1. Kuriakose Elias Chavara is called the father
of literacy in Kerala.
2. He was the first to establish a printing press
in Kerala without foreign support.
3. It was started at Mannanam in Kottayam.
Deepika, the oldest daily in Kerala was
printed for the first time in this press (1887).
4. He was the co-founder and first Prior General
of the first congregration for men in the Syro-
Malabar Catholic Church, now known as the
Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, and of a
similar one for women, the Sisters of the
Mother of Carmel.
5. He was born Kuriakose Chavara on10th
February, 1805, at Kainakary in Alapuzha,
the son of Iko (Kuriakose) Chavara and
Mariam Thoppil.
6. He was baptized on February 17, 1805, at
Chennamkary Parish Church in Alappuzha.
7. In his childhood,he attended the village
school. There he studied language and
elementary sciences.
8. He entered the seminary in 1818 in
Pallipuram where Father Thoma Palackal
was the Rector. He was ordained on
November 29, 1829, at Arthunkal and
presided over the Holy Qurbana (Eucharist)
for the first time at Chennamkary Church.
9. Desirous of living in a religious community,
Chavara joined with two other priests,
Fathers Thoma Palackal and Thomas
Porukara, in order to live in a community
following Carmelite spirituality.
10. The name of the community was the
Servants of Mary Immaculate of Mount
Carmel. The foundation for the first
monastery at Mannanam was laid on May
11, 1831, and the trio took vows to form a
religious community.
11. Chavara took the additional name of “Elias”,
from the Carmelite tradition of his having
been their founder. Palackal and Porukara
died in 1841 and 1846, respectively.
12. Chavara became Vicar General for the Syro-
Malabar Catholic Church in 1861.
13. He defended the ecclesial unity of the
Church, which was threatened by schism due
to the consecration by Thomas Rochos of
Nestorian bishops.
14. He worked to renew the faith in the church.
He was a man of prayer with a devotion to
the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.
15. He was also a social reformer,an educationist
and had played a major and significant role
in educating women and people of lower
sections of society.
16. He first introduced the system called “A
school along with every church” which was
successful in making education and
knowledge available for everyone for free.
Thus schools in Kerala are also called
‘pallikudam’(‘palli’ means church).
17. Chavara, in collaboration with Father Leopold
Beccaro, O.C.D., founded the first native
religious congregation for women in India, the
Sisters of the Mother of Carmel (C.M.C.), in 1866.
18. Chavara died on 3rd January , 1871, aged
65, at Koonammavu, of natural causes.
19. Kuriakose Elias Chavara was canonised by
Pope Francis in 2014 November.
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