A Mass of thanksgiving in honor of the canonization of St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara will be celebrated at St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus Church, Greenpoint, on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio will be the main celebrant.

St. Kuriakose Elias is the founder of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (C.M.I.), who staff the Brooklyn parish. Six members of the community minister in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The canonization will take place Nov. 23 in Rome with Bishop DiMarzio and several members of the community from Brooklyn present.

At the Brooklyn liturgy, Mar Joy Alappatt, auxiliary bishop of the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago, will preach the homily. Greetings will be offered by Dr. Thomas Mar Eusebius, bishop of the Syro-Malabar Exarchate in the U.S.

Father Kavungal Davy, C.M.I., is the pastor of St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus.

St. Kuriakose was born in 1805 in Kerala, India. He was ordained a diocesan priest for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in 1829 at age 24.

He was a zealous priest known for his devotion to the Eucharist, spending many hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and for introducing the 40 Hours devotion to India.

He was instrumental in spreading Marian devotion in India, through the rosary, special devotions and celebration of May as the Marian month.

On his deathbed, he entrusted the fledgling order to the protection of the Holy Family.

The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate were founded in 1855. It is the largest religious order to originate in India. It has 3,000 professed members, 1,800 of whom are priests serving in 30 different countries.

In 1866, St. Kuriakose founded an order for women known as the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (C.M.C.), which now numbers more than 7,000 nuns.