Mathew Mankuzhikary

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Monsignor Mathew Mankuzhikary (March 7, 1909 - January 2, 2003) was a noted Catholic priest in India.

Up until his death he was a sought after speaker at spiritual renewal retreats. He was the Spiritual Director of the minor seminary and later of St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary at Vadavathoor, Kottayam as well as the Professor of Homiletics, for thirty-one years.

He was co-founder and spiritual guide and adviser of the congregation, Sisters of Nazareth and also of the Sisters of the Destitute. He was also invited regularly to guide the spiritual formation of other religious congregations.

Born in a Syro-Malabar Catholic family on March 7, 1909 as the youngest child of Joseph and Elikutty Mankuzlhikary in Kokkamangalam, Alapuzha District, Kerala, he was ordained a priest in 1934. His parish work was short lived since preaching became his main mission and official responsibility. Many of his nephews and nieces followed his religious vocation, inspired by his saintly life, the most illustrious of them being the late Bishop Sebastian Mankuzhikary.

Mathew Mankuzhikary was an effective, eloquent, charismatic and learned preacher in Malayalam with a serene, simple and easy style and vocabulary understood and assimilated by all persons of different educational and social strata. He was also a scholar, well read in Malayalam, English and Latin literatures, apart from theology and philosophy. His deep knowledge and literary skill are fully reflected in the many books and articles he wrote and the set of video and audiocassettes of "retreat sermons" he made.