Mar Podippara Ouseph Placid Malpan, also known as Placidachan (3 October 1899 – 27 April 1985) was an Indian Syriac Catholic priest and scholar of the St. Thomas Christian community.
[1] He was a member of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and was ordained a priest from the religious institute of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (C.M.I.).
He wrote more than thirty seven books and numerous articles on Saint Thomas Christians in languages including English, Malayalam, German and Latin.
[2] Placid was born Joseph (Kochauseppachan) into the Podipara family as the fifth and last child of Chacko and Rosamma in the village, Arpookara, near Kottayam in the Southern Indian state of Kerala.
He was ordained priest on 3 December 1927 at Mangalore and celebrated his first Holy Qurbana in St. Joseph's Monastery chapel, Mannanam.