The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) is an religious institute for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. It is the first Catholic religious congregation founded in India. Its first monastery was established on 11 May 1831 at Mannanam, Kerala, India. The institute was founded by Palackal Thoma Malpan, Porukara Thoma Kathanar, and Kuriakose Elias Chavara.
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Several diocesan priests as well as lay people enthusiastically sought admission into the rank of the religious, and six more new monasteries were founded: Koonammavu (1857), Elthuruth near Trichur (1858), Vazhakulam near Muvattupuzha (1859), Pulinkunnu (1861), Ambazhakad (1868), and Mutholy (1870).
The CMI congregation was involved from its beginning in pioneering activities in the church in Kerala. It started with preaching retreats in all the parishes in Kerala. It brought vitality and vibrancy throughout the church. It also introduced into the local church, adopting from the global church, many devotional practices like eucharistic devotion, rosary, way of the cross, etc., which became very popular in Kerala. The congregation took leadership in starting seminaries for the training of the clergy, beginning with the seminary at Mannanam in 1833.
When the Roccos schism was unleashed against the church in Kerala in 1861, the Syro-Malabar Church was on the verge of a division. Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara was appointed Vicar General for the Syrian Christians in the diocese of Verapoly. He alerted the Catholic community of the dire consequences of the divisive forces, gave leadership to fight against the Roccos schism, and preserved the unity and integrity of the Kerala church.
A Sanskrit school was started in Mannanam in 1846; the St. Ephraim English school was begun there in 1890 and converted to a high school in 1903. Similarly in 1844, the first printing press in the Syro-Malabar Church was started at Mannanam. Deepika, the first newspaper of Kerala, was begun at Mannanam in 1887. After running it for more than a century, it was handed over to a registered company.
The congregation took great interest in taking care of the poor and downtrodden sections of the society by establishing charitable institutions. Thus the congregation was actively involved in an integral development of the people of Kerala.
The congregation strove for works of evangelization and to work for the reunion of the separated brethren among the St. Thomas Christians. Fr. Chavara is considered the pioneer of the works of evangelization in the Syro-Malabar Church. Later in 1962, when the Chanda mission territory was entrusted to the Syro-Malabar Church, it was committed to the care of the CMI congregation. Apart from Chanda, today CMI bishops take care of the dioceses of Jagdalpur, Bijnor, Rajkot, and Adilabad. The mission provinces stand with and for the poor on issues of importance and engage in social work among the marginalised section of the society in particular.
Fr. Chavara, in collaboration with Fr. Leopold Beccaro, OCD, founded the first religious congregation for women in India, the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (C.M.C.), in 1866.
The second half of the 20th century witnessed a rapid growth of the Syro-Malabar church and of the CMIs beyond the boundaries of Kerala. Three moments in its history in this line were:
The CMI congregation is the largest religious congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. The CMIs are spread throughout India and abroad in 15 provinces. It has a membership of 2800 personnel including 6 bishops, 1510 priests, 4 permanent deacons, 34 brothers, and about 1300 brothers in formation. 700 of the priests are working outside Kerala, of which 311 are outside India. The priests are actively involved in pastoral services in 22 countries around the world.
The CMI Congregation has today five major seminaries for the training of its members: Dharmaram College, Bangalore, Darsana Philosophate, Wardha, Samanvaya Theologate, Bhopal, Carmel Vidya Bhavan, Pune, and CMI Vidya Bhavan, Baroda. Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (D.V.K.) at Bangalore is a pontifical athenaeum with the faculties of philosophy, theology, and canon law; it has a strength of 800 students hailing from 17 dioceses and 75 religious congregations. The first seminary outside India was established in 2001 in Kenya and the first batch of students from abroad made their religious profession on 19 March 2005. In 1998, the CMIs were entrusted with the administration of the regional major seminary in Namibia, Africa.
A prior general, his team of four general councilors, and a general auditor administer the congregation. A general chapter of the congregation elects them every six years. The province-level administration is carried out by a provincial with four councilors and the provincial auditor each elected by the respective provincial chapters every three years.
On 8 December 1855, the religious community at Mannanam was recognised canonically with the religious profession of eleven priests headed by Fr. Chavara, the first prior of the congregation. The name of the congregation was ‘Congregation of the Servants of Mary Immaculate of Mount Carmel’. In 1860, this congregation was affiliated to the Carmelite order and assumed the name T.O.C.D. (Third Order of Carmelites Discalced). It was granted pontifical status in 1885.
The name of the Congregation was changed to C.M.I. (Carmelites of Mary Immaculate) in 1958. The congregation was given pontifical exemption in 1967.
The CMI congregation (in non-missionary territories) has come under exacting criticism of the Catholic laity and others alike for following capitalist business practices resulting in commercialised education and charging of exorbitant fees in their educational institutions, thus making these institutions unavailable for the poorer sections of the Catholic laity and others. This has been seen as a stark departure from the congregation's policy towards education at the time of its inception (see the section on other pioneering works) and has been criticised for being in contravention to Catholic spirit and principles.