Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, CMI was an Indian Catholic priest, religious, philosopher and social reformer. He is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church.
He was the co-founder and first Prior General of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first religious congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. The Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC), originally known as the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites (TOCD), was founded by St Kuriakose Elias Chavara in 1866 in Kerala.
