History

In the benevolent designs of God, our province had its humble origin. The dawn of 1953 came forth with added joy to the Syro-malabar Church- the establishment of Thalassery diocese and Mar Sebastian Vallopilly was consecrated as the first Bishop of the diocese. The long cherished desire of Mar Sebastian Vallopilly, to have a house of Adoration sisters in the Malabar region came true in 1956.

The first house was started in Mananthavady at Kaniyaram. The first members of the Malabar region were the sisters from the Province of Palai. The vigour, enthusiasm and dedicated spirit of these sisters helped to grow and flourish the newborn house. At the same time, it should be noted that the humble, but unforgettable dedicated service of very Rev.Fr. George Kazhikachalil, the first chaplain of our house had helped a lot in the growth and development of Adoration Congregation in the Malabar region. From 1964 we received aspirants and formation was given to them. In 1968 Novitiate shifted to Kiliyanthara. In 1973, the Thalassery diocese was bifurcated and the Diocese of Mananthavady was established. Surprisingly enough, in the divine providence in 1980 Mary Matha Vice Province was established with 60 perpetually professed sisters and 25 temporary professed sisters. Mother Maribella was the first Vice-provincial of Mananthavady.

After overcoming the crisis of the infancy period, the vice province continued to grow under the powerful leadership of Mother Mariola and Mother Mary Bosco. The seed of the first house which was planted in the Mananthavady region blossomed into a tree becoming a province on December 21 st, 1997. Also, it was the fulfilment of the long-cherished dream of our sisters working in the Wayanad area. Now the Province has gone 275 perpetual sisters 19 temporary professed sisters altogether.

Growth and Development

The Provincial House is situated at Dwaraka which is nearby to Mananthavady. There are 25 houses in Kerala 5 in Karnataka, 5 in Andhra Pradesh, 4 in Germany and 1 in America. We foster the spirit of Eucharistic devotion through our apostolate of adoration, parish ministry and faith formation. We are privileged to have perpetual adoration in 7 houses: Kaniyaram, Ambalavayal, Dwaraka, S.Bathery and Pulpally. Accorging to the needs of the time and place we undertake other apostolic activities like education, healing ministry, press apostolate, social service, family apostolate, 1 Homeo clinic etc. Many of our sisters are teachers working in diocesan management schools and school at Appappara. We have, 3 private schools, one hospital, 2 dispensaries, a DCA UP School Appapara, 2 working womens hostels, 1 counselling centre, one special school for the mentally retarded, 2 tailoring centers, and one offset printing press. Taking into account the needs of the church, we have extended our apostolic activities to Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and other countries like Africa, America, Germany and Latin America.

At the dawn of the third millennium with great hope we, our small province is striving forward to meet the ups and downs of the present situation. True to the charism of our Congregation, we witness to the Eucharistic Lord according to the needs of the time, and the Eucharistic Lord be known everywhere.