Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is on the cusp of an achievement that any place in the world would be proud to have — a hat-trick of saints canonised by the Catholic Church.

Following the first India-born Catholic saint, Sr Alphonsa whose tomb is in Bharananaganam in Kerala’s Kottayam district, the state will have two more saints canonised by Pope Francis in Rome on November 23 — Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sr Euphrasia, the latter widely known in Kerala as Sr Evuprasiamma.

The first to be canonised as saint from India was Mother Teresa, but it is Sr Alphonsa who is the first India-born saint, and Kerala will have icing on that cake when two more saints march into that exclusive league.

Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia are both in the Blessed category now, a stage before being canonised as saints. Close to 5,000 Keralites have already left for Rome to be at St Peter’s Square when the Pope canonises the two as saints.

Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871) was born in Kainakary in Kuttanad, Kerala’s traditional rice granary known for sprawling paddy fields and water bodies. Besides his achievements for the Catholic Church in the state, Chavara is better known as a social reformer who emphasised on women’s emancipation, and a well-known educationist. He is also credited with starting retreats for the laymen in the state.

Chavara was also the co-founder and first prior-general of the first congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The congregation is now known as the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, or CMI in short. The CMI congregation is now known for running several reputed educational institutions across the country.

Chavara passed away at Koonammavu near Ernakulam, and his remains were transferred to the St Joseph’s Syro-Malabar Dayara Church at Mannanam near Kottayam in 1889.

Sister Euphrasia was born Rose Elavathungal in a Syro-Malabar Catholic family near Thrissur in 1877, six years after the demise of Chavara. In later years, she would have close links to what Chavara had established during his lifetime.

Rose Elavathungal was born into a wealthy family of landlords, but chose to join a convent. She studied at a boarding school that was established by Chavara, and when she decided to become a nun, it was a Carmelite convent that she picked, a congregation that Chavara had founded. Her constant life of prayer and devotion had earned her the name ‘Praying Mother’. She passed away in 1952.