Welcome to the official website of poothathilthommiachan.org.aite will be inaugurated on 26th Jan 2009 at Kottayam Christhuraja Cathedral

Establishment of Asylum & St. Joseph’s Congregation

His most important and remarkable work in the pastoral field was the establishment of St. Thomas Asylum at Kaipuzha. The basic reason for the establishment of such an institution was his devotion to God and love for men. He always tried to uplift the living condition of the disabled people. He offered himself for this purpose and fully involved in it. He suffered many hardships and he was even misunderstood by many. The idea to establish an institution for the physically disabled people especially for the physically disabled women in the early 1900s was unimaginable. In those days the handicapped and the mentally challenged were discarded both at home and in the society. Therefore Fr. Thomas decided to give shelter to the physically handicapped women. As he was short of finance, he raised funds through local collection and from abroad. With this money he purchased a plot of land at the side of St. George Forane Church, Kaipuzha and constructed a house. This was the beginning of St. Thomas Asylum, which was inaugurated on 3rd May 1925, with the permission and blessing of Bishop Mar Alexander Choolaparambil, the then Bishop of Kottayam.

With the opening of St. Thomas Asylum there was a rush of the disabled, seeking admission and thus arose the need of committed women to take care of the disabled. After two years of the beginning of Asylum, Fr. Thomas Poothathil wrote a letter to Mar Alexander Choolaparambil, asking permission to start a religious Congregation for women in the name of St. Joseph. He received the necessary permission from the Bishop and started the congregation on 3rd July 1928 with its first five members.

Fr. Thomas Poothathil was a man of heroic virtues. Favours are received through his intercession. His life of sacrifices, deep faith, compassion for the physically and mentally disabled women, respects for authority, pastoral commitment, and life of prayer made him a man of God. All these heroic virtues make the church worthy of proclaiming him a SERVANT OF GOD. With the initiative of Sisters of St. Joseph's Congregation, the process of his canonization began and on 26th January 2009 Rev. Fr.Thomas Poothathil was declared Servant of God by His Grace Mar Mathew Moolakkatt, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kottayam after the solemn Mass at Christ the King Cathedral, Kottayam.