ST. THOMAS PROVINCE

The missionary thrust of the Vincentian Congregation began to show its signs when the Congregation started sending missionaries first to Tamil Nadu and then to Madhya Pradesh in the year 1965. The first two confreres who were sent to the Apostolic Prefecture of Raipur were Rev. Frs. Joseph Peechanatt and George Vempilly. It became a training centre for the future missionaries. On 29 July 1968 the Congregation was entrusted with a territory, the Exarchate of Satna bifurcated from the Diocese of Jabalpur for mission work. Msgr. Abraham D. Mattam, one of the members of the Congregation was made the Apostolic Exarch of the new Diocese (Exarchate). In 1977 Msgr. Abraham Mattam was made the first Bishop of Satna Diocese. The second Bishop, Mar Mathew Vaniakizhakkel was also from the Vincentian Congregation.

Establishment of Ashrams:

As the confreres increased in number working in the mission the Congregation felt the need of establishing houses for coordinating the works as well as fostering community life. A Vincentian Ashram was blessed and inaugurated at Durg, Raipur Prefecture in the year 1969 for the priests working in that area. Another Vincentian house was established in Rewa, Satna Exarchate in 1973 for all those members serving the Diocese of Satna. Seeing the enthusiasm of the missionaries and for the better functioning of the mission, a separate region was formed in this area on 28 February 1980. Rev. Fr. Antony Kakkanatt was the first Regional Superior.

Raised to the status of Province:

In 1990 when the Regions of the Congregation were raised to the status of Provinces, St. Thomas Region became St. Thomas Vice-Province. Rev. Fr. Joseph Edattu was elected the first Provincial on April 4, 1990. In 2001 it was raised to a Province of the Congregation in the Mission and was named St. Thomas Province. The Vincentian Ashram at Rewa served as its head quarter till the blessing of the Provincial House at Ujwa, Delhi on September 8, 2016.

Provincial Superiors:

Rev. Frs. Mathew Vaniakizhakkel, Varghese Naickomparampil, Mathew Vattakuzhy, Mathew Pothalil, John Kandathinkara and Fr. Varghese Puthussery served as the Provincial superiors of St. Thomas Province for different periods of time. At present the Province is led by Rev. Fr. Varghese (Joshy) Kottackal, whose election was held on 24 April 2021.

Formation of Missions:

In 1990s, the Bishops of Agra, Bareilly and Meerut invited the members of the Province to Uttar Pradesh (UP). First we began our work in the diocese of Meerut. In 1991 we started our work in Budaun, in the Archdiocese of Agra and then in the diocese of Bareilly in 1992. They have entrusted us with an area where we are given freedom to plan the missionary activities and implement them using our own liturgical traditions. In order to coordinate the missionary activities in U.P., a dependent mission called Christu Jyothi Mission was established.

Since 2007 the Province had extended its mission work to North Eastern states of India. In Arunachal Pradesh our priests are engaged in preaching and giving the much needed education to the poor children, parish work, retreat and outreach programme to many interior villages of two different tribes, whereas in Assam our missionaries are busy with three retreat centers where thousands of people come for retreats, night vigils, guidance, etc. They also go to the parishes where they are invited and help in pastoral work and preach the Gospel. It was raised into a mission (2019) – Divine Mercy Mission which covers the houses in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Manipur. The head quarter is located in Margherita Ashram in the Diocese of Dibrugargh.

Another mission was established in 2019 for the houses in Madhya Pradehsh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand by name Jai Yesu Mission, the head quarter is in the Vincentian Ashram, Padra.

Mission Abroad:

The members of St. Thomas Province are doing pastoral ministry in Germany, America, Australia and Canada. In 1995 the Diocese of Regensburg, Germany entrusted the Franciscan cloister and the town parish, at Pfreimd, to St. Thomas Province and permitted to start a Vincentian Ashram at Pfreimd. With the founding of the Vincentian Ashram in Pfreimd more members were sent to the Diocese of Regensburg for Parish Ministry. In 2011 the Diocese entrusted St. Thomas Province a second Ashram at Fuchsmuehl (in the former Augustinian Cloister) with the Parish Fuchsmuehl and Friedenfels. Also the members of the Province are doing pastoral ministry in some of the dioceses of United States of America and Canada.

Ministries of the Province:

• Popular Missions: The members of the Province are actively involved in the primary ministry of preaching the Good News to the poor through Popular Missions, residential and parish retreats, Bible Conventions, youth retreats, Bible distribution etc. There is a team of preachers who go around North and North East Indian parishes preaching popular mission retreats in Hindi for the renewal and faith formation of the faithful of these parishes and centres. Bishops and the parish priests appreciate this new method of preaching and request to conduct such retreats in their places. The members also conduct retreats for special groups of people, such as youths, religious, priests, couples, formees, etc. We had established a Popular Mission Retreat Centre at Meerganj, UP (Diocese of Bareilly) and later in the year 2016, it was shifted to Divya Jyoti Renewal centre, Jamshedpur.
• Retreat centres: The Province has established retreat and prayer centres for conducting residential retreats for the people. The retreat centers, especially Margherita, Hazaribag, Jamshedpur, Dumka, Rangapara, Gurufela and Senapati go very well serving thousands of people every month. It has deepened the faith of many and has brought positive changes in parishes. Under the auspice of retreat centres online Bible studies, preaching the Word of God, talks etc are being organised.
• Education Ministry and Charitable activities: Under the ministry of Education, the Province is running seven English Medium schools under the brand name of ‘De Paul School’ (Bilari, Bisauli, Budaun, Madhavgarh, Maidani, Tissa and Vindhyanagar) and four Hindi Medium Schools (Bilsi, Ghadiya, Kundhanpur and Kukhri). Social and charitable activities of the Province include boarding houses, scholarship for poor children, literacy program, village schools, medical assistance, jail ministry, community based programs etc.

The 92 members of the St. Thomas Province are engaged in implementing the Charism of the patron, St. Vincent de Paul bequeathed to the Vincentian Congregation by the founder, servant of God, Very Rev. Fr. Varkey Kattarath. The members believe that through the intercession of the patron and the founder they would be able to continue the mission of Christ entrusted to each one of them in India and abroad.