“May our good Lord Jesus
make the Heart of each of His Missionaries
radiate the charity of His Heart” (F3, pp.160)

Shalom Matha Bhavan, is one of our reception centers belonging to the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, based in Manjeri Kerala. Faithful to our origins and our FMSC identity, we serve "sisters of special needs" with joy and predilection. There are about sixty women we care for. These women have found in us a family that loves them, accepts them and provides them with sustenance thanks to the contribution of the generous hearts.

The fraternal service that we carry out with women in Manjeri goes beyond the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" to safeguard the dignity of the person and his integrity, because we FMSC, following the example of Francis of Assisi, find in the poor the suffering face of Jesus. Faithful to our Franciscan-missionary spirit we love and serve the Lord in the poor, we restore to them the dignity of children created in the image and likeness of God. In fact, the Lord entrusted them to us and we, with the sentiments of the Heart of Christ, offer them small gestures of tenderness and love on the part of the Heavenly Father.

So that the charity of the Heart of Jesus may shine forth, we opened this mission in Manjeri in 2010, in order to respond to the needs of women who suffer from domestic violence also because of the unpacked dowry and other forms of mistreatment and abandonment. Most of these women are victims of sexual abuse, cancer, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression and domestic abuse... They’re really vulnerable women.

Abandoned and immersed in absolute solitude, they took refuge in bus and train stations, they found their food in garbage cans. These "sisters" were brought to our house by the local police, social workers and, at times, even by their own family members. They are originally from Manjeri and other surrounding areas: Calicut being an important railway station, gathers many of these people, who in a certain way find a refuge in the station, most of them are people from north of India looking for work or a better life. But they often fall into the web of human trafficking and are exploited.

All the people who come to Shalom Matha find a welcoming and loving home and those who take care of their suffering with medicine, advice, sincere love in the Franciscan style, without prejudice to culture, skin color or religion. The important thing is to bring them back to normal life.

Women spend their time growing vegetables, flowers, helping in the kitchen, washing dishes and helping other friends more in need of them; praying, singing, dancing or realizing cultural programs to entertain themselves and others. The sisters spend their time sharing every hour of the day and night. Four of the five sisters are specialized nurses, a doctor, from the nearest hospital, visits them once a week.

Divine Providence always accompanies us in all our needs and we are very grateful to the fatherly and loving care of the Heavenly Father who inspires generous hearts to sustain us in different ways: food, clothing, medicine, etc. Let us make the words of our founder, Venerable Fr. Gregory Fioravanti, and we praise God because "Marvellous are the ways of the Lord!"