Major Archbishop-Catholicos Baselios Mar Cleemis, the first Cardinal from the Syro-Malankara Catholic rite and the fifth Malayali to hold this post, was born to the late Mathew and Annamma on June 15, 1959 in Mukkoor, Malappally, in Pathanamthitta district.
He did his schooling at the St Mary’s Government UP School, Kunnamthanam, and St Mary’s High School, Anikkad.
He studied philosophy at the St Joseph’s Seminary, Aluva, and was ordanied priest on June 11, 1986.
He later did his Masters in Theology in the Dharmaram College, Bangalore, and obtained his doctorate in ecumenism from the St Thomas Pontifical University, Rome. He served as a parish priest in a number of places, including Bangalore, and on June 18, 2001, was appointed as bishop by Pope John Paul II. He served as the auxiliary bishop of Thiruvananthapuram and was apostolic visitor for North America and Europe.
He was appointed Bishop of Thiruvalla in 2003 and the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Thiruvalla in 2006.
On the death of Cyril Mar Baselios, he took over as Major Archbishop Catholicos of the Syro-Malankara Church in March, 2007.
In fact, he was the youngest of the church heads under the Catholic umbrella at the time. He has two brothers and four sisters.