Kadalikkattil Mathai Kathanar

The life and work of Father Mathew Kadalikkattil are inseparable from the foundation of the Sacred Heart Congregation (SH), a religious institute for women of the Syro-Malabar Church. Inspired during his adorations before the Blessed Sacrament, he founded this congregation to propagate devotion to the Sacred Heart and to help orphans, abandoned elderly people, and poor women. With the authorization of Bishop Mathew Makil, he welcomed the first four candidates on January 1, 1911, in Palai. Despite a forced temporary affiliation with the Clarist sisters in 1918, the institute's own identity was restored on June 24, 1931, by Bishop James Kalassery, and approved by Pope Pius XI in 1935. At the same time, Father Mathew invested himself in education by founding a primary school for the Harijans in Kannadiurumbu in 1918, the St. Mary's Girls' High School in Lalam in 1925, and the Pampoorampara pilgrimage center in 1930.

Father Mathew Kadalikkattil enjoyed a solid reputation for holiness during his lifetime. After his death on May 23, 1935, his tomb in Palai became a place of pilgrimage. His cause for beatification was introduced in the Eparchy of Palai. On April 12, 1989, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the 'Nihil Obstat' decree, bestowing upon him the title of Servant of God. The diocesan inquiry opened on June 24, 1989, under the presidency of Bishop Joseph Pallickaparampil, with Father Lucas Vithuvattical as postulator. On February 24, 1990, his mortal remains were exhumed and reinterred in the chapel of the Sacred Heart provincial house in Palai. The diocesan inquiry was closed on January 12, 1991, validated by Rome on May 31, 1991, and the Positio was published in 1994.

The process of examining the Positio passed the required stages in Rome: the congress of theological consultants was held on October 29, 2010, followed by the ordinary session of cardinals and bishops on May 17, 2011. On June 27, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Mathew Kadalikkattil, officially elevating him to the status of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the Church now requires the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession, for which the faithful continue to pray.

The spirituality of Father Mathew Kadalikkattil is deeply Eucharistic and centered on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Guided by an absolute trust in Divine Providence and an unconditional submission to the will of God, he exhorted the sisters to become the "spouses of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, meek and humble." His legacy is alive today through the Sacred Heart Congregation, which has become a major religious institute of the Syro-Malabar Church. Counting thousands of religious sisters today in India and abroad, the sisters dedicate themselves to education, evangelization, healthcare, and social assistance for the most destitute.