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

Venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

State of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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 Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

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 deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

on 11 March 1894 by Bishop Mar Adolph Medlycott 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 bu ...

with 11 others.

Priestly life

After being

diocesan priest In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

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 do ...

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 divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters ...

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 Mar John Menachery was the second Bishop of Apostolic Vicariate of Thrissur. He died in 1919 and was interred in the crypt of Our Lady of Lourdes Metropolitan Cathedral, Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trich ...

. 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 Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

on 18 May 2004 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. 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 (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

along with 16 others.

Media

*''Dhanyan Joseph Vithayathil'' is a teleserial on his life, broadcast on Shalom (TV channel). *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