BRIEF HISTORY (ORIGIN)
The congregation of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) which was founded on 8th December 1908 at Champakulam in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry, Kerala, India has its origin from the deep personal experience of the Eucharistic presence of the Venerable Mar Thomas Kurialacherry (1873-1925), an ardent devotee of the Holy Eucharist. The inner call received by him was that the Lord in The Blessed Sacrament must be known, loved and adored by all, always and everywhere’. He pursued this inspiration with courage, stability and absolute trust in the Lord and founded the Adoration Congregation in 1908, with the co-operation of Servant of God Mother Mary Francesca de Chantal (Philomina Vallayil, 1880-1972), the Co-foundress. The congregation had its humble beginning with five members in a cattle shed of Servant of God Puthenparambil Thommachan, at Edathua on 29th January 1908 which was later on shifted to Vallappura St. George Church, Edathua. After a year of formation,
they were given veil by the Founder on 8th December 1908. The first convent was constructed at Champakulam and on 17th October 1910 the aspirants were shifted to the new building which eventually became the Mother house of the Congregation. In 1911 by the Divine providence Fr. Thomas Kurialacherry was elevated to the titular Bishop of Pella and the Vicar Apostolic of Changanacherry. The Consecration was on 3rd December 1911 at Kandy in Sri Lanka. On 10th December, 1911 the first five aspirants were given the religious habit. On 18th March 1916, the members made their religious profession at St. Mary’s Church Parel, Changanacherry.
CHARISM
The charism of the congregation is, Eucharistic Devotion sprung from the Eucharistic love. (Divyakarunya Bhakthi). It was the ardent desire of our Founder that, every SABS sister is inflamed6 with this Eucharistic devotion, so that the whole universe be transformed into the Eucharist. The Founder has exhorted us: “The devotion that should predominantly shine out in you as Adoration Sisters is the devotion to the Holy Eucharist. You should be totally committed to make it flourish among you as well as in others”. The essence of this Eucharistic Devotion is a deep relationship with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, ‘a personal attachment’ to Him. The Holy Eucharist celebrated, adored and lived every day is the source and summit of the existence of the SABS. The holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament is the most precious time in the everyday life of the SABS. The whole Congregation is taken as a single unit to have a chain Adoration, day and night, across the year. Besides, the Congregation has Perpetual Adoration Chapels in India and also abroad, in order to draw people to the Living water of Eternal Life and thus to make them experience the compassionate love and healing presence of the Eucharistic Lord. Our reference point is ‘Jesus in the Cenacle’ who washed the feet of His disciples, broke and gave Himself to them and loved them till the end. Inspired by this, we try to form a unique SABS culture of pure love and mercy reflected in our humility, simplicity and meekness. To share the Eucharistic love with our brethren and thus to draw all to the table of the Eucharistic Lord. A long with the Eucharistic apostolate SABS extends their service in the fields of education, healing, social welfare, evangelization and family apostolate.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
To be true to the unique charism of its founder, the congregation extended its fields of apostolate to all the Syro-Malabar dioceses and 75 Latin dioceses of India and abroad. In the early stage the Congregation grew into 4 independent units under the bishops concerned and they were unified under one Superior General on 15th September, 1963. The General Curia of the congregation is
situated at Aluva since 1965. The unification paved the way for vast7 expansion of the Congregation and it was raised to Pontifical status by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on February 11, 1968. ‘Prarthana Bhavan’ (cloister) is attached to the Generalate (Cenacle) providing ample facilities for those who wish to lead a life of prayer in seclusion for a limited period. ‘Zion Vidhya Bhavan’ affiliated to the ‘Pontifical Institute’ of Aluva is also attached to Cenacle providing the facility for our scholastics from all over the country and abroad for 1 year theological studies and Common Juniorate, as an ardent preparation for their perpetual profession. The steady growth of the Congregation resulted in the increase of members and provinces. At present we have 4648 sisters in 22 provinces and 1 region sharing the Eucharistic love all over the world. The Congregation completed 115 years of blessings in glorifying the Eucharistic Lord by being a channel of peace and love to the humanity. On 8th December 2008 the SABS celebrated the centenary of the congregation. On 15th September 2013 we celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Unification of the Congregation
REACHING OUT TO THE MISSIONS
Enthused by the spirit of the Congregation to make the Eucharistic Lord known, loved and adored by the whole world, the sisters extended their services to the states outside Kerala. At the
request of Bishop Hubert D’Rosario, the then bishop of Dibrugarh in Assam, a group of sisters from Pala Province stepped out of Kerala to the far plunged North Eastern state of Manipur on 3rd December 1965. Thus, the first house outside Kerala was established in Hundung. It was a leap into the darkness but paved the way to open more houses in the North. In the years that followed the major provinces of Kerala opened more houses in the North, and started missionary activities to bring the good news to the people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. As the numbers of sisters and houses increased in the various missions, for the sake of development, four regions were formed in8 1986 under the four major provinces of Changanacherry, Ernakulam, Pala and Kothamangalam. The sisters were involved in the field of Eucharistic adoration, education, healing ministry, social apostolate and developmental programmes for the uplift of the people of interior villages. In 1998 the regions were raised to the status of vice provinces and in 2003 they became provinces namely, Pavitrathma Province, Jagdalpur, Corpus Chisti Province, Dimapur, Nava Jyothi Province Ujain, Christu Jyothi Province Satna, Deepti Province Raygada. Later on Jai Rani, Punjab and Divya Jyoti, Balsore were bifurcated from Raygada, and Jagdalpur respectively and erected as Provinces. The 20th general Synaxis that was held in 2022 declared St. Chantal’s Region Tamilnadu and Amal Jyothi Region Gujarat as Provinces. St Chantal’s Region, Tamilnadu is the extension of St. Thomas Province Changanacherry and Amal Jyothi Province, Gujarat is the first mission endeavor of St. Joseph Province Thalassery. Now we have 11 mission provinces viz. Pavithratma Province Jagadalpur, Nava Jyothi Province Ujjain, Jai Rani Province Punjab, Christu Jyothi Province Satna, Deepthi Province Orissa and Corpus Christy Province Dimapur, Jeevodaya Province, Andhra Pradesh,
Divya Jyothi Provine, Balasore, Amal Jyothi Provice Gujarath and St. Chanal’s Province, Tamilnadu and Zion Province Africa. At present we have one mission region San Paulo Chanda, in India. Now the SABS render their services in almost all the states of India through their various apostolates. We have sisters and a good number of Candidates belonging to the different cultures, languages and countries.
GLOBAL MISSION
The fruitful missionary activities in India inspired us to venture into the whole world to make known the compassionate love of the Eucharistic Lord. We are fully immersed in the healing ministry and pastoral care of Germany and Italy for the past 50 years. We have started our apostolic mission in USA, UK and Switzerland.9 African mission was the long cherished desire of our Superiors over the ages. In 1995, houses were opened in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Sisters from different provinces took it as a challenge to work among the Africans especially among the HIV patients and the marginalized by offering their services to them. Altogether we
have 22 houses and 91 sisters working in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, engaged in Education, healing ministry, parish ministry and other activities for the uplift of the poor villagers. In 2008 East African mission was formed into a region. African region is raised to the status of an independent province in 19th General Synaxis held between 3rd to 10th December 2015. the declaration of the SION PROVINCE, AFRICA was done on 2nd April 2016. At present, Sion Province have 36 professed sisters from African soil. In line with the decision of 19th General Synaxis the decisive move of the Congregation to the challenging Latin American countries – Brazil and Ecuador in 2017 has provided added energy to the global mission work. From there in 2019 we also could make our missionary move to the neighboring country, Peru. We are able to serve the people of God through parish ministry, adoration apostolate, counseling etc. At present we have 9 sisters working in Brazil, 11 in Ecuador and 5 in Peru. The Congregation celebrated the 150th Birth anniversary of its Founder, Venerable Mar Thomas Kurialacherry on 14th January 2023 with all its solemnity and thanked the Almighty for the manifold blessings received through him. The Adoration Congregation is striving forward with its vision and dreams to meet the challenges of the new century. We hope that our sisters with renewed commitment and enthusiasm search for new pastures to extend our services where we have not yet reached and thus fulfill the missionary mandate of the congregation that “the Eucharistic Lord be known, loved and adored by all, always and everywhere”.
Site Links
- 6901587268 / 8575875017
- SABS Provincizl house, Post box no.24 Chumoukedima 797103 : Nagaland
About Us
The congregation of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) which was founded on 8th December 1908 at Champakulam in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry, Kerala, India has its origin from the deep personal experience of the Eucharistic presence of the Venerable Mar Thomas Kurialacherry (1873-1925), an ardent devotee of the Holy Eucharist.