Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Manjummel
Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, popularly known as Manjummel Palli, is a Catholic parish church coming under the Archdiocese of Verapoly. It is situated along the Eloor - Muttar Road, about 8 km from Kalamassery at Manjummel, in Kochi, Kerala. It was blessed on 4 December 1892 and is one of the century-old churches in Kerala.
Overview
St. Pius X Manjummel Province of Discalced Carmelites, though started in 1857 in the coastal village of Koonammavu, had a short life. After the province became extinct, an offshoot was formed at Manjummel after 17 years in the form of a monastery dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception which was inaugurated on 16 April 1874 by Leonardo Mellano, the then [Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Archdiocese of Verapoly|Archbishop of Verapoly]. This was the first indigenous religious congregation in the state. Two years later, the foundation stone for a new church dedicated to Mother Mary was laid and the construction of the church was completed in over a decade with the blessing ceremony taking place on 4 December 1892. A few months later, the church was consecrated on 18 April 1893 and the church became a parish in 1911. It is the parent parish of three other smaller nearby parishes such as Fathima Matha Church, Muttar, St. Joseph's Church, Eloor and St. Sebastian's Shrine, Eloor. The annual festival of Virgin Mary is celebrated on 8 December. There are daily morning Mass at 6:00 AM and evening mass on Tuesdays and Fridays.The church is associated with a number of Catholic missionaries such as Pedro Landetta Azcueta, Eliswa and Zacharias Salterain Viscarra, whose names are in different stages of canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has declared Eliswa as a Servant of God, Aurelian as Blessed and Zacharias as Venerable. Though originally buried at St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary, Mangalapuzha, the mortal remains of Aurelian and Zacharias were later transferred to this church and the church hall houses their tombs.
The church has an additional chapel, Karunya Koodaram, built in December 2015 which is a modern building of smaller dimensions. Adjoining the chapel is the Grotto of Mother Mary, originally built and blessed on 11 February 1959 by Valerian Gracias, the first Indian to become a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. It was subsequently renovated in 2016. The church also operates a printing press, Little Flower Press, established in 1927, which publishes Cherupushpam, a cultural magazine, among other publications.