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Mannanam was the first house of the CMI Congregation of which the foundation stone was laid on 11 May 1831 by Fr. Thomas Palackal, Fr. Thomas Porukkara and blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara. Preaching the word was central to the mission of the Mannanam Community. This community was known as spiritual movement. Mannanam was not merely the birthplace of the indigenous religious congregation it was also the birth place of many other firsts: the first indigenous seminary of the Malabar Church (1833), the first Catholic Sanskrit School in Kerala (1846), the first Catholic Printing Press in Kerala (1846),
In 1849 the fathers at Mannanam were declared by the then vicar apostolic. (Bp. Ludivic Martini) as preachers of the word in the parishes.
In 1855 Bl. Kuriakose Elias Chavara took the vows first and 10 other priests also took the vows before Bl. Chavara. They were called the Servants of Mary Immaculate of Mount Carmel.
The fathers at Mannanam felt that promotion of education was very important for the development of the Church and for the transformation of the society. Even though the English education was introduced in Kerala by the Church Mission Society, most of the people especially the poor and the downtroden were not getting the facility for the education.
Blessed Chavara found that without proper education none of his efforts for the renewal of the Church and the transformation of the society would be effective. He understood the importance
of Sanskrit in the cultural background of our country. Hence he established the Sanskrit School at Mannanam. He welcomed the students irrespective of caste and creed.
The pioneering works of Bl. Chavara were not merely in the field of education. So also he felt the need for a printing press for Catholic Church. Blessed Chavara was able to establish a printing press (Wooden Press) in 1846 at Mannanam and many spiritual books were printed in this.
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