Born in Manimala, Kerala, Antony Padiyara studied at St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Bangalore and was ordained to the priesthood on December 19, 1945. He was incardinated into the Latin Rite Diocese of Coimbatore, where he served as curate at Kodiyeri and pastor at Kollegal and Ootacamund between 1946 and 1952. He became rector of the minor seminary in 1952 and a professor at St. Peter's Regional Seminary in 1954. He later died at the Cardinal Padiyara Nature Cure Centre in Kakkanad, which he himself had founded, aged 79. He is buried in St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Ernakulam.