The Founder – Very Rev. Fr. Basilius C.S.T. (Fr. Thomas Panat) (1891-1976)
Father (Thomas Panat) (1891-1976) known in religion as Fr. Basilius is the Founder of our Congregation. He started the Congregation out of his God-experience in Christ enhanced by his very personal devotion to St.Therese of Child Jesus. Simplicity and childlike surrender of the Little Flower to the will of God the Father had struck deep roots in his heart when he tran

Very Rev. Fr. Basilius C.S.T. (Thomas Panat) (1891-1976) Founder, Little Flower Congregation

slated the four chapters of her autobiography entitled “Navamalika”. In his memoirs Fr. Basilius says “With that (translation) I became enamoured of the life and the spirit of the Little Flower that erupted within me and overflowed from the interior of my heart”. He intensely desired to share this experience with a few dedicated young men whom he eventually formed as the Little Flower Brotherhood (Cherupushpa Sahodara Sangham). Fr. Thomas Panat (Fr. Basilius) started this ‘Cherupushpa Sahodara Sangham’ at Mookkannur on March 19, 1931, with the oral permission of Mar Augustine Kandathil, the then Archbishop of Ernakulam.

On 27th December 1945 Archbishop Mar Augustine Kandathil accepted the formal petition of Fr. Thomas Panat seeking permission to admit candidates for priesthood into the ‘Cherupushpa Sahodara Sangham’ which then became a clerical religious institute known as Little Flower Congregation.

The presence of the destitute and the orphan boys in the Sacred Heart Orphanage, Mookkannur, of which he was the manager, the backwardness as well as the underdevelopment of the village of Mookkannur, his closeness to the poor villagers and the contact he had with Mahatma Gandhi who dominated the national scene at that time were the other factors which shaped the vision and charism of our Father Founder. His response to these varied experiences had further been inspired by the words of our Lord “go and do likewise” (Lk.10:37).

The first Constitution of our Congregation was approved by the Archbishop Mar Augustine Kandathil on 8th October 1947.

As a charismatic community of priests, we are called to be the bearers of a sacred trust and heritage, of a life of prayer and action in a community of love bequeathed to us by our founder. The opportunities for evangelisation present to us new challenges to offer the rich spiritual resources of the Syro-Malabar Church and its noble traditions for the spread and development of the Kingdom to the farthest boundaries .