Sunday, April 30, 2006
Beatification of Father Augustine Thevarparampil

Father Augustine Thevarparampil (1891-1973) , known as the apostle of the untouchables, was born in Ramapuram, India on April 1, 1891. At the age of 33, on Dec. 17, 1921, he was ordained by the Servant of God Mar Tommaso Kurialacherry. He was commonly called "Kunjachan" which means "little priest". In 1923 he was sent as vice parish priest for the Church of St. Sebastian in Kadanad, but his poor health forced him to return to his former village in 1926.

During this time of illness, Father Augustine became aware of the miserable living conditions of the untouchables - the lowest caste of the Indian society forced to perform degrading works. Father Augustine devoted his life to evangelization and fighting for better treatment of the poor including the untouchables. He baptized over 6,000 people during his life.

Father Augustine rose at 4 AM each day, celebrated Holy Mass, and then he went out into the world for Christ. He helped resolve disputes, preached the Gospel, and cared for the sick. Father Augustine would particularly love to visit children. The children would flock to his side when he visited their village, and he would give them any sweets that he had on him.

Father Augustine lived modestly and entirely spiritually. He was a servant of God. His will begins: "I possess neither land nor money, and I owe no one anything. I want my funeral to be a very simple one."

On October 16, 1973, at age 82, Father Augustine, the priest that cared for the poorest of the poor, died. His tomb attracts thousands of pilgrims.

He was declared a Venerable by Pope John Paul ll back in June 2004. His canonization process, which began on August 11, 1987, continues now. A miraculously healing of a boy's clubfoot was attributed to his intercession leading to his beatification today. Cardinal Varkev Vithayathil presided in name of Pope Benedict XVI at the beatification of Father Augustine Thevarparampil.

Please say a prayer for his canonization and if you receive favors through Blessed Kunjachan's intercession, inform the following people so that he might be formally canonized. If you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Augustine, please contact:
The Vice-Postulator
Cause of Blessed Kunjachan
St. Augustine's Forane Church
Ramapuram Bazar P.O
PIN: 686576- Kerala, India

Ph: 04822-262481, 260323
E-mail: bvlpala@yahoo.com

2 comment(s):

del_button April 30, 2006 at 10:27 PM
Julie D. said...

Fascinating! Thanks for the info ...

del_button April 30, 2006 at 10:54 PM
Our Lady of Lourdes, Fontana, CA said...

Greetings.
I am Michael de Los Estados Unidos. I welcome you to check out my blog. It is a blog that concerns movie reviews and I am soon to do one on United 93. I also welcome you to join me and all the faithful Catholics to boycott "The Da Vinci Code" which is set to be released on May 19. You can help in three ways: 1. Do not see the movie, 2. Enourage others not to see it and 3. Tell all of your friends about me. I pray that you will lead by example and reject the sin of heresey that the movie most obviously pushes with it's message.

Post a Comment



Copyright Notice: Unless otherwise stated, all items are copyrighted under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. If you quote from this blog, cite a link to the post on this blog in your article.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links on this blog are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate, for instance, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made by those who click on the Amazon affiliate links included on this website. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”