Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara is the founder of Congregation of Mother of Carmel (CMC). He was born on 10th February 1805 at Kainakary, Kerala. At the age of five, be began his studies in a village school called kalari. When he was 13, he joined the seminary at Pallipuram for his priestly training. On 29th November 1829, he become a priest. He bid adieu to his illustrious earthly life on 3rd January 1871. He was beatified on 8th February 1986 and canonized on 23rd November 2014.
Instead of confining his piety to the cloister, Saint Chavara admirably offered himself to society as an educationist, prolific writer and social reformer. He exercised his ingenious qualities to the fullest and became a visionary educationist who revolutionized the educational scenario of kerala. He provided Kerala with its first Sanskrit school open to all, irrespective of caste and creed. The schools he started came to be known as Pallikoodam-a place for education attached to a church through time and tide, the efforts of Saint Chavara, through the CMC congregation, have resulted in the establishment of a large network) education institutions raging from playschool to a full-fledged university, spread across different countries and continents.