Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – Amidst a moment of suffering, the Church in India has a great reason to rejoice, as the first Indian saint in the history of the Church is canonized. Her name is Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception (Anna Muttathupadathu), of the Third Order Poor Clares. The Canonization ceremony will be celebrated by Benedict XVI at the Vatican, on October 12. Three other saints will also be canonized: Italian priest Gaetano Errico, Swiss religious Mary Bernard Bütler, and Ecuadorian Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán.
A significant representation from the Indian Church will be present, including hundreds of faithful coming from India to participate in this historic event.
Anna was born in Arpukara, in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry (Kerala, southern India), on August 19, 1910, and was baptized in the Syro-Malabar rite. Remaining an orphan at a young age, she was raised by her aunt and grandmother. She soon felt attracted to religious life, inspired by the example of Saint Therese of Lisieux. When she was 17, in 1927, she entered the monastery of the Poor Clares in Bharananganam, taking the name of Alphonsa. In 1931, she took temporal vows, and in 1936, perpetual vows.
She was given the task of teaching, but was forced to leave it, due to health reasons. Aware of the situation, she was very reserved and charitable towards everyone. She suffered in silence, amidst hostilities and illness, which took over her body in 1945 and led her to her death, at only 36 years of age, on July 28, 1946.
In her suffering, she said: “I think that the Lord has chosen me to be a victim, a sacrifice of suffering. The day I do not suffer is a day that is lost for me.” He brief life as a Poor Clare left a profound mark from her holiness, which was revealed after her death.
Numerous pilgrims visit her tomb each year to give thanks and ask for favors...not only Catholics, but Muslims and Hindus as well feel attracted by the purity of this young life that endured so much suffering.
The Bishop of Palai began her process on a diocesan level in 1955. On November 9, 1984 she was declared venerable and on February 8, 1986, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Kottayam, India.
The Indian Church says that “her story and her experience of suffering and sacrifice is an example and an instrument, in the present difficulties, for the firmness and maturity of the Christian faith in India.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/10/2008)
