Kottayam, March 27, 2024 (CCBI): Mount Carmel Church in Munnar, which belongs to the diocese of Vijayapuram, Kerala, is elevated to the status of a Minor Basilica. Most Rev. Sebastian Thekethecheril, Bishop of Vijayapuram, announced on Wednesday, March 27, 2026, that he received a decree elevating the Mount Carmel Church as a Minor Basilica from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments.
A solemn declaration of Basilica will be on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at 2 p.m. at Mount Carmel Church, Munnar. This declaration marks a historic milestone as the first basilica in the high ranges of Kerala in the Western Ghats.
The establishment of Mount Carmel Church in Munnar dates back to 1898. Fr. Alfonse Maria De Los Angeles, O.C.D., the zealous and spirit-filled Carmelite missionary from Spain who was then ministering in the Archdiocese of Verapoly, came to Munnar on foot in 1898. As per the request, the managers of the tea estates had given him a piece of land, and he built a temporary shed with wood and straws and offered the Holy Mass in the same year, which enkindled the lamp of the Catholic Christian mission in the Munnar region.
In 1909, a small church was built in the place of a temporary shed. Most Rev. Angel Mary, the then Metropolitan Archbishop of Verapoly, brought Munnar church under the jurisdiction of the parish at Aluva in the year 1919. In 1934, on January 21, the foundation stone of a new church in Munnar was laid, and the present church was blessed on April 17, 1938, by His Excellency Bonaventure Arana OCD, the first Bishop of Vijayapuram. On February 5, 1943, the Munnar community was raised to the status of a parish.
Mount Carmel church in Munnar, the first Catholic church in the high ranges, celebrated the Quasquicentennial Jubilee in 2023. During the jubilee year, the CCBI 33rd Plenary Assembly, held from November 11 to 12, 2023, voted and approved the request of Bishop Vijayapuram to elevate Mount Carmel church as a Minor Basilica and forwarded the appeal to the Holy See.
Fr. Michael Valayinchiyil, the parish priest, is appointed as the first rector of the Basilica. Mount Carmel Basilica in Munnar will be the 31st basilica in India and the 11th basilica in Kerala. Recently, on February 24, 2024, the St. Teresa’s Church in Mahe in the diocese of Calicut was also elevated to the status of a Minor Basilica.
Dr Stephen Alathara