Mar Kuriakose Elias Chavara was a Syrian Catholic saint and social reformer from the lndian state of Kerala. He is the second canonised saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the Saint Thomas Christian community founded by st. Thomas the Apostle in the first century. He was the co-founder and first Prior General of the first congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, now known as the Carmelites of Mary lmmaculate, and of a similar one for women, the Congregation ofthe Mother ofCarme

Kuriakose Kathanar joined with two other priests, Palackal Thoma Malpan and Porukara Thoma Kathanarto lead a monastic life. The name of the community they founded was Servants of Mary lmmaculate. The foundation for the first Dayra at Mannanam was laid on 11 May 1831 by Porukara Thomas Kathanar. Palackal Malpan and Porukara Kathanar died in 1841 and 1846 respectively. On 8 December 1855, Kuriakose Kathanar and ten other priests took vows in the Carmelite tradition. He was nominated as the Prior General of Mannanam Dayra. The congregation became affiliated as a Third Order institute of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. From that point on they used the postnominal initials ofT.O.C.D