Joseph Vithayathil was a priest from India who has been declared as

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was born in Puthenpally, Varapuzha, Ernakulam District of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

State of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

to Catholic parents of the Vithayathil family on 23 July 1865. He had two brothers and two sisters. At the suggestion of his parish priest Fr. Zecharias, he started priestly studies and joined the seminary on 30 May 1881. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on 11 March 1894http://www.syromalabarchurch.in/saint_josephvithayathil.php?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=400&width=700 by Bishop

Mar Adolph Medlycott Mar Adolph Medlycott was the first Bishop of the Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Thrissur. He was born at Chittagong on 15 May 1838. Medlycott spent his last days in Bangalore where he died on 4 May 1918. His remains were later reinterred, fi ...

of Thrissur Diocese at the St. Antony's Church,

Ollur Ollur is a major suburban area and an old commercial town in the city of Thrissur of Kerala state, South India. It is about away from Swaraj Round on old National Highway 47 (India) towards Kochi. From ancient time onwards, Ollur was a major b ...

with 11 others.

Priestly life

After being

diocesan priest In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...

for a few years, in 1902 he was sent to perform

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

s on a young mystic girl called Mariam Thresia. Here he became her

Spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the di ...

until her death in 1926. He asked her to write her life story from early childhood, on the instructions of his Bishop. This resulted in the Autobiographical Notes of Blessed Mariam Thresia dealing with her life experiences and events up to 1905. He helped her establish the Congregation of the Holy Family on 14 May 1914 blessed by Mar John Menachery. He was appointed as the Chaplain of this convent in 1922. After the death of the Mariam Thresia, he guided the congregation until the formation of its General Council in 1942. Under his guidance a school for teaching stitching, tailoring, weaving, knitting etc. was started in 1929 at Kuzhikkattussery.

Death and Veneration

He died on 8 June 1964 (same date on which Mariam Thresia died) and was buried at Kuzhikkattussery near the tomb of Mariam Thresia. He was declared as Servant of God on 18 May 2004 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. Mar Paul Alapatt, the current bishop of Ramanathapuram Diocese, was the Promotor of Justice for the Cause of the Servant of God Fr. Joseph Vithayathil. He was elevated to

on 14 December 2015 by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

along with 16 others.

Media

*''Dhanyan Joseph Vithayathil'' is a teleserial on his life, broadcast on

Shalom (TV channel) Shalom Television is an Indian Catholic Christian television channel based in Kerala. The channel broadcasts programs include a daily Holy Mass and also Tridentine Mass format, the traditional Nasrani rosary recitation. It also broadcasts oth ...

. *A book titled ''Karmayogi: Life History of S.D. Fr. Joseph Vithayathil'' edited by Lucy Arikkatt has been published Holy Family Publications in 2004. *Joseph Vithayathil has written a book titled ''Biography of Rev.Mother Mariam Thresia''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vithayathil, Joseph 1865 births 1964 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians Malayali people Christian clergy from Thrissur Syro-Malabar Catholics Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis Venerated Eastern Catholics Venerated Catholics from Kerala 20th-century Indian scholars 20th-century Eastern Catholic clergy