Samanvaya Theology College

About Samanvaya Theology College Android App

Samanvaya Theology College, established on 3rd July 1994, is a movement of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) to impart contextualized theological formation and education for the future priests. It is an extension centre of Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore. From the very inception of the Congregation, giving leadership in intellectual, spiritual and contextual formation to the priestly and religious candidates has been one of its perceptible charisms. The founding fathers of the Congregation, namely, Thomas Palackal, Thomas Porukara and St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, were seminary professors and Rectors. Once the Religious house (monastery) at Mannanam in Kerala was established (1831), a seminary was attached to it to impart priestly education both to the religious and diocesan candidates. In the course of time, seminaries were attached to other monasteries in Kerala. The aim was to improve the quality of the priests through systematic formation, efficient teaching and effective spiritual guidance. According to St. Chavara, “An uneducated priest is not only inefficient to do anything in his pastoral work, but might even be detrimental to the salvation of souls” (Atmanuthapam, p.1). These seminaries inaugurated a new era in the theological education and priestly formation of St. Thomas Christians.

The seminary at Mannanam continued to exist and serve the Church until 1894, and later it was re-founded in 1918 at Chethipuzha. In response to the universal call of the Church and the signs of the times, under the leadership of Fr Maurus Valiyaparampil CMI, the then Prior General and Fr Jonas Thaliath CMI, who later was appointed the first bishop of Rajkot, Sacred Heart Seminary at Chethipuzha was shifted to Bangalore. To deepen the roots of the Indian cultural, spiritual and philosophical heritage, the visionaries re-named the seminary as Dharmaram College which means the “garden of virtues”. It was formally inaugurated on 23rd July 1957 by the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop J. R. Knox. In 1965, the College was affiliated to the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome and 11 years later in 1976, the Congregation for Catholic Education upgraded it as a Faculty of Theology, an independent institute with rights to confer the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Theology. On 7th November 1986, the Athenaeum was re-christened as Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK) meaning the “Temple of Wisdom in the Garden of Dharma.” In the year 1983, Darsana Institute of Philosophy at Wardha was founded with three basic orientations in formation: missionis, Indian and rural.