Carmelites of Mary Immaculate

Foundation

The first monastery of CMI congregation was established on 11 May 1831 at Mannanam, Kerala, India. The foundation stone was laid by Malpan Thomas Porukara in the presence of Vicar Apostolic - Bishop Mourelius Stabilini, the local ordinary, Malpan Thomas Palackal and St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara.^[7] The founders of the congregation namely Fr. Thomas Porukara, Fr. Thomas Palackal and St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara were assisted by Brother Jacob Kaniathara.^[8] Fr. Geevarghese Thoppil was the first to join the new religious movement. Several priests and young men from then on started to join the religious movement started at Mannanam.

On 8 December 1855, the religious community at Mannanam was recognised canonically with the profession of vows of eleven priests headed by St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the first prior of the congregation. The original name of the movement was Servants of Mary Immaculate (അമലോത്ഭവ ദാസ സംഘം) . In 1860, this congregation was affiliated to the Carmelite Order and its members began to use the postnominal initials of T.O.C.D. (Third Order of Discalced Carmelites). The Carmelite influence on the congregation resulted from fact that during the early period of the Congregation, the Vicars Apostolic of Verapoly were Carmelites. It is because of this reason that the rules of the Carmelites with some modifications were given to them in 1855^[9]. The Congregation grew leaps and bounds with the addition of new members and establishing of six more monasteries in a decade.

There was only one Prior till 1885 and the monasteries were headed by his vicars. The constitution of the Congregation were approved for the firs time by the Holy See in 1885 thus the Congregation became juris pontific (pontifical right) The Congregation was headed by Prior General's from outside the congregation (Bishops) and their delegates from 1885-1902. It was from then that head of each monastery was called Prior. The title Prior General was used for the elected member who headed the Congregation. In 1902, the General Chapter convened by Bishop Bernard, the Prior General was directed by the Holy See to elect the Prior General from within the Congregation. Thus Fr. Alexander Kattakayam was elected Prior General. The practice of electing Prior Generals from among the members of Congregation continues till date. The final approbation for Constitution was received in 1906. The congregation was divided into three provinces in 1953. The current name Carmelites of Mary Immaculate was received in 1958.^[10] The congregation was raised to one of pontifical right in 1967 by Pope Paul VI.

First monasteries

Several diocesan priests as well as lay people enthusiastically sought admission into the rank of the religious, and six more new monasteries were founded: St. Philomena's Monastery, Koonammavu (1857), St. Mary's Monastery, Elthuruth near Trichur (1858), Carmel Monastery, Vazhakulam near Muvattupuzha (1859), St. Sebastian's Monastery, Pulinkunnu (1861), St. Theresa's Monastery, Ambazhakad (1868), and St. John of the Cross Monastery, Mutholy (1870).

Retreat Preaching

Retreat preaching was one of the main apostolate of CMI congregation in the beginning. It was instrumental in the introduction of annual retreats for priests and laity in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The members of the congregation used to go in groups of two or three to different parishes in Kerala to preach retreats. The monastic rules were made flexible so that they could return to the monastery some months later after preaching retreats in different parishes. The mission of retreat preaching was supported by Bishop Luduevicos who sent a circular to all parishes of vicariate instructing them to invite the religious priests from mannanam to preach retreats in their parishes. The annual retreats for priests were conducted in the monasteries of Mannanam and Elthurth.^[11] It brought about vitality and vibrancy throughout the church in Kerala.

Systematizing Liturgy and Introducing Devotional Practices

The CMI congregation was involved in the radical renewal of the Church by systematizing liturgy and introducing devotional practices. The systematization of liturgy consists of mainly systematizing the liturgical celebrations. St.Kuriakose Elias Chavara played a significant role in this regard. He wrote a number of liturgical texts that played an important role in reforming liturgy. They include the Divine office for priests, Divine office for the dead, office of the Blessed virgin Mary, prayers of various blessings, the order of Holy mass - Tukasa, liturgical calendar, forty hours adoration and prayer books for lay man.^[12]

The members of the congregation were instrumental in revitalizing the sacramental life of the laity. It was done by visiting and instructing them by visiting families, Sunday homilies, Preparing children for first holy communion and above all popularizing devotional practices which were practiced in the global church such as the Rosary, Way of the Cross and the Eucharistic Devotion.^[13] The spiritual outcome of such an effort could be found in The Syro-Malabar Church who are blessed with three saints, three blesseds, four venerables and ten servant of Gods.^[14]

Seminary Formation

The system formation of priests in Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was called Malpanate sytem.^[16] The seminary or the Malpanate was attached to certain parish churches and only a few candidates were taken as aspirants for priesthood. The three founding fathers of the CMI congregation were Malpans or teachers involved in priestly formation. They were instrumental in systematizing the seminary formation and thus they began the first common seminary of Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Mannanam in 1831. It could accomodate 150 seminarians. It functioned till 1894 and was later joined with major seminary at Puthenpally. The seminaries were founded attached to monasteries in Vazhakulam (1866), Elthuruth (1868) and Pulincunnu (1872). The priests who received formation in these seminaries were instrumental in thwarting the threat raised by Roccosian and Melusian Schism and for upholding the unity of the Catholic Church.^[17]

Defending Catholic Faith

When the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was facing the threat of schisms of Bishop Roccos (1861) and Bishop Melus (18740), the CMIs were in forefront to unite the Church and defend faith. During the period when Kuriakose Elias Chavara was the Vicar General of the Syro-Malabar Church, he divided the Syrian parishes into zones and members of CMI congregation were entrusted to assist in taking care of the faithful in the parishes especially with regard to pastoral services, functioning of Sunday schools, conducting retreats. The members of the congregation was aware of the identity of Syro-Malabar Catholic Church which was under the Latin Church. Many letters were written to Rome pleading for bishops from the Syro-Malabar Church and also for freedom in liturgical worship. The congregation had to pay heavy price for such an act with seven members were expelled for writing letters to Rome. The only reason for expulsion being asking for seperate Bishops for syrians without the consent of vicar apostolic of Verapoly.^[18] One of the seven, Aloysius Pazheparambil (Louis Pazheparampil), became the first bishop of the Vicariate of Ernakulam in 1896.^[19]

Reunion Movement

The Coonan Cross Oath resulted in the division of Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara and members of the CMI congregation were instrumental in bringing the separated Jacobite brethren back to the Catholic fold. Letters were written by Kuriakose Elias Chavara to Rome in 1896 requesting separate Bishops for Syrians and Latins which would created an ambient atmosphere for the return of the Jacobites. St. Chavara had also written letters to Jacobite to attend the First Vatican Council held between 1869-1870 which was encouraged by the Pope too. Yet another significant name in the reunion movement is Fr. Mathai Mariam Palakunnel. Together with other members of the CMI Congregation he worked among Jacobites in Kollam, Kottar, Pandalam, Kottarakara, Adoor, Chenganur etc. He also established Ashrams in prominent Jacobite centers such as Ayroor and Puthupally. Based in the major seminary in Chethipuzha, Fathers Stephan Thayil, Hyacinth Kunnumkal, Gregory Neerakal, Ignatius Puthanpurackal were the leading lights of the 20th century re-union movement. Yet another notable member of the CMI congregation was Fr. Placid J. Podipara who also played a key role in the re-union of Geevarghese Ivanios (Mar Ivanios) and Mar Teophilos towrads the establishment of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. ^[20]

Other pioneering works

A Sanskrit school was started in Mannanam in 1846; the St. Ephraim English school was begun there in 1890 and converted to a high school in 1903. Similarly in 1844, the first printing press in the Syro-Malabar Church was started at Mannanam. Deepika, the first newspaper of Kerala, was begun at Mannanam in 1887. After running it for more than a century, it was handed over to a registered company.

The congregation took great interest in taking care of the poor and downtrodden sections of the society by establishing charitable institutions. Thus the congregation was actively involved in an integral development of the people of Kerala.

Missionary works

The congregation strove for works of evangelization and to work for the reunion of the separated brethren among the St. Thomas Christians. Fr. Chavara is considered the pioneer of the works of evangelization in the Syro-Malabar Church. Later in 1962, when the Chanda mission territory in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra was entrusted to the Syro-Malabar Church, it was committed to the care of the congregation. Today CMI bishops take care of the dioceses of Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, Bijnor in UP-Uttarakhand, Rajkot in Gujarat, and Mandya in Karnataka. The mission provinces stand with and for the poor on issues of importance and engage in social work among the marginalised section of the society in particular.

Global Mission

The CMI Congregation began its global mission in 1938 with the Iran Mission. The Iraq mission was undertaken in 1960. The priests worked in parishes and seminary formation. The missions to Europe and North America too began in 1960s with involvement in pastoral ministry. The focus was shifted to Africa with the opening of Peru mission in 1975. In 1977 Missions were opened in South America and Kenya. Gradually missions were opened in African countries like Ghana, Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia and South American countries like Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay. The priests also serve in Australia, Philippines and in Indonesia.^[21]

The members of the CMI Congregation serves in 31 countries around the globe. The CMI congregation dedicates the month of October every year to pray for the global missions. Each country of the mission is remembered during prayer.

Modern history

The second half of the 20th century witnessed a rapid growth of the Syro-Malabar Church and of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate beyond the boundaries of Kerala. Three moments in its history in this line were:

The division of the congregation into three provinces, The shifting of its major seminary to Dharmaram college, Bangalore in 1957 and Extending its activities to North India (outside the territory of the Syro-Malabar church) for direct evangelization in 1962.