Christian feast day: Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)

Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, CMI was an Indian Catholic priest, religious, philosopher and social reformer. He is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic church. He was the co-founder and first Prior General of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first religious congregation for men in the Syro-Malabar Church. However, the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC), originally known as the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites (TOCD), was founded by Venerable Mother Eliswa Vakayil in 1866 in Kerala. In a decree issued on April 25, 2025, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints officially recognized Mother Eliswa as the foundress of the TOCD, from which both the CMC (Syro-Malabar) and the Congregation of Teresian Carmelites later emerged.

The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. It is a sui iuris (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The major archbishop presides over the entire church. The incumbent Major Archbishop is Raphael Thattil, serving since January 2024. It is the largest Syriac Christian church and the largest Eastern Catholic church. Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac liturgy and origins in Malabar. The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.

January 3 is the third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 362 days remain until the end of the year.