Kuriakose (Cyriac) Chavara was born in 1805, of pious and devout catholic parents of Syro-Malabar Church in Kainakary, Kerala, India. In Baptism he was given the name Kuriakose (Cyriac). After his early schooling in the native village and priestly studies under Fr. Thomas Palackal at Pallipuram, he was ordained priest in 1829. Co-operating with Fathers Thomas Palackal and Thomas Porukara, he founded the indigenous religious congregation for men,(1831) now known as the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (C.M.I).It was after the death of the senior companions in the foundation that Fr. Kuriakose with the first members, made the religious profession in 1855. In religion he took the name Kuriakose Elias of the Holy Family. Starting seven religious houses, besides the first one at Mannanam, in different parts of Malabar, the new congregation made great strides in a spiritual renovation in the Church of Malabar. Seminaries for the education and formation of clergy, introduction of annual retreats for priests and people, a publishing house for the propagation of Catholic doctrine, a house for a dying and destitute, a special attention to various activities under Father KuriakoseElia’s leadership. His counsels to the Christian families given in the form a “Testament of a Loving Father” are universally applicable and are relevant to this day. Essentially a man of prayer and intense charity, he stayed in close communion with the Lord amidst his several religious and social activities permeating his spirituality to all around him, so much so that he was accepted and referred to as a man of God, from his early years.

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