Michael Koodalloor

After his ordination, Father Theophane exercised various pastoral duties within the Capuchin province in India. From February 1942 to May 1947, he resided in Kollam as director of postulants and vicar of the fraternity. In 1945, he received authorization to preach, marking the beginning of intense preaching activity and spiritual retreats throughout the region. On May 20, 1947, he was appointed guardian (superior) of the Sacred Heart convent in Kunnam (Tamil Nadu, then in the diocese of Quilon, today Punalur). In this region, he actively dedicated himself to the apostolate and launched numerous social promotion initiatives for the most disadvantaged castes. He was then transferred to Tiruchirapally (Trichy) to teach at the Capuchin theological seminary, before the community moved to the new Saint Joseph convent in Kotagiri. In September 1959, the community left Varavukad to settle in Ponnurunni (near Ernakulam, Kerala). Appointed guardian of this new fraternity, Father Theophane had the church and seminary built there. He founded the Ashram church there under the patronage of Saint Pius X (Saint Bonaventure convent). He spent the last ten years of his life in this convent, devoting himself to spiritual accompaniment, home visits, house blessings, and intercessory prayer for the sick.

Father Theophane distinguished himself by a life of profound humility, radical poverty, and filial obedience. His faith was nourished by long hours of Eucharistic adoration and continuous prayer. Despite the serious and multiple health problems that afflicted him for most of his life, he endured his sufferings with a constant smile, striving to hide them from those around him so as not to worry them. His reputation for holiness, his gentleness, and his gift for consoling the afflicted earned him frequent comparisons to Saint Padre Pio. He welcomed all who came to seek counsel or comfort from him, regardless of their religion. Exhausted by illness, he passed away on April 4, 1968, at the age of 55 in Ponnurunni (Kochi, Kerala). His mortal remains are interred in the chapel of the Capuchin Ashram in Ponnurunni. Immediately after his death, his tomb became a popular place of pilgrimage where many faithful gather to ask for healings and graces. Each year, on April 4, his feast day is marked by a solemn commemoration accompanied by the traditional charity banquet (Nercha Sadya) offered to all pilgrims.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Father Theophane Koodalloor was officially introduced by the Archdiocese of Verapoly. After obtaining the nihil obstat from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 11, 2007, he received the title of Servant of God. The diocesan inquiry into his life and heroic virtues was solemnly closed on October 24, 2014, at the Capuchin convent in Ponnurunni. The validity of this inquiry was decreed by Rome on October 28, 2018. On February 21, 2026, during an audience granted to Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God. Michael Koodalloor was thus declared Venerable. He is the very first Capuchin from India to reach this stage on the path to the altars. His beatification now requires the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of the Venerable Theophane Koodalloor is deeply rooted in the charism of Saint Francis of Assisi. He embodies the image of the disciple who brings a "disarmed and disarming" peace. His fraternal charity is expressed through simple and humble daily gestures: at the convent, he does not hesitate to help with the most modest household chores, such as washing dishes or cleaning fish in the kitchen. Affectionately nicknamed the "Chief Justice" of the Capuchin mission in Kerala, he possesses an exceptional gift for resolving conflicts, soothing misunderstandings, and restoring peace between people. His preaching, of great spiritual strength, draws its source from his own life of mortification, his rigorous asceticism (he ate and slept very little), and his conformity to the Gospel. His legacy endures through the fervent popular devotion that surrounds his tomb in Ponnurunni and the example of his life given to the poor and the sick.