Antony Padiyara (11 February 1921 – 23 March 2000) was a Syro-Malabar Catholic cardinal and the first Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
Born in Manimala, Travancore, Antony Padiyara got his primary education from SB English High School Changanasserry and later studied in St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Bangalore and was ordained to the priesthood on 19 December 1945.
[1] He was incardinated into the Latin Church Diocese of Coimbatore, where he served as curate at Peria Kodiveri and pastor at Kollegal and Ootacamund between 1946 and 1952.
[2] In one of the acts of his short-lived papacy, Pope John Paul I named him Apostolic visitor to the Syro-Malabar Catholics in Kerala on 8 September 1978.
[3] After reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, he resigned as Major Archbishop on 11 November 1996, after eleven years of service.