Malabar rites

This article incorporates unedited text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia. It may be out of date, or may reflect the point of view of the Catholic Church as of 1913. It should be edited to reflect broader and more recent perspectives. (September 2023)

Part of a series on
Eastern Christianity
Mainstream communions Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy (Coptic, Orthodox Tewahedo - Ethiopian and Eritrean -, Armenian, Cilicia, Syriac, Indian) Eastern Catholicism Church of the East (Assyrian and Ancient)
Independent communions Old Believers Spiritual Russian
Eastern Protestantism Armenian Evangelical Church Assyrian Evangelical Church Assyrian Pentecostal Church Believers Eastern Church of India Eastern Rite Community in Germany and the Czech Republic Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) Evangelical Church of Romania Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia Evangelical Orthodox Church Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church Mar Thoma Syrian Church P'ent'ay - Ethiopian and Eritrean Evangelical Churches Russian Evangelical Church Society for Eastern Rite Anglicanism St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India St. Valentine's Fellowship Ukrainian Lutheran Church
Eastern liturgical rites Alexandrian Coptic Ge'ez Antiochene West Syriac Malankara Armenian Byzantine East Syriac Malabar Eastern Catholic liturgy
Major controversies Arianism Nestorianism Monophysitism Miaphysitism Dyophysitism Henotikon Caesaropapism Three Chapters Monoenergism Monothelitism Dyoenergism Dyothelitism Iconoclasm Filioque Paulicianism Bogomilism Hesychasm Eastern Protestantism
Traditions Greek Melkite Syriac
Groups Antiochian Greek Arab Assyrian Copts Maronites
Other topics Christian mysticism Christology Divine Liturgy Eastern Christian history Monasticism Index of related articles Western Christianity
Christianity portal
v t e

Malabar rites is a conventional term for certain customs or practices of the natives of South India, especially Madurai, Mysore and the Carnatic, which the Jesuit missionaries in the early seventeenth century allowed their Indian neophytes to retain after conversion.

These rites were controversial among Catholics, with some figures criticizing them as idolatrous or superstitious, and others defending the character of the missionaries who established them. They were eventually prohibited by Rome.