CALVARY INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
The presence of Capuchins in the Arch Diocese of Thrissur dates back to the year 1954. His Excellency Bishop George Alappat blessed Calvary Ashram on 14 September 1958. In 1960, the friary was raised to a ‘Domus Formata' and to house the students, a large extension was put up adjcent to Calvary Ashram by Br. Gerard Kallidukkil and it was blessed on 31 May 1961. It was the centre for philosophical formation, the Major Seminary for the Undivided Indian Province of the Capuchin Order, named Calvary Philosophical College. In 1972, when the province was divided into four jurisdictions, Calvary Philosophical College was administered by St. Joseph Province, Kerala. In 1999 with the bifurcation of St. Joseph Capuchin Province, Kerala, the responsibility of organizing philosophical training was entrusted to St. Thomas the Apostle Capuchin Province, Kerala. Since then Calvary Philosophical College belongs to St. Thomas the Apostle Capuchin Province, Kerala. In 2020, the Executive Council of Calvary Philosophical College decided to request the Holy See to elevate it into an Ecclesiastical Higher Education Institution named Calvary Institute of Philosophy and Religion (CIPR). On 14 September 2023, the Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Holy See decreed the erection of CIPR as an Ecclesiastical Higher Education Institution and its three-year philosophy programme is approved as the ecclesiastical degree of Philosophiae Baccalaureus (Ph B), affiliating it with Jnanadeepa, Pontifical Athenaeum, Pune. By this, the institute is privileged and enabled to award the canonical degree of Ph B to the students who complete their studies at Calvary. Besides Capuchins,this Institute renders its service to other religious congregations, in forming their students for religious and priestly life.
Vision
The Institute has taken its vision, basing on the opening verse of the Peace Prayer, "To be an Instrument of Thy Peace." Becoming ministers of Christ's Peace for the world today implies experiencing His peace within and becoming missionaries of this peace. Achieving this objective consists in 1) an integral understanding and growth of the human person, 2) following Christ who is humble, poor and crucified after the model of St. Francis of Assisi and 3) reaching out to the people, particularly to the poor, marginalized and the exploited as the messengers of peace and justice and thus to become a healing presence for them. The Institute, in planning out its academic and non-academic curriculum, strives to realize this vision as its objective.
History - Calvary Ashram
The presence of Capuchins in the Arch Diocese of Thrissur dates back to the year 1954. It was Rt. Rev. Dr. George Alappat, the Bishop of Thrissur who desired that the Capuchins should come to his eparchy. His desire was made known to the Most Rev. Br. Clement of Milwaukee, the General in 1948 when the latter visited Kerala. With the formal invitation (Prot. No. 400/54) from the Bishop of Thrissur to construct a “Domus Formata”, the permission from General Curia (Prot. No. 5110/54) and with an endorsement of the Oriental Congregation (Prot. No. 344/54) the foundation stone of the chapel was laid on 27th of February 1955. It was blessed and the altar consecrated on 14 September 1958 by His Excellency George Alappat. Golden Jubilee of the Ashram was celebrated on 28 December 2003.
1954
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Motto of the Year
Moulding Minds towards an Integral Vision
We live in a fragmented world. Integity is often lost in philosophizing, theologizing, interpreting the world, God, human being, and ultimately the whole reality. The current academic year focuses on moulding the minds of our students towards an ‘integral vision of reality', which should be the essential result of all philosophizing.
Our Specialities
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