THIRD ORDER OF THE DISCALED CARMELITES OF MALABAR. — The first indigenous congregation of the East Indies, founded in 1831 at Mannanam (Malabar) by the priests Thomas Palakal and Thomas Porukara under the name “Servants of Mary Immaculate of Mount Carmel,” later changed to its present title. On 1 October 1860 they were aggregated to the Carmelite Order.
Purpose: educational activity through schools and colleges of every grade, preaching, and the press (in 1846 they opened one of the first printing presses in the Syro-Malabarese language), all aimed at spreading Catholic thought. They received definitive approval in 1906 and now number 433 religious in 29 houses, all in India. The generalate is at Ernakulam.
BIBL.: C. J. Varley, The Syrian Carmelite congrég. in Malabar, in Cath. Direct. of India, Madras 1920, pp. 13-27; P. Guglielmus, The Carmelite Congr. of Malabar, Trichinopoly 1932.