Matthew Kadalikattil

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Matthew Kadalikattil often also Kadalikkattil (born April 25, 1872 in Edappady near Palai , Kerala , India ; † May 23, 1935 in Palai, Kerala, India) was a Catholic priest of the Syro-Malabar rite and founder of the Indian Sacred Heart Sisters. The beatification process has started and Kadalikattil has already been declared a “ Venerable Servant of God ”.

Live and act

Matthew Kadalikattil was the son of the Catholic Thomas Christians Zacharias and Rosa Kadalikattil. At an early age he felt called to the priesthood and was taught by a clergyman in his liturgical language, Syriac . Not knowing how to continue his studies, he introduced himself to Bishop Charles Lavigne , then Vicar Apostolic of Changanacherry , who saw him as suitable, and introduced him to the seminary of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate in their mother monastery on Mount Mannanam. There he was ordained a priest on February 11, 1901 by Lavigne's successor, Bishop Mathew Makil . Matthew Kadalikattil was now diocesan priest of the Vicariate and the later Diocese of Changanacherry.

First he worked for two years as one of several chaplains in his home parish St. Thomas zu Palai (today's old cathedral church), in 1903 he received the parish Herz-Jesu in Karoor. Here pastor Kadalikattil became a great devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus , had the church rebuilt and also consecrated all families and houses of his believers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus . In 1906 he was transferred to St. Mary Church Palai-Lalam, next to St. Thomas Church the second main Catholic church in the city. In 1910 he returned as one of several pastors to the St. Thomas Church in Palai - his home parish, where he had also spent his first years as a priest. From 1914 he worked at various churches in the city, from 1922 until his death as vicar of the newly established parish Palai-Kannadiurumpu and superior of his sisters.

Kadalikattil was known in Palai as a good preacher and sensitive confessor, as well as the “father of the poor” , to whom he particularly cared. He took special care of the Harijans , who were excluded from Indian society as untouchables; for them he founded u. a. a school. Soon the clergyman could no longer cope with the work among the poor and sick on his own and looked for helpers. He found some women who were ready to do so and founded a religious order with them in 1911, which was spiritually geared towards the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which he particularly valued, and which was therefore called Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Matthew Kadalikattil gave them a self-written rule of the order and placed special emphasis on the care of the poor, orphans and the elderly. The community grew and in 1934 its founder asked the Holy See to officially recognize it under canon law. Pope Pius XI received then on May 23, 1935 Bishop James Kalacherry of Changanacherry in audience and revealed to him that he empowered him to recognize the order. That happened in Rome on the same day that the founder died in India after a month of serious illness.

Death and adoration

Burial place and sisters of his order, Palai, provincial house of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart

Matthew Kadalikattil was temporarily buried on May 24, 1935 in the (old) St. Thomas Church, Palai. The founder of the order was known and revered in Palai as the "Sacred Heart of Jesus Apostle" and "Father of the Poor" . After two years he was transferred to the new chapel of the mother house of his congregation of sisters, just outside Palai. His grave developed into a place of pilgrimage. In 1960, on the 25th anniversary of his death, the first biography appeared (in Malayalam ). Palai has been an independent diocese since 1950. On May 14, 1988, Bishop Joseph Pallikaparampil of Palai initiated the process of beatification for Matthew Kadalikattil. On June 27, 2011 he was received by Pope Benedict XVI. declared " Venerable Servant of God ". The former little house from Palai-Kannadiurumpu, in which Matthew Kadalikattil lived for 14 years, has been moved to the grounds of the Palai Provincial House (where the tomb is also) and a museum of the founder of the order has been set up there.

The order of sisters received official canonical recognition on July 25th, 1936. In the meantime, the congregation with approx. 3,500 nuns is one of the women’s congregations with the largest number of members in India and many of its members work abroad; u. a. also in various German retirement homes and clinics.

literature

  • Catholic Bishop's Conference of India: The Catholic Directory of India, 1984. p. 831 ( excerpt from "The Catholic Directory of India, 1984" ).
  • Kurian Vanchipurackal: Fr. Mathew Kadalikkattil Founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart. Palai 1987.
  • KC Chacko: Servant of the Sacred Heart. HH Generalate, Palai 1988.
  • Sr. Pelagia Theckeparambil SH: The Shepherd's Dream. SH Generalate, 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Picture of the old St. Thomas Church Palai ( Memento from July 15, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ↑ Kadalkkattil Mathiachen is Dhanyan ( Memento from November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Sacred Heart Sisters in Namibia ( Memento from August 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Kadalikattil, Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kadalikkattil, Matthew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian, Catholic priest, order founder, declared Venerable Servant of God
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Edappady , Kerala, India
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1935
Place of death Palai , Kerala, India