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Death of missionary C. T. E. Rhenius at Palayamkottai

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Death of missionary C. T. E. Rhenius at Palayamkottai
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C. T. E. Rhenius, the missionary known as the Apostle of Tirunelveli, died at Palayamkottai.

Charles Theophilus Ewald Rhenius, the first Church Mission Society missionary to arrive in India, built up a large Christian community in Tirunelveli district from 1820. He founded Christian settlements, worked on a revision of the Tamil Bible and wrote a Tamil grammar. He split with the Anglican Church Mission Society in the 1830s over the ordination of local clergy. He died at Palayamkottai on 5 June 1838.

Related events

  1. 1820

    1. 7 Jul 1820PalayamkottaiReligion

      Rhenius begins CMS mission in Tirunelveli

      Church Mission Society missionary C. T. E. Rhenius arrived in Tirunelveli and built a large Protestant mission based at Palayamkottai.

  2. 1826

    1. 3 Apr 1826TiruchirappalliReligion

      Bishop Reginald Heber dies at Tiruchirappalli

      Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta and hymn-writer, died suddenly at Trichinopoly during a tour of South India.

  3. 1837

    1. 1837George Town, ChennaiEducation

      General Assembly's School, origin of Madras Christian College

      Scottish missionary John Anderson opened the General Assembly's School in Madras, which grew into Madras Christian College.

  4. 1838

    1. 8 Jan 1838ChennaiReligion

      Robert Caldwell arrives in Madras

      Robert Caldwell, who would go on to write the Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian languages, reached Madras as a missionary.

  5. 1839

    1. 1839SawyerpuramReligion

      G. U. Pope begins mission work at Sawyerpuram

      In 1839 George Uglow Pope set sail for South India and took up missionary work at Sawyerpuram, close to Thoothukudi.

  6. 1895

    1. 1895PalayamkottaiEducation

      Sarah Tucker College opens in Palayamkottai

      In 1895 the Sarah Tucker High School at Palayamkottai became a college, the earliest women's college in South India.

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