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HISTORY OF THE NORBERTINE ORDER

 

he Canons Regular of Prémontré were founded by St. Norbert at Prémontré, France in 1120. Basing the lives of his sons and daughters on that of the first apostles of Our Lord, Our Holy Father Norbert bequethed five works to the Order i) the praise of God by the singing of the Divine Office, ii) zeal for the salvation of souls, iii) spreading devotion to Our Lady, especially in Her Immaculate Conception, iv) spreading devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament and v) leading a life of simple penance. In 1126, when the order received papal approbation by Pope Honorius II, there were nine houses; others were established in quick succession throughout Western Europe, so that at the middle of the fourteenth century there were some 1,300 monasteries for men and 400 for women.

         The "Norbertines", also known as the Premonstratensians (O.Praem) and in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Premonstratensians are designated by "O Praem" following their name Order of Premontre.

OUR MOTHER ABBEY

The first three Norbertines arrived on Indian soil in 1923 as Missionaries from the Abbey of Berne, the Netherlands. Their field of ministry was located in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. In 1929 they took up Jabalpur region for their apostolate. They concentrated mainly on the development of the people of Mandla District (M.P) through parochial, education and health care activities.

In 1932, Jabalpur was constituted as a ‘Prefecture Apostolic’ and The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Conrad Dubbleman, O. Praem was appointed as the first Prefect Apostolic. On July 5, 1954, Jabalpur was raised to the status of a Diocese and Msgr. Conrad Dubbleman, O. Praem became its first Bishop. St. Norbert Priory, the First House of the Norbertine Order, was started at Jamtara, in the suburbs of Jabalpur Town. The Novitiate was established at Jamtara, Jabalpur in 1962. St. Norbert Priory at Jamtara, Jabalpur was raised to the status of Sub- Canonry on July 31,1976 and declared as an Autonomous Canonry on the February 15, 1984. Log on to http://www.canonryofjamtara.org/ for more information.

 

OUR HOME (KERALA NORBERTINES)

The first 3 Norbertine Missionaries arrived in Nelloor (A.P.) on Oct, 26th1923 from the Abbey of Berne, Holland. Late Bp. Benzigar invited the Norbertines to the Quilon Diocese in 1929. Fr.Bazelman O. Praem spent a week in the diocese, seeking for a Mission region. The understanding was to take up the region of Kottar. This move was deferred due to some reasons. In the same year, by a Bull from the Holy See, the Norbertines were told to move to Jabalpur Region.  The Norbertines were once again invited to the diocese by the late Bp. Jerome Fernandez in 1974. Fr. Charles O. Praem, a native of the diocese arrived in Pathanapuram in 1974. Frs. Peter and Pratap joined the team on Dec.25th 1975.With a view to work as a community, Frs. Pratap and Peter took up Mangad -Kandachira on Feb.16th 1976.As these two parishes were not congenial to work for a community, they shifted to St. John the Baptist church, Eravipuram on 27th Aug.1977.A plot of land at Ayathil was offered to the Norbertines to establish a community on 24th Aug.1977 and a permanent contract of the Eravipuram parish was signed by the Abbot’s Delegate Rev. Nicholas Ambrose O. Praem and Rt. Rev. Joseph Fernandez on oct.1979 abrogating the earlier contract that was made with Rt. Rev. Abbot Marcel van de van, then the Abbot of Berne, Holland.

                  The Norbertine Fathers of Kerala, live in 4 micro communities namely, Eravipupram, Ayathil, Aluwye and Kallamkulam, Trichur. Every community follows the common prayer, common meals and common recreations. Kallamkulam is a Retreat House. Away from the madding crowed, serenity is its very nature.

                  The Eravipuram Community Development Centre (E.C.D.C., a social work organization was registered in 1980. It’s aim is the integral development of the people of Eravipuram. The various activities of this organization includes Vocational Training for the Fishermen youth, Books and uniforms for the poor children, sponsorship of students, running Nurseries for the poor children, Relief works, Housing projects, other conscientization and developmental activities in collaboration with Govt. agencies and NGO’s. We are greatly indebted to the Missieprocuur team of the Abbey of Berne for the social funding.

 

HISTORY

Kollam became a diocese on 9th August 1329. It was the first Latin Diocese in India. The first bishop was Jordanus Cathalani. In 1502, the Portuguese came to Kollam and with them the Franciscan Missionaries. The Portuguese pronounced Kollam as Quilon. In the year 1854 the diocese of Kollam was entrusted to the Belgian Discalced Carmelites.

 

 

Invitation to the Norbertines to Kollam and the Pioneers

 

In 1929 Most Rev. Maria Benziger, the then bishop of Quilon diocese invited the Dutch Norbertines to his diocese.  However the Norbertines did not respond to the invitation. The first Indian bishop of Kollam was Rt. Rev. Dr. Jerome M. Fernandez who invited Norbertines again to Kollam in 1971. On 22nd April 1974 Fr. Charles was sent to Kollam from Jamtara.  He was entrusted with the pastoral care of Pathanapuram mission which was then the part of Kollam diocese (Now it is under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Punalure diocese which was bifurcated from Quilon in 1989). In 1975 Frs. Pratap and Peter were also sent to Kollam from Jamtara to explore the possibility of establishing Canonical life of the Order in this part of the country.

 

As they arrived in Kollam, they were given the parishes of Kandachira and Mangad which are situated about 6 and 8 K.M from the town respectively.  They searched for a suitable place to establish a religious commumity. Fr. Jose Pratap was the parish priest and Fr. Peter was the co-pastor. For some or the other reason it did not take place and they left the place soon.

 

The fathers approached the bishop and explained their difficulty in continuing there as community. bishop patiently listened to them. The bishop then asked them to search for a place where  they would prefer to live and work as a religious community. They went around the diocese and found Eravipuram. When the fathers suggested this place, bishop Jerome M. Fernadez happily accepted the proposal and agreed to hand over the parish to the pastoral care of Norbertine Fathers. On 26.07.1977 His Lordship Bishop Jerome called a meeting of the Parish priest of Eravipuram and  parish committee over which the bishop himself presided.  It was unanimously agreed upon  to hand over the parish to the pastoral care of the Norbertine fathers and establish religious community there. Hence on 24.08.1977 the fathers took charge of  Eravipuram parish.

 

 

Eravipuram

 

The fathers looked out for a plot of land conducive to establish a religious house. They found one of 1.25 acre very close to the church belonging to a particular Mr. Cyril Fernandez. Fathers started negotiations with the owner. It was during this period  the ‘bench problem’ in the parish came to its worse condition in the parish and so they droped the idea of having a house in the parish. Today the Norbertine fathers in Kollam diocese are catering to the pastoral needs of St. John the Baptist Parish- Eravipuram, Viswharani  Parish – Ayathil, Little Flower Church – Kalakkode and St. Jude Church – Kurumandal.

 

 

THE NUMBER OF PRIESTS SERVING THE PARISH:

 

The parish is too large and thickly populated with 3500 families which is consisted of almost 15000 catholic population. This is the biggest and largest parish of the diocese. There are 4 priests serving in the parish; namely- Fr. Johsy Augustine, Fr. Peter Manikuttiyil, Fr. Simon Fredy and Fr. Charles.  It had two substations, namely, St. Michael Church, Thani and Our Lady of Perpetual Succor Church Kakkathope. In June 2013Thani was bifurcated and handed over to the Diocese and now diocesan priest is the parish priest of the same.  Besides this there are 5 shrines. 

 

There is a government aided school under the management of the Parish(of which Bishop is the corporate Manager) where in 2000 children from poor fishermen families and other poor sectors of the society are getting their education.  This school presently named as St. John’ High school was only up to Primary level. When the Norbertines were entrusted with the pastoral care of Eravipuram the condition of the people were worse in the level of education, social, cultural and economical.  The parents were not interested in sending the children to school, nor children wanted to be educated. The Pioneers Frs. Jose Pratap and Peter Manikuttiyil made all the serious and possible efforts in bringing the children to the school by going from house to house contientizing  the parents and the community the need of educating their children. They succeeded in this effort. Later through lots of hard work  and efforts of the confreres the school was up graded to High school. Today the Eravipuram community is highly educated, socially forefront, financially sound and religiously well built.

 

The Norbertine Fathers invested millions of rupees in the social, educational and material  development of the people by way of providing the fisherman fishing boats and nets, auto rickshaws, tailoring machines, housing projects, scholarship for the poorest children, providing school uniforms and notebooks, vocational training, marriage assistance, legal aid, small saving schemes, family benefit schemes, establishing destitute homes and orphanage etc.  The Norbertines are very much proud of having uplifted the people who are entrusted to care of us.

 

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