> [[09-figures|↑ Back to TOC]] # Saint Kuriakos Elias Chavara ## Biography Saint Kuriakos Elias Chavara, co-founder and first prior general of the congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, was born at Kainakary in Kerala, India, on February 10, 1805. He entered the seminary in 1818, and was ordained priest in 1829. He made his religious profession in 1855, in the congregation he founded. In 1861, he was named vicar general for the Syro-Malabar church; in this capacity he defended ecclesial unity threatened by schism. Throughout his life he worked for the renovation of the Church in Malabar. He was also co-founder in 1866 of the congregation of the Sisters of the Mother of Carmel. Above all, he was a man of prayer, zealous for the Eucharistic Lord, and devoted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He died at Koonammavu on January 3, 1871. He was canonized by Pope Francis on November 23, 2014. *Source: OCD Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours, January 4* ## Notes - priest m 3 - [[01-04-st-kuriakose|OCD Proper]]