Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, popularly known as Manjummel Palli, is a parish church coming under the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Verapoly
The Archdiocese of Verapoly (Verapolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church, composed of Latin Catholics of Malabar and headquartered at the city of Cochin, in the south Indian state of Kerala. Th ...
.
It is situated along the
Eloor
Eloor is a suburb of Kochi and a municipality in Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam District in the Indian state of Kerala, India. It is an industrial area situated around north of the city centre. It is an island of 14.21 km2 formed between two dis ...
- Muttar Road, about 8 km from
Kalamassery
Kalamassery () is a major industrial region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. It houses companies like Apollo Tyres and HMT; IT/Electronics Parks like KINFRA Hi Tech Park, Startup Village, and Electronics City. Kalamassery ...
at Manjummel, in
Ernakulam district
Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part o ...
of the south Indian state of
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. It was blessed on 4 December 1892 and is one of the century-old churches in Kerala.
Overview
St. Pius X Manjummel Province of
Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...
, though started in 1857 in the coastal village of
Koonammavu
Koonammavu ( ml, കൂനൻ) is a northern suburb of Kochi city which is associated in the Kochi metropolitan area.
Koonammavu (Valluvally) is a census town in Kottuvally Panchayat, North Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India an ...
, had a short life.
After the province became extinct, an offshoot was formed at Manjummel after 17 years in the form of a monastery dedicated to
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
which was inaugurated on 16 April 1874 by Leonardo Mellano, the then
Archbishop of Verapoly. This was the first indigenous religious congregation in the state.
Two years later, the foundation stone for a new church dedicated to
Mother Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
was laid and the construction of the church was completed in over a decade with the blessing ceremony taking place on 4 December 1892. A few months later, the church was consecrated on 18 April 1893 and the church became a parish in 1911.
It is the parent parish of three other smaller nearby parishes such as Fathima Matha Church, Muttar, St. Joseph's Church, Eloor and St. Sebastian's Shrine, Eloor.
The annual festival of Virgin Mary is celebrated on 8 December.
There are daily morning Mass at 6:00 AM and evening mass on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The church is associated with a number of Catholic missionaries such as Pedro Landetta Azcueta (Aurelian), Eliswa and Zacharias Salterain Viscarra, whose names are in different stages of
canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
by the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
The Church has declared Eliswa as a
Servant of God
"Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint.
Terminology
The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...
, Aurelian as
Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
and Zacharias as
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cathol ...
.
Though originally buried at St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary, Mangalapuzha, the mortal remains of Aurelian and Zacharias were later transferred to this church and the church hall houses their tombs.
The church has an additional chapel, ''Karunya Koodaram'', built in December 2015 which is a modern building of smaller dimensions. Adjoining the chapel is the ''Grotto of Mother Mary'', originally built and blessed on 11 February 1959 by
Valerian Gracias
Valerian Gracias (23 October 1900 – 11 September 1978) was an Indian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Bombay from 1950 until his death and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953 by Pope Pius XII.
Biogr ...
, the first Indian to become a
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
of the Roman Catholic Church.
It was subsequently renovated in 2016. The church also operates a printing press, ''Little Flower Press'', established in 1927,
which publishes ''Cherupushpam'', a cultural magazine, among other publications.
Carmelite Educational Trust
Carmelite Educational Trust is the division which manages the educational activities of the church. The trust manages three institutions, Lisieux Elementary School, Guardian Angels Upper Primary School and Guardian Angels Higher Secondary Public School.
The educational activities started as a primary school but grew to become a higher secondary school in 2002 and is a CBSE accredited institution since 2012.
The elementary school has a theme park named ''Lisieux Wonderla'', attached to it.
Monastery of the Immaculate Conception
The Carmelite Monastery was founded by the
Order of Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...
in 1874, aligned to the congregation of
Carmelites
, image =
, caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites
, abbreviation = OCarm
, formation = Late 12th century
, founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel
, founding_location = Mount Car ...
.
It is situated in the church premises, adjoining the parish house. The monastery is home to 9 tertiary Carmelite priests, 9 lay brothers and several novices
while the province has a strength of 214 priests and 109 Seminarians.
It also manages a retreat centre, ''Carmel Retreat Centre'', which is a residential
apostolate
An apostolate is a Christian organization "directed to serving and evangelizing the world", most often associated with the Anglican Communion or the Catholic Church. In more general usage, an apostolate is an association of persons dedicated to the ...
in nature.
St. Joseph's Hospital
The first Mission hospital in kerala and the second mission hospital in India, hospital was started in 1887 as a small dispensary by Nicholas Verhoven, a brother at the Carmelite Monastery in
Koonammavu
Koonammavu ( ml, കൂനൻ) is a northern suburb of Kochi city which is associated in the Kochi metropolitan area.
Koonammavu (Valluvally) is a census town in Kottuvally Panchayat, North Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam District, Kerala, India an ...
.
The institution, over the years, grew to become the present-da
St. Joseph’s Hospital with inpatient service having 160 beds,
critical care units
and other modern facilities, including
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...
therapies.
Location
The location of the church is in Manjummel, a satellite town of the industrial area of
Eloor
Eloor is a suburb of Kochi and a municipality in Paravur Taluk, Ernakulam District in the Indian state of Kerala, India. It is an industrial area situated around north of the city centre. It is an island of 14.21 km2 formed between two dis ...
.
The town sits on the banks of
River Periyar, and the distance from the town of
Kalamassery
Kalamassery () is a major industrial region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. It houses companies like Apollo Tyres and HMT; IT/Electronics Parks like KINFRA Hi Tech Park, Startup Village, and Electronics City. Kalamassery ...
is around 8 km. Two
National Highways
National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...
pass near the town;
National Highway 47 through Kalamassery and
National Highway 17 towards west near Muttar. The church is situated along the Eloor-Muttar Road and is accessible through rail via
Edappally railway station
Edappally (Station code:IPL) is a railway station of the Southern Railway Network in Edappally, Kochi, India. This station handles mainly passenger trains in Shoranur – Cochin Harbour section and a few express trains. The railway station ...
which is around 2 km away. The nearest airport is
Kochi International Airport
Cochin International Airport is an International airport serving the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Located at Nedumbassery, about northeast of the city centre, Cochin International Airport is first of its kind which is develo ...
, approximately 22 km from the church.
See also
*
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Verapoly
The Archdiocese of Verapoly (Verapolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church, composed of Latin Catholics of Malabar and headquartered at the city of Cochin, in the south Indian state of Kerala. Th ...
*
St.Philomena's Forane Church, Koonammavu
St. Philomena's Forane Church, popularly known as Koonammavu Church is situated in Koonammavu, a northern suburban town of Kochi City of Kerala state, India. This is one of the oldest Roman Catholic churches in India, built in 1837 AD. Even thou ...
References
External links
*
*
Image gallery
Guardian Angels Public School.jpg,
Guardian Angels UP School.jpg,
Karunya Koodaram foundation stone.jpg,
Manjummel Church foundation stone.jpg,
Manjummel Church grotto.jpg,
Manjummel Church stone inscription.jpg,
Manjummel Theme park.jpg,
Little Flower Press.jpg,
{{Churches of Kerala
1892 establishments in India
Churches in Ernakulam district
19th-century establishments in India
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in India
Tourist attractions in Kochi
Roman Catholic churches in Kerala
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1892