Houses - Adorno Fathers India

The Clerics Regular Minor founded by three Italian priests: St. Francis Caracciolo, Venerable Augustine Adorno and Fr. Fabrizio Caracciolo 1588, is an Order of Roman Catholic priests and brothers. Our mission is the spiritual renewal of the Church, specifically, of the priests and the religious. The special charism of our Order is the Eucharist centered pastoral work. The Clerics Regular Minor (CRM) is commonly known as “Adorno Fathers,” in commemoration of Augustine Adorno who first conceived the idea of this Order.

Adorno Fathers came to India in 1993, with the vision of fostering religious vocations from the land of religions and spirituality. Rev. Fr. Mario Salon CRM was the Superior General, who initiated and realized this mission with the consent of the General Council. It was, however, through the hands of Rev. Fr. John Paul CRM that this mission grew up and got flourished. The Order opened the first formation house at Mallikassery (Kerala, India) on the 3rd of June 1993. The house is known as “Adorno Ashram,” where the future Adorno priests receive proper religious and priestly formation.

The seminary intends to impart preliminary religious and priestly formation to the youth who aspire to follow the footsteps of our founders. Its purpose is the integral formation of the candidates for their holistic development in Christ as a complete human being: spiritually, emotionally, socially and intellectually.

In 1993, the first Rector of the seminary was Very Rev. Fr. John Paul Gasparini CRM, who served the candidates with tremendous dedication and commitment for seventeen years. After him, the mission was under the guidance of Rev. Fr. Thomas Barbona CRM – delegate of the Superior General – followed by Rev. Fr. Robin Mampallithadathil CRM. At present, Rev. Fr. Shinto Kanjirappallil CRM is the Superior and he is supported by Rev. Fr. Aneesh Koovalloor CRM, Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kadalikkattil CRM and Rev. Fr. Jacob Ettuparayil CRM.

Adorno Bhavan, the Study House of the Theologians of the Adorno Fathers in India Situates in Bangalore. We opened our house in this beautiful city on 2005 under the guidance of Rev. Fr. John Paul CRM. Rev. Fr. Jaison Thadavanal CRM, the Rector and Theologians were the first members of the Community. He was followed by Rev. Fr Siby Arayathinal CRM. In 2010 we started the construction of new building. The Foundation stone was laid by Rev. Fr. Thomas Barbona CRM, then Delegate of the Superior General on November 21, 2010 and the new building was blessed by Rt. Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras, Arch bishop of Bangalore, in the presence our Superior General Very Rev. Fr. Raffaele Mandolesi CRM on October 9, 2012. From June 2015 onwards Rev. Fr. Robin Mampallithadathil delegation Superior of India - Germany, and the Superior of the community and he is assisted by Rev. Fr. Paul Pazhuparampil CRM and Rev. Fr. Elgin Madickankal CRM.

Adorno Bhavan has a beautiful and spacious building with a great atmosphere for prayer, studies and all other community activities. This house is surrounded by many religious communities and Kristu Jyoti College close by which is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. In fact our Brothers are studying in the Kristu Jyoti College. Many Adorno Fathers came out as priests after formation here and they are working in different parts of the world. At present there are 11 brothers undergoing Priestly formation here. The community is rendering service to the Church and society in different levels as well.

The Bishop from Mandya, His Excellency Mar. Antony Kariyil entrusted T.C. Palaya St.Joseph Church to the pastoral care of Adorno Fathers from January 2016 onwards. And priests are going to different Parishes to offer Holy Eucharist and to administer other Sacraments. The Theologians have Sunday Ministry at famous shrines of Shivajinagar and Viveknagar. And also we are doing many charitable activities by helping the poor and needy of this area. Thus, we make our presence felt by the people.

To begin a house in Malabar for Adorno Fathers was the great desire of the first members of Mallikassery. In order to realize this dream the Fathers were very attentive to every occasion they had to get sufficient informations about this project. Finally on 30th May 2010 Fr. Boban Madathiparampi and Fr. Baiju Kunnakkattu were sent to Malabar to begin a home of Adorno Fathers there. Together with them there were some students who were sent there to attend the philosophical classes in the Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Kunnoth. In the beginning we rented 2 small homes, one near the Kunnoth Forane Church, another one on the side of the main road. We stayed there almost two years. Then we had the fortune to have a ex- formation house of the diocese of Thalassery near the Major Seminary in rent. So the Adorno community moved from Kiliyanthara to Santhome Estate building, where the community stayed until the inauguration of our new home at Kiliyanthara.

On 29th June 2011 under the guidance of Fr. Thomas Barbona CRM, we acquired a land in Kiliyanthara. On 20th September 2012 Fr. Shinto Kanjirappallil CRM was appointed as the responsible of Adorno Community in Kiliyanthara. On 21st November 2013 after having the approval from the General Council, Fr. Robin Mampallithadathil CRM laid the foundation stone for the projected building of Adorno Fathers in Kiliyanthara. Then Fr. Baiju Kunnakkattu CRM was substituted by Fr. Shijo Chethimattathil CRM.

On 12th January 2015 the construction work was finished and the New home of Adorno Fathers was blessed by His Excellency Mar George Njaralakkattu, Bishop of Thalassery and inaugurated by Rev. Fr. Giulio Capetola CRM

Ever since the foundation of Adorno Fathers in India, “A Mission” was a dream of our founding fathers. For the past 23 years, we have prayed and prepared ourselves for this new endeavour. In the last General Chapter, which was held in Rome in July 2015, unanimously approved the Mission. And Fr. Benny Madathiparambil is assigned as the Rector of the mission and Fr. Jojo Thundathil as his assistant for the task of finding a Mission Station. Therefore, they decided to move in one of the mission areas of North East.

Thus, Fr. Benny and Fr. Jojo came to Arunachal Pradesh in October 2015. At first, they served in the Diocesan parishes to learn the language, culture and to read the pulse of the people. After few months in February 2016, Fr. Robin who is the Delegation Superior with his Councillor visited the possible mission stations and submitted the report to the General Consulta in Rome for the approval of the project. Once the Consulta gave the permission, Fr. Robin talked with the Rev. Dr. George Palliparambil, Bishop of Miao and he gave us the permission and whole hearted support in this attempt and we began the evangelization works at Bhekuliang in Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh.

In the beginning of July 2016, Fr. Benny and Fr. Jojo moved to the new place. There they constructed a small school for the education of the village children and formed the Adorno Mission Community. Soon Fr. Jomon Manalel joined them to accelerate mission work. At present, we have 29 students in two classes and 3 staffs in the school.

Together with the task of intellectual enlightenment of the village children, we are also taking care of the spiritual needs of people of that village. There is a small mission station Church adjacent to our community and there are 15 families. Fathers celebrate Holy Mass in the weekends and conduct Prayer services at the houses of the parishioners. And we take part in the salvific work of Jesus through our little services to poor and needy.