Indian Augustinians Celebrate Pope Leo XIV’s Missionary Legacy
Anto Akkara - May 2025
While the entire Catholic world expressed elation and rejoicing over the election of Pope Leo XIV, the joy was magnified for the members of the Augustinian order in India.
That was clearly evident in a 15-feet-long banner bearing an image of the U.S.-born Pope, hung on the three-story complex beside the Augustinian Provincial House-cum-Major Seminary at Mariapuram near Aluva, 10 miles north of Kochi, in the southern Christian heartland of Kerala. The successor to Pope Francis was a prior general of the Order of St. Augustine.
“Words cannot express our joy over our former prior general becoming the Pope,” Augustinian Father Wilson Injarapu, provincial of the Order of St Augustine in India, told the Register May 10 in an interview at the provincial house.
Everyone who has interacted with him has been sharing fond memories about the unassuming affable general,” Father Injarapu said about the Holy Father, who as Father Robert Prevost spent a week during his first visit to Kerala in April 2004 for the ordination of six Augustinian deacons and in 2006 came to host a conference of Augustinian provincials of the Asia Pacific region.
“I was just a novice here when Father Prevost visited us a second time [in 2006] and have heard a lot of about his caring personality, passion for the community and spread of its mission. I had all these confirmed when I went to the Vatican to meet our prior general in February,” recounted Father Injarapu.
The provincial had requested assistance from his superiors in facilitating an appointment to meet Cardinal Prevost, then the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, during a trip to the Vatican in late February.
“On the day after the arrival at the generalate, we were amazed while we were at the dining table when Cardinal Prevost walked in to meet us,” recalled Father Injarapu, who was ordained in 2016.
“The cardinal ignored our objections, brought the food trolley to the table and insisted on serving us before sitting with us. He had great memory of our Kerala house and the river on its front. He was very eager to know how the community was growing and showed keen interest in the developments in the country,” he remembered.
Cardinal Prevost, he said, was “extremely happy when I told him that we have 48 Augustinian priests now in India besides 40 in formation. The number of congregation centers also had gone up from two in 2004 to seven now.”
The next morning, when he went to the chapel early for the Mass, Father Injarapu said, “I was amazed to find the cardinal with just a stole, kneeling in prayer, at the chapel ahead of others. All these now assure me that the Catholic Church has a true shepherd to lead its folks in Pope Leo XIV.”
Later, as Father Injarapu celebrated evening Mass for his community, he reminded those in attendance, “While this is a moment of pride for us, it also brings the special duty to pray for the Pope. Also, it challenges us to be better models of Augustinian spirituality to the world.”
Augustinian Father Alosious Kochikarenveettil manages the congregation’s school, which serves more than 1,200 students in Kollam, about 100 miles away from Kerala. He told the Register, “I feel blessed that Father Prevost came to Kerala for the first time for our ordination in April 2004. He was really happy about attending the simultaneous ordination of six deacons for the congregation [that had only seven priests at the time]. That visit itself showed his pastoral concern for the growth of the community.”
“I am sure the personality of Pope XIV will be pleasing to anyone,” Augustinian Father Jacob Mullassery added.
As the rector of the St. Thomas Aquinas minor seminary near Kochi as well as a superior of an Augustinian community at the time, Father Mullassery spent a lot of time with Father Prevost, taking him around to different centers during the 2004 weeklong visit.
“Father Prevost’s down-to-earth simplicity and humility was just amazing. He would just listen to us patiently and had the capability to be with us like a friend, despite being the prior general,” Father Mullassery added.
Though it was two decades ago that Father Prevost visited Mariapuram and said Mass at the parish of Mary, Queen Help of Christians, which is administered by the congregation, the faces of the parishioners brightened in joy recalling their past encounter with Pope Leo XIV.
“We cannot believe that a priest who offered Mass on our altar for us has become the Pope. Our parish has become historical and sacred,” Thomas Thuruthipurath, trustee of the 230-family parish, told the Register after early morning Mass May 11.
Gilbert Kalathil, another parishioner, was visibly excited. “Though we are a small parish, Mariapuram church is now known all over Kerala. Our archbishop [Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly] issued a pastoral letter mentioning that Pope Leo XIV said Mass in our church.”
Gilbert Kalathil, another parishioner, was visibly excited. “Though we are a small parish, Mariapuram church is now known all over Kerala. Our archbishop [Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly] issued a pastoral letter mentioning that Pope Leo XIV said Mass in our church.”
“We cannot thank God enough for this blessing. I could not believe this news,” Mary Antony Vadakkal, a 78-year grandmother, said with tear-filled eyes.
“I cannot forget the caring personality of Father Prevost, who has become the Pope. He had visited our Spinelli Public School and our convent in 2004 and 2006,” Augustinian Sister Sally of the Diocese of Verapoly told the Register.
Launched in India in 1988, the Order of St. Augustine has 55 nuns in the country now.
Pope Leo, Sister Sally said, “had great missionary spirit and always emphasized the need to serve the poor. He always asked me about our congregation whenever I met him in meetings. Pope Leo XIV will be a blessing to the world.”
“The Pope’s ability to merge with the people and understand their cultures is extraordinary,” Augustinian Father Shiju Kallarackal, one of the six deacons ordained in Father Prevost’s presence in 2004 and presently studying canon law in Spain, told the Register.
“I had the fortune to witness Father Prevost’s unique missionary style during a visit to Peru in 2012 for a conference,” recalled the priest.
Later in 2016, Father Kallarackal was blessed to accompany the Augustinian prior general in Nigeria, where then-Bishop Prevost “thrilled” the Nigerian faithful, dancing with them in their style and engaging them.
Reminisced Father Kallarackal, “Now I feel blessed that this simple and charismatic Pope had been there to bless me at my ordination in 2004.”
(Courtsey: ncregister.com)
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