ST JOSEPH PROVINCE, KOTTAYAM
A Short History
The Province of St Joseph established on March 2, 1953 was formally inaugurated on April 23, 1953. The Provincial Curia which functioned temporarily at Mannanam was shifted to Kottayam in 1956 when the new building for the Curia was built there. In 1968 the curia was shifted to St Antony’s CMI Bhavan, Puthupally. The Calicut Region, entrusted to the Province was raised to Vice-Province in 1969 and a Province in 1978, named after St Thomas the Apostle. The Jagdalpur Exarchate, created in 1972, was entrusted to St Joseph’s Province. In 1979, the erstwhile St Joseph Province, Kottayam was bifurcated, and St Joseph’s Province, Trivandrum and Nirmal Vice-Province, Jagdalpur were erected. St Joseph's Province, Trivandrum had its headquarters at Mannanam and later shifted to Trivandrum in 1981. The Provincial House at Puthuppally continued to be the Provincial Curia of the St Joseph Province, Kottayam, till it was moved to Kottayam in 1990. The administrative block of the Provincial House was completed and blessed in 1996. The St Joseph Province, Kottayam spreads over the entire dioceses of Pala and Kanjirappally and parts of the Archdiocese of Changanassery.
In 1975 the Province sent two missionaries to Peru along with priests from Thrissur and later a few others joined them. In 1990 a group of missionaries were sent to Peru to provide more vigour and vibrancy to the CMI mission in Lima and Arequipa dioceses. As an effective and efficient strategy in the training of the future missionaries of Peru the Province began to send scholastics there for practical training and for theological formation. In 2003 the sub-region of San Mateo, Peru was established with Sub-Regional house, Villa Chavara in Lima. Peru mission extended its activities and services to the Archdiocese of Piura (Northern Peru) in July, 2011. At present, in Peru 14 of our members are working in the Diocese of Chosica (5 priests), Archdiocese of Arequipa (5 priests), Prelature of Moyabamba (01 priest) and Archdiocese of Piura (3 priests).
In 1985 two districts (Bhavnagar, Amreli) of the diocese of Rajkot were earmarked for St Joseph Province, Kottayam for mission work and later in 1987 the district of Junagadh was added to them. The Chavara Sub-Region, Bhavnagar was officially constituted on January 3, 1985 as a dependent region of the Province. The Sub-region was made a region in 1996 with the Regional House (Devdarsan) in Merubaugh. It was raised to a Vice-Province in 2010. In 1991 a new Mission in Papua New Guinea was started. A few of our members were sent to the diocese of Vanimo who got actively involved in the activities in the hard pastoral fields of the diocese. Due to practical inconveniences this mission was discontinued in 2002. The Province has also taken up missions in Australia, USA and Germany and is engaged in the pastoral works of the different dioceses of these countries as part of its services to the Universal Church. Besides these countries, some members of the Province are working and studying in various other foreign countries under the Generalate and the Province. Now around 50 priests are engaged in overseas missions of the Province.
At present the Province has 286 professed members (218 Priests, 5 Permanent Brothers and 63 Scholastics) engaged in preaching the Good News in different parts of the World through different apostolates.