History

History of Diocese

Erection of Mission Stations

The mission territory covered a vast area of 45,188 sq. km. The main challenge faced by the missionaries was to work in a new missionary context, to learn the new language and culture and to begin their work from the ground up. To begin their mission work, the first order of business was to establish some primary contacts among the local people, which would do a lot of good for the opening of new centers. By the end of November 1968, Msgr. Abraham Mattam started to stay in a rented building––59, Master Plan, Civil Lines in Satna and made Satna a permanent mission station. Fr. Thomas Kuzhippala V.C. took up residence there, looking after the pastoral needs of Satna and Birla stations. As a result of personal contact and divine providence, on 26 January 1969, Msgr. Mattam shifted his residence from Rewa to Satna. From that time on, the house at Rewa was considered the “Ashram” of the Vincentian Fathers working in the eparchy. Later, an Ashram was constructed at Padra, Rewa. After a two-year stay there, Msgr. Mattam, moved his residence to another rented house–– 21, Master Plan, Civil Lines, near the present bridge.

 

In 1969, Msgr. Mattam and Fr. Thomas Kuzhippala V.C. went to Sidhi, made contact with the people there, and bought a plot of land with two small buildings near the collectorate. Fr. Thomas Kuzhippala, V.C. was appointed priest-in-charge of both Sidhi and Singrauli stations. In April 1969, Msgr. Abraham Mattam and Fr. John Rathappilly V.C. went to Nowgong in Chhatarpur district, made contacts among the people, and bought ten acres of land. Fr. John Rathappilly was appointed the priest-in-charge of Nowgong. He oversaw Chhatarpur and Tikamgarh stations as well.

On 14 July 1969, the first school in the Exarchate was opened in Sidhi, with the name Gandhi Shishu Vidyalay. On 19 July, the first batch of Rev. Sisters to the Exarchate of Satna came to Sidhi. The Franciscan Clarist sisters who came on that day were Sr. Boniface (Superior), Sr. Beena, and Sr. Mariusha. Thus, the first convent in the Exarchate was opened and the school was entrusted to them. In October, the Gandhi Centenary Memorial Home for the Destitute and an orphanage for girls were opened in Nowgong. These were the first charitable institutions that opened in the Exarchate. By the year 1970, the work expanded to all six districts, a number of mission stations were opened on the “virgin land” of the Exarchate of Satna, and the Christian presence was slowly felt.

On 24 June 1971, the foundation stone was laid for the present Bishop's house. It was blessed on 25 August 1972. As the territory of the Exarchate was vast, it demanded a number of priests and religious for its momentous undertakings. There was a constant need to be on the move and to meet the people. On 1 February 1975, an Inter-religious Dialogue Center and library were opened at Satna. Evangelization was given prominence in the eparchy, not excluding other priorities, however, like the formation of clergy, health, and education.

Erection of the Eparchy

On 26 February 1977, the Exarchate was raised to the status of Eparchy by the Papal Bull Ecclesiarum Orientalium of Pope John Paul VI. Mar Abraham Mattatm was appointed the first bishop of Satna. On 30 April 1977, in the presence of the bishop, priests, religious and a large number of faithful, Mar Abraham Mattam was consecrated bishop. His Grace Eugene D'Souza, Archbishop of Bhopal was the main celebrant; he was assisted by his Grace Leonard D'Souza, Archbishop of Nagpur and Right Rev. Theophine Thannickunnel, O. Praem, Bishop of Jabalpur. After the consecration and the concelebrated Qurbana, a small congregation of the faithful gathered to felicitate the newly consecrated bishop. Installation and the erection of the Eparchy of Satna took place on 31 July 1977. At the beginning of the concelebrated Mass, Right Rev. Theophine Thannickunnel read the papal Bull, appointing Mar Abraham Mattam V.C. as the first bishop of the Eparchy of Satna.

At the inauguration of the Erarchate, Fr. John Rathappilly. V.C. was appointed Pro-Exarch. On 6 February 1971, Fr. Jacob Athickal, V.C. was appointed the procurator of the exarchate and the parish priest of Satna. On 19 July 1971, Bro. Joseph Naduvilepararbil V.C. was made the procurator. Fr. John Rathappilly V.C. was made Vicar General in 1977.

On 17 March 1985, Fr. Job Vallianal, the first priest for the Eparchy of Satna was ordained. On 31 December 1991, the St. Vincent De Paul Cathedral was blessed. The Golden Jubilee of the priestly ordination of Mar Abraham Mattam was celebrated on 15 February 2000.

Mar Abraham Mattam served the Eparchy for thirty-two long years in his capacity both as the Exarch and the Eparch. After the retirement of Mar Abraham Mattam, Rev. Fr. Mathew Vaniakizhakkel of the Vincentian Congregation was appointed the second bishop of the Eparchy of Satna on 14 January 2000. The Episcopal ordination of Mar Mathew Vaniakizhakkel V.C. took place on 12 April 2000 at St. Vincent's Cathedral Church, Satna. His beatitude Mar Varkey Vithayathil, the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church was the main celebrant. Mar Mathew Vaniakizhakkel completed fourteen years of shepherding the eparchy as a zealous eparch and pastor. He renounced his office of the eparch on 27 August 2014 due to health reasons. Very Rev. Fr. George Mangalapilly served as the Administrator of the Eparchy for one year. Rev. Fr. Joseph Kodakallil, a priest of the Eparchy of Satna, was appointed the third bishop of Satna on 22 July 2015. He was consecrated and installed on 15 September 2015 by His Beatitude Mar George Cardinal Alencherry.

Progress of the Mission

Given the small number of Catholics, it would be unrealistic to expect missionary personnel to do all the charitable works on their own. Hence, as a matter of fact, the eparchy depended and continues to depend almost completely on outside resources. All the missionary personnel are from Kerala, the mother church. Since the mission was entrusted to the Vincentian Congregation from the very beginning, the congregation provided necessary missionary personnel to the eparchy. When the mission expanded and the need for more missionary personnel was felt, the bishop contacted many congregations, diocesan priests, and sisters and made them aware of the demanding situation in the Satna mission. New stations were opened one by one, depending on the availability of personnel and resources. The opening of the educational institutions, dispensaries, and other charitable institutions provided a chance to offer valuable services to different communities and at the same time to fulfil our missionary responsibilities.

As a great visionary, reading the signs of the time, Mar Abraham Mattam foresaw that the eparchy could progress only with the integral development of the poor, who are generally denied access to public amenities. Mar Abraham Mattam is of the opinion that unless there are schools of our own, the standard of education and its values cannot be fully achieved. Thus, the eparchy started both Hindi and English medium schools. Balawadis for pre-school children, functional literacy programmes, non-formal education for the rural women, and the grihini training are all new ventures launched in the eparchy, on a large scale.

Health awareness and the general development of the people are given due importance in the eparchy. The eparchy encourages as many religious congregations as possible to open rural health centers with out-reach program for community health activities within the eparchy. Community health workers, trained and placed in interior villages, are of great help to the rural people who have no other medical facilities within their reach.

Uplift of the poor and the neglected tribals in the rural areas remains one of the major foci of the mission. A number of mission stations have been developed, even in the far-off villages. One mission center was set up at Karimattti, in the tribal belt of Sidhi district, in 1974. The Catholic Ashram at Dewra and church at Kailaspur were set up in 1975. The year 1976 saw the erection of the mission station at Odgady. Gijwar and Prithipur stations were established in 1979. Many mission stations like Koond (1987), Deosar (1996), Niwari (1997), Lavkushnagar (2007) and Kothi (2002) arose to advance the rural mission by showing compassion for all and by preferentially serving the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalised.

The Eparchy of Satna placed equal emphasis on urban development. Education centers were set up in all prominent urban localities of the eparchy, like Chhatarpur, Jayant, Khajuraho, Maihar, Nowgong, Panna, Rewa, Sidhi, Satna, Singrauli, Tikamgarh, Vindiaynagar, and Waidhan.

The Eparchy of Satna always envisaged a healthy society where people, especially the poor and marginalised, attain and maintain holistic well-being. To make quality health services available, affordable, and accessible to all, especially in the underserved areas, namely Karimatti (1975), Odgady (1976), Gijwar (1977), Dewra (1979), Kailaspur (1979), Pateri (1979), Singrauli (1979), Koond (1988), and Panna (2018), the eparchy established dispensaries and hospitals.

The Eparchy of Satna paid special attention to the care and uplift of the differently-abled of society. Missionaries work relentlessly to facilitate a better life by bringing differently-abled children into the mainstream of society. Asha Bhawan, a center for the physically challenged, was established in 1999 at Panna. Sneh Sadan (1999) and Prem Sadan (2000) are the other two special schools which cater to the needs of the visually-impaired, hearing-impaired, physically-challenged, and mentally-challenged children.

Formation Houses

Ever since its erection, the Eparchy of Satna has made rapid strides in the progress of the church in this non-Christian area. The destiny of any new eparchy depends ultimately on the devoted hands of its missionaries. The eparchial bishops were keen on opening formation houses for both men and women. There are fourteen religious congregations for men and women working in this eparchy. Realizing the need for missionary formation, some of these religious communities have arranged at least a part of the formation of their candidates in the mission itself. It helps the candidates to have a picture of their future missionary responsibility well in advance. Moreover, being convinced of a formation suitable to the missions, different houses of formation have also sprung up in the eparchy.

St. Ephrem’s Theological College, the Syro-Malabar Synodal Seminary, is one of the institutions that will stand out as witness to the missionary zeal and the farsightedness of Mar Abraham Mattam. It had its humble origin in the Pastoral Center (Edessa) at Pateri, with just seventeen students from various mission dioceses and congregations. Trusting in the ever bounteous providence of God, it was inaugurated on 3 July 1992, under the patronage of the great Eastern Sage, St Ephrem, with the prayers and hope that it might be the nourishing ground for many zealous missionaries to serve the Mother Church. It was elevated to the status of Syro-Malabar Synodal Seminary on 29 March 2014 by His Beatitude Cardinal Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church.

Mar Abraham Mattam was eager to open a minor seminary for the eparchy in the mission itself with a view to proper missionary formation. Hence, the St. Thomas Minor Seminary was inaugurated on 3 July 1996. Kristu Vidhya Niketan (Regional Minor Seminary, 1982); Madhavgarh (Regional Novitiate House, 2017), Padra; and Vincentian Study House (1997) are the houses of formation of the Vincentian congregation.

Bethania, a theological institute for religious sisters, was opened on 15 July 1998, with the aim of providing missionary and theological formation to the religious sisters who are in the mission field. This institute was later entrusted to DST, which started four-month intensive theological courses coupled with mission experiences for the pre-novices of different congregations at Bethania on 3 July 2009. Professors from St. Ephrem's Theological College render their service with other theological experts to ensure that the future missionaries are theologically equipped and sound.

The other houses of formation for candidates and sisters are SH Novitiate House (for the common canonical novitiate for the three mission provinces of Assam, Delhi, and Ujjain of SH congregations, 1994), SH Formation House (for the aspirants and postulants of Jeeva Jyoti, Delhi Province, 1991), SD Formation House (for the postulants belonging to the Pushpadham, Delhi Province, 1995), CSN Formation House (for the Candidates and the Postulants of Christ Jyoti Province, Prayagraj, 1997), CSN Novitiate House (for the novitiate of CSN Christ Jyoti Province, Prayagraj, 1999), SABS Formation House (for the aspirants and postulants of SABS Christu Jyoti Province, Satna, 1997) and CSN Formation House (Psycho-spiritual Integrative training programmes for religious and those who are in formation, Kothi, 2014).

Focus Areas of the Eparchy

The Eparchy of Satna has focused on providing quality education in urban and rural areas to meet the educational needs of the poor and underprivileged population. Over twenty-six schools, from kindergartens to higher secondary schools in the rural and urban areas are the vehicles of change. These schools strive to offer quality education, affordable to the poorest, which is otherwise often unavailable. Our non-formal educational programmes include balwadies, remedial classes for weaker students, literacy programmes, adult education, and more.

The Eparchy of Satna, from its very inception, has initiated social development activities and been committed to sustainable development with the motto – “upliftment of the poor.” In order to coordinate the social works of the eparchy, Samaritan Social Service Society was started in 1993. The major focus areas of the society are health, education, agriculture, women’s empowerment, child care and protection, community health, etc. Over the years, Samaritan has been successful in rendering services to the poor, marginalized, and deprived of the society.

Though the number of the faithful is few, the Eparchy of Satna has had the prime focus on the spiritual nourishment of the people of God. Rakshadham, the spiritual renewal center of the eparchy, was started on 29 June 2016. The most fundamental aspiration of the center is to preach the Good News to people in a missionary context and to anoint and heal them through the power of intercessory prayers and Eucharistic adorations. Irrespective of caste and creed, people turn to the centers for healing and deliverance.

The catechetical mission of the eparchy aims to help the faithful of all ages to grow in both human and Christian maturity, enriching the whole of life with the leaven of the Gospel. Indeed, they are assisted through different departments and associations such as Catechism, Family Apostolate, Youth Ministry, Legion of Mary and Altar Boys.

The Eparchy of Satna is getting ready to widen its missionary activities by opening new mission stations at Sohawal, Waidhan, Amarpatan, Nagod, and Rampur Naikin, among other locations, under the able leadership of Mar Joseph Kodakallil, who has been shepherding the eparchy since 2015.

Over the past fifty five years of evangelization and through various missionary activities, many have been drawn to Christ. They come for the prayers, participate in the liturgical services of the mission centers, and experience the love and healing touch of Jesus.

The eparchy has made stupendous development in all fields. And it will continue to carry on its missionary works with the motto that has blazed in the hearts of the missionaries since the very inception of the Eparchy of Satna: "Paryatan Janahitam akarot" — “Go around in order to do good for the people.”