At the audience of February 21, 2026, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, accepted and confirmed the votes of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and, at the same time, ordered the publication of the Decreto super virtutibus for the Servant of God Theophane (born Michael Koodalloor), priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, which declares that “He exercised in a heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity towards God and neighbor, as well as the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance, and the related virtues of poverty, obedience, and chastity.”
The Venerable Servant of God Father Theophane is the first Capuchin native of India to reach this joyful milestone. The presentation and study by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of a miraculous event obtained through his intercession could allow the Cause to proceed towards beatification.
Since his childhood, Michael Koodalloor has shown a docility in receiving the Word of God; a tendency toward contemplation with a significant practical ability. His solicitude toward the needs of his Capuchin brothers, as well as to the poor and the marginalized, with an openness that was never prejudiced toward religious diversity, testifies to how much the charism of Francis of Assisi was at the foundation of his work, both in his continuous praise of the Lord of life and in his response to the needs of humanity.
Father Theophane, an authentic witness to his Capuchin brothers and a source of inspiration for lay people as well, offered a model of life faithful to the Gospel with his gentleness and humility in reaching out to every man and woman he met. But not only that, the Servant of God manifested the image of the disciple who brought true peace, “unarmed and disarming,” the first gift to the disciples and which the Risen Christ had left as a legacy to all those who had welcomed Him and who would welcome and follow Him.
The Venerable Servant of God Michael Koodalloor was born in Kottampur (Kerala, India) on July 20, 1913, the sixth of nine children of Itticheriya George Koodalloor and Ann Thottakattu.
He was baptized on July 26, 1913, and was educated in the basic principles of the Gospel by his family and parish teachers. At the age of 17, after completing elementary and middle school, he was admitted to the minor seminary of the Archdiocese of Verapoly in Ernakulam (Kerala, India). The charisma of St. Francis of Assisi, to whom the cathedral church was dedicated, attracted the young seminarian, and Michael Koodalloor asked to enter the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. On October 31, 1933, in Monte Mariano in Farangipet, Mangalore (Karnataka, India), he began his novitiate year. With the habit, he was also given the religious name of Theophane of Kottampur. After completing his novitiate, he was transferred to Saint Anthony’s Friary in Kollam (Kerala, India), from where he left for a year of studies at the Assisi Ashram in Alwaye (Kerala, India). There he made his perpetual profession on November 1, 1937, and on April 20, 1941, he received the sacrament of Holy Orders.
Father Theophane remained in Kollam (Kerala, India) from February 1942 to May 1947 as director of postulants and vicar of the fraternity. In 1945, he was given the faculty to preach, beginning an intense and fruitful pastoral activity.
On May 20, 1947, the General Commissioner of the Indian Province of the Capuchins appointed him guardian of the Sacred Heart friary in Kunnam (Tamil Nadu), then in the diocese of Quilon, now in Punalur. Here he devoted himself to the apostolate, initiating many social promotional activities among the lower castes. He was then transferred to Tiruchirapally (now Trichy) (Tamil Nadu) to the Capuchin theological seminary at a time when the entire community was moving to the new St. Joseph’s Friary in Kotagiri (Tamil Nadu). He arrived there in 1949, just eight days after the new community had settled in. From 1949 to 1958, he taught Sacred Scripture and carried out pastoral work as parish priest and chaplain to several religious congregations. After nine years, Father Theophane returned to Verapoly (Kerala, India), but the Capuchins wanted to establish a new presence, so on May 1, 1958, he arrived in Varavukad (Kerala, India) at the new friary dedicated to St. Bonaventure. It soon became clear that this was not a suitable location for a Capuchin friary, and so on September 28, 1959, they left Varavukad (Kerala, India) and moved to Ponnurunni (Kerala, India), near Ernakulam (Kerala, India). Appointed guardian of this new fraternity, Father Theophane had the church and seminary built there, once again committing himself to pastoral activity and service to the religious vocations of the Order and other congregations.
Here he spent the last decade of his life, despite his illness, devoting himself to offering spiritual advice and consolation. His presence before the Blessed Sacrament, as well as his recitation of the Holy Rosary and his pious practice of the Way of the Cross, were, for many believers and non-believers alike, a lesson for learning to love, to forgive, and to seek true dialogue.
On April 4, 1968, at the age of only 54, he died at the hospital in Ernakulam (Kerala, India), where he had been admitted due to chronic diabetes, which had afflicted him for several years.
For the gift of our brother, Father Theophane, we thank the Lord by making our own the prayer left to us by St. Francis of Assisi: “Almighty, most holy, highest, and supreme God, every good, supreme good, all good, who alone are good, grant that we may give you all praise, all glory, all thanks, all honor, all blessing, and all good things. Fiat, Fiat. Amen” (St. Francis of Assisi, Praises for Every Hour).