Little Flower Major Seminary, Aluva is the Major Formation Centre of the Little Flower Congregation (CST Fathers)

Fr. Thomas Panat, later known as Fr. Basilius, was a man of multifaceted personality. He founded, nurtured and brought up the Little Flower Congregation with his sweat and blood. He was a spiritual leader,social reformer, organizer, educationist, administrator, agriculturist and one who did the most for the development of Mookkannur and surrounding villages. All the people in Mookkannur still remember with gratitude all that he did for the manifold development of this village. However he can well be called a formator above everything else as his whole energy and attention were concentrated on the formation of the members of the Little Flower Congregation.

From the very beginning it was clear to him that the Little Flower Congregation, which he founded in 1931, requires her own well-equipped major seminary to form the future priests according to the specific missionary spirit and charism of the Congregation through closer and personal guidance. So he founded the Little Flower Seminary in 1960 specifically for the purpose of forming the seminarians in authentic religious life. For him the seminary is the heart of the Little Flower Congregation. As Superior General and Rector, Fr. Basilius used to remind us seminarians that ours is a church within the Church and that we should feel with the Church (sentire cum Ecclesia). He always used to insist that the religious have a special call within the Church and that we should foster deep feelings and loving sentiments towards the mother Church. He took the initial steps for the realization of his dream of having a formation house around 1958 by starting the construction of the present seminary on a plot of land he had purchased at Aluva as early as in 1944. The Little Flower Seminary was blessed and inaugurated on 12th August 1961 by the then Archbishop Joseph Parekattil. As a student of the first year philosophy at Carmelgiri, I was privileged to be present at this solemn historical occasion. Fr. Basilius had sent several seminarians to the Papal Seminary, Pune and priests to Rome to get them qualified to become future formators endowed with genuine human qualities like love for the Congregation, availability, understanding, impartiality, sociability, dedicated service, etc.

Since the renewal of the whole Church depends in large measure on the ministry of Priests, the II Vatican Council emphasizes the great importance of priests’ ministry and priestly formation, (cfr. Optatum Totius). Long before the II Vatican Council, Fr. Basilius Panat, who was a great visionary of his times, realized this fact and decided that the members of his Congregation should have strong and solid priestly and missionary formation. For him formation means a process of providing not only knowledge but also certain skills, competence, qualities of behavior and spiritual depth required for religious priests.

Fr. Basilius’ vision of formation and its execution was much influenced by several factors like his spiritual and religious convictions, the socio-political situation in Kerala, the popular nationalistic thinking and freedom movements of 1940-s. He was convinced that the future members of his Congregation should acquire an all-round personality capable of coping with all the possible life-situations and manifold problems of the contemporary Indian society with its religious beliefs, caste feelings, cultural conditions, political movements and other social factors. Therefore the formation of the seminarians should be related to the socio-political and cultural background of the people whom they are meant to serve. They should be enabled to prophetically respond to the challengesposed by them based on the Christian and religious principles and the specific spirit and charism of the Congregation. At the same time they should, by their life of prayer, selfless service and exemplary conduct, be able to bear witness powerfully to the Gospel values wherever they are sent to work.

It is clear that the basic nature of the vocation and mission of a priest remains the same for 2000 years (Mk. 13.3). However time and circumstances have changed much from the days of Christ. This makes new demands on priesthood. Nobody expects from those who enter the seminary to already possess the virtues and qualities of an ideal priest. Nevertheless, priestly formation requires an adequate human and Christian foundation to build on. Fr. Basilius used to insist more on quality of character of the seminarians than on quantity and more on virtues than their intellectual abilities. He used to bring home to the seminarians that they themselves are the persons most responsible for their own formation. For him formation demands involvement of the whole person and the formee is at the centre of the formation process. Fr. Basilius was keen on an integrated, harmonized formation suited to the time and the situation which will help the formees to a deeper commitment to their religious vocation. In his weekly instructions and conferences Fr. Basilius used to stress the need of possessing the right motivation, the spirit of piety and prayer, intimate relationship with God, the spirit of mortification and self-sacrifice, humility and obedience in the seminarians. He used to insist on acquiring the moral qualities like attentiveness to rules and regulations, docility to the authorities, decent moral conduct, common life, courtesy, respect and consideration for others, etc. He found time to meet the seminarians regularly in personal conference and guidance.

Fr. Basilius envisaged an all-round formation of the seminarians which includes the human, intellectual, spiritual, pastoral, social and missionary dimensions. A CST seminarian should develop a philosophical and discerning mind. He used to say that the literary and scientific education of the future priests should be at least not inferior to that of lay men who take similar studies. They should cultivate intellectual ability and the capacity for reflection and judgment. At the same time they should be men of deep God-experience. A life without intimate contact and constant personal communion with God is meaningless for a seminarian. He should be able to read the signs of the times, evaluate the life-situations from a divine, pastoral, social and moral perspective.

Fr. Basilius, who himself was a great missionary deep in his heart, spared no effort to inculcate mission spirit in the seminarians. He did all he could during his life time to give a missionary orientation to the members of our Congregation. He always used to say that St. Therese of Lisieux, the patroness of world missions, was a great missionary and that, as ours being a missionary Congregation under her patronage, we should foster great enthusiasm and love for the missionary apostolate and should always be willing to be sent to the farthest corners of the world to preach the Word of God, as she wished to. Twice in the 1970-s he traveled through the North India and met the Bishops of North Indian dioceses to explore the possibility of sending our priests for mission work. He dispatched several priests of our Congregation to the dioceses of Jallandhar, Varanasi and Bhopal as pioneers in mission work. He also sent several seminarians as regents to various dioceses in North India to get practical training in mission work. Five large districts of the diocese of Ajmer, which too he had visited, later became part of our Khristu Jyothi Province centered in Punjab and Rajasthan. As Rector of the Little Flower Seminary, he often spoke of our divine mandate to preach the Word of God in the missions and stressed the need of theoretical and practical mission orientation and training as part of priestly formation.

To conclude, Fr. Basilius used to remind the professors in the seminary that they have a very specific and significant role in the formation of the seminarians. They are responsible for guiding and helping the seminarians in the process of transforming themselves into religious priests and missionaries. They themselves must be very familiar with the path of seeking God and highly convinced about their vocation to priesthood. As we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Little Flower Seminary, we should spare no effort to learn from the life and teaching of Fr. Basilius and follow the great ideals and examples he has set before us.