KOCHI: Taking the Catholic community in the state to new heights, Fr Kuriakos Elias Chavara and Sr Euphrasia Eluvathinkal will be elevated to sainthood on Sunday.
The two-hour ceremony will begin with Holy Mass led by Pope Francis at 2.30 pm. Around 1,500 priests, including 800 from India, will also take part in the mass. Five others are also being canonised on Sunday. Three choirs, including one from India, will sing during the ceremony. The Indian choir will sing two Malayalam songs too.
Born at Kainakari in Alappuzha district in 1805, Kuriakos Elias Chavara was a social reformer, publisher, educator and the founder of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, the first indigenous Catholic order for men.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in February 1986. He founded the Congregation of Mother of Carmel, an order for women , in 1866. Though he died at Koonammavu in Ernakulam district, Fr Chavara’s mortal remains were shifted to Mannanam in Kottayam district. Sr Euphrasia Eluvathinkal was a member of the Sisters of the Congregation of Mother of Carmel, founded by Fr Chavara. She was beatified by Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil at a function in Ollur, Thrissur, in 2006.
The Kerala Catholic Church will celebrate the canonisation at a function at Rajagiri Valley, Kakkanad on November 29. There will be Holy Mass led by Cardinal Mar George Alencherry. The mass will be followed by a public meeting attended by religious leaders and state and Union ministers.