A Roman Catholic nun was to be made India’s first female saint by Pope Benedict XVI in a televised ceremony yesterday.
Thousands of visitors to the town of Bharananganam in Kerala state offered special prayers ahead of the canonization of Sister Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, who died in 1946 at the age of 36.
“I have been coming here for the past 20 years to seek blessings from her for my family, especially for my children’s studies,” government official V.J Joseph said.
PHOTO: AFP
“Today is an important day as the holy Church is declaring her a saint,” said Joseph, who came with his wife and two children.
Sister Alphonsa is credited with curing illness and disease after her death in 1946, with the Vatican approving the reported miracle cure of Genil Joseph, a congenitally deformed child, in 1999.
Joseph was to be one of hundreds of pilgrims and Church and state officials present at the Vatican yesterday when the pope was to announce the canonization in a special ceremony.
Braving a heavy drizzle, thousands poured into Sister Alphonsa’s church in the town of Bharananganam from 4am, when mass began in the regional Malayalam language.
“We always thought she was someone special, we felt she had an aura about her,” said Sister Grace Kalriparambil, 77, who knew Sister Alphonsa.
The roads of the small town were lined with posters of Sister Alphonsa and the church and convent where she lived as a nun wore a festive look.
Special masses are also being held in Catholic churches across Kerala, where St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, is believed to have arrived in 52 AD, bringing Christianity to India, a secular country with a dominant Hindu population.
The canonization comes at a time when Christians, who make up barely 2 percent of India’s billion-plus population, have come under attack in parts of the country, as long-running tensions over religious conversions burst into the open again.
The killing of a Hindu leader in eastern Orissa state sparked some of the worst anti-Christian riots in decades, killing about 35 people and damaging dozens of churches.
“At a time when evil is so widespread, it is good to have something like this to keep our spirits up,” Sister Grace said.
The pope was due to declare Sister Alphonsa a saint at 1.30pm in a special ceremony at the Vatican, where dozens of Church and state officials and pilgrims from India were present.
Alphonsa will be India’s second saint after Gonsalo Garcia, of Portuguese parentage, who was canonized in 1862.
Alphonsa, who deliberately disfigured herself at a young age to ward off suitors and enter the convent, died at the age of 36. Her tomb became a pilgrimage site and she was credited with several miracles.
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