The First Indian Woman to be Canonised Sainthood in October

For the first time, an Indian woman will be canonised to Sainthood bringing joy and fireworks among Catholic faithfuls around the country.

On March 1, the Holy See at the Vatican, the global headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church has formally fixed the date for the canosising Sister Alphonsa of Kottayam, Kerala.

Pope Benedict XVI declared that the name of Alphonsa of Bharananganam and three others would be entered into the roll of Saints on October 12, 2008.

The nun who died half–a–century ago has become the first Indian woman and second Indian to be bestowed sainthood.

The professed Sister Alphonsa will be formally known as Saint Alphonsa of Immaculate Conception after canonisation on October 12 by Pope Benedict XVI at a function in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The ‘blessed’ sister is among the four names finalised by the Pope to be inscribed into the roll of saints.

The only other Indian to be canonised was St Gonzalo Garcia, a 16th–century Jesuit priest from Mumbai, in 1862.

Sister Alphonsa’s sainthood is the first universal recognition for the Kerala based Syro–Malabar Church—India’s largest Catholic church—to which the sister belonged.

Born in an ordinary family in Kudamaloor in Kottayam, Anna Muttathupadath became a nun when she was 18 and was christened Sister Alphonsa. Until her death in 1946 at the age of 36 after 16 years of illness, she was largely unknown outside her village.

A number of miracles attributed to her started coming to light after her death which were formally examined first by Indian church authorities and then by Vatican’s various committees, papal courts and medical panels.

Her burial place at Bharananganam in southern Kerala, has become a pilgrimage site.

The Kerala church traces its origins to the visit of St Thomas around 2,000 years ago to preach the gospel in India.

Father Bernard J O'Connor of the Vatican's Congregation of Eastern Churches told the BBC News website he had recently visited India and met many people who fondly remembered Sister Alphonsa.

"Catholics but also non–Catholics and even non–Christians were speaking about her, showing me her pictures and telling me they had image in their homes," Father O'Connor said.

"I think she is a symbol of a kind of religious sensitivity and charity that touches ordinary peoples' lives" he added.

Pope John Paul II declared her the Blessed Servant of God in 1985 following his approval of a miracle attributed to her, related to the healing of a young boy’s twisted feet after his family prayed at her tomb in at the Alphonsa Chapel at Bharananganam in Kottayam.