of Rs. 1,000/- was made to Vypeen church, and the residue of the estate, after other legacies had been met, was applied to the benefit of his soul and that of his dearly beloved wife, Ann. Ann Krantz was his second wife, Lanslot Dina Henrietta Parsons, his first wife accepted a settlement of Rs. 2,500/- and dissolved the marriage contract. 

 

The name Charles Marques de Queiros appears Portuguese, but in Venn's opinion, he is always recorded as a pure blooded Dutchman (1950, p. 66). However, when you analyze the marble tombstone, the script is in Portuguese with some Latin abbreviations. May be he was a Toepas, that is to say a dark-skinned or half-caste claimant of Portuguese descent who followed Roman Catholicism. Regarding the street name, Venn is not sure whether it was so named in C M D'Queiros' lifetime or because he predominantly owned it (1950, p. 66). The exact year of his death is not easy to decipher from the tombstone as the numerals have faded significantly, but Roberts and Chekkuty (2017) has given the year as1849. I believe the inscription reads as follows:

☧ (Chi Rho-Symbol for Jesus Christ)

A E REQUEZIA DE VAIPIM
AO SEU BEMFEITOR
C M D'QUEIROS
E M ACGRADECIMENTOS PERPETUO
POZ
ESTA LAPIDA NO ANNO 1849
R.I.P.

The epitaph acknowledges Vaipim's (Vypin) benefactor, C M D'Queiros; offers him perpetual gratitude; and the final line records the year of his death 1849. 

Photograph: January, 2023

 

3) C C Poney Gueizelar (died 21 October, 1852)

Charles Christopher Poney Gueizelar is another influential personality from Cochin, a Master Ship builder whose fame reached beyond the borders. The epitaph in red marble stone is detailed and engraved in English. The 17-lined inscription reads:

SACRED
TO THE MEMORY
OF
C.C. PONEY GUEIZELAR
MASTER SHIP BUILDER
FOR 42 YEARS OF THE PORT OF COCHIN
DIED 21ST OCTOBER 1852
AGED 63 YEARS, 7 MONTHS, 2 DAYS
NOT ONLY MUCH LOVED AND ESTEMED
BY ALL HIS KINDRED AND FRIENDS BUT
HIGHLY RESPECTED BY ALL CLASSES
FOR HIS GENERAL AFFABILITY AND
CHARITABLE DISPOSITION

........................................................................ 

He that moketh the poor Reproacheth his Maker
He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord

.......................................................................
THIS TRIBUTE TO HIS REMAINS IS
DEDICATED BY HIS CHILDREN

 

Photograph: January, 2023

 

Bernard, K L dedicates a chapter for 'Ship Building in Cochin in the 19th Century' in his work 'Flashes of Kerala History' (1995), here he discusses in detail about Poney Gueizelar's shipping industry and the quality of his products, which were in high demand even outside India. Venn (1950, p. 106) calls him Mr. Powney Guizelaar, the chief ship builder, and writes that he lived in a single storey house at the corner of Napier Street and Cemetery (Dutch) Road in Fort Cochin, usually referred to as 'Poney'. Venn also notes Guizelaar's gravestone in Vypeen church dated 1852 declaring his career as a shipbuilder of Cochin for 42 years (1950, p. 104). In a Facebook post that I came across recently, Walton Raberts who identifies himself as the descendant of Poney Guiezelar claims: Guiezelar was a Swiss-German captain who landed in Vypin, where he built a shipyard and employed local people; who was a benefactor of Our Lady of Hope Church, Vypin; he donated land for the cemetery, and as a result was bestowed the privilege of being buried near the altar of the Church. More about the Guiezelars and their Vypin connection can be read in his book Dancing the Oceans (2019).
 

4) Ann Pauline Joineau (died 8 February, 1841)

This plain and simple tombstone belongs to a woman, about whom nothing is known, but she must be certainly someone very important to get buried before the main altar of the church. We saw earlier that C M D'Queiros made arrangements for the burial of his beloved wife Ann in the same church where he was also to be interred. Is she therefore the wife of Queiros? Venn however names her Ann Krantz (1950, p. 66), so it is difficult to conclude if both are the same individuals. Roberts and Chekkutty's (2017) inventory reads: "Joincan, Anne Pauline, died 8 February 1841, Gravestone".

 

The epitaph on the site says:

 

ANN
PAULINE
JOINEAU
8 FEV
1841 

 

 

 

 The yellow arrow in the first photograph marks the position of the gravestone. Photographs: August, 2022

 

5) Welhelmina Thomasia (died 14 April 1853)

 Photograph: January, 2023

 

In the courtyard of the church near the open-air granite cross is an isolated tombstone which not many will pay attention to. The tombstone is broken in the middle and inscriptions have faded with age. A part of the inscription at the upper left corner and the middle sections of the epitaph are lost irrecoverably. Luckily, the names and dates have survived the damage and can still be read without much difficulty. The upper 4 lines of the tombstone are difficult to read, they are probably verses from a prayer. The 5th line "Hodie Mihi Cras Est Tibi" is Latin for "Today me, tomorrow you". The remaining portion of the epitaph reads, "Sacred to the Memory of Welhelmina Thomasia the...Daughter of...D'Cruz...D(ied) (14) April 1853. Ag(e)d 21 Years". The inventory of Roberts and Chekkutty (2017) has preserved the burial date, 14 April 1853, and her age, 21 years at the time of death. She is probably unmarried, or else her husband's name would have appeared in the epitaph. Unfortunately, due to the damaged state of the tombstone, only the last name of her father can be retrieved.

 

The incomplete inscription on the tombstone roughly reads:

1) …THAT OF A M...
2) …
3)…MORTAL…

4) ...PRAISE THE…

5) HODIE MIHI CRAS EST TIBI
6) SACRED
7) TO THE MEMORY
8) OF
9) WELHE(LM)INA THOMASIA
10) THE (BELOVED?) DAUGHTER OF
11) ...D'CRUZ
12) ???
13) D(IED) (14) APRIL 1853
14) AG(E)D 21 YEARS

 

Enlarged views of the tombstone

 

 

 

 Photographs: January, 2023

 

A few queries come to mind. Were there other funerary monuments in the courtyard at some point of time, or to be more specific, was there an old cemetery in this area during the Portuguese or Dutch periods? Luckily, we have an old photograph of this church where the entire front courtyard is visible. The image captured in 1868 is perhaps the oldest photograph of a church from Kerala (see my blog entry here for more details). 

 

 Church of Our Lady of Hope-Vypin in 1868

You can notice that the church, the open air granite cross, the bell tower-all remain essentially the same even after 155 years! On the other hand, the four white-washed pillars in the courtyard, the clay-tiled shed in front of the cross, the short wall built across the courtyard, and the thatched building at the extreme left have all disappeared. Similarly, the letters JNRI inscribed on the top of the cross in the photograph is absent in the present structure. What needs to be understood is that the entire courtyard remained empty even in 1868, and there were no other funerary monuments. Since, Welhelmina was buried in 1853, her gravestone should have been visible in this photograph. May be due to the angle from which the photograph is taken, the tomb is concealed behind the pedestal of the cross or perhaps the gravestone was installed in the current location from a different site after 1868.  

 

Another rare and older image of the church has appeared as a drawing in 'British and Native Cochin' by Charles Lawson in 1860. 

Church of Our Lady of Hope-Vypin in 1860

Here also the front courtyard is nicely depicted with the church and open air granite cross. Even the four pillars in the previous image are also carefully drawn, but as you can see the courtyard is empty without any grave markers

 

Interestingly, Venn (1950, p. 104) records a gravestone, outside the church of a man who died in 1841. Although the exact location of the tombstone is not mentioned, he provides the inscription that reads.-"A. Guerre, for many years a shipbuilder of this place". The current whereabouts of this grave marker is unknown.   

 Church of Our Lady of Hope-Vypin in 2022

 

REFERENCES

 

Bernard, K L (1995)-Flashes of Kerala History

Epen, D G van (1899)-De Wapenheraut 

 

Lewis, John Perry (1913)-List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon

Roberts, John Cantwell and Chekkutty, C P (2017)-Malabar Christian Memorials, Wynad to Travancore, 1498-2014

Singh, Anjana (2010)-Fort Cochin in Kerala, 1750-1830-The Social Condition of a Dutch Community in an Indian Milieu, Ph. D. Thesis

Van der Pol, Bauke (2014)-The Dutch East India Company in India

Venn, T W (1950)-Cochin-Malabar Palms and Pageants