St. Alphonsa

The Saint of the Month is a regular feature, contributed by a member of our church.

St. Alphonsa

Feast Day: July 28

Patron: Against illness, diseases related to feet

Birth: 1910

Death: 1946

St Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception was an Indian Catholic nun and educator. She was the first woman of Indian origin to be canonized a saint by the Catholic Church, and the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Church, an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala.

Early Life

Born as Anna Muttathupadathu in a Syro-Malabar Nasrani(Malayalam for Christian) family, Alphonsa was nicknamed Annakkutty (little Anna). Her mother, Maria Puthukari, gave birth to her prematurely and died three months later. She was transferred to the house of her aunt Anna Murickal, to whom her mother before she died, had entrusted her as the adoptive mother. Her aunt was a severe and demanding woman, at times cruel and violent in demanding obedience from Annakutty. Impressed by the life of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who also lost her mother at a young age, Annakutty resolved to follow her way of life through prayer and penance. She had a deep desire to be a religious sister and during that period, St. Thérèse of Lisieux appeared and told her that she would become a saint.

In 1923, Anna's feet were burnt when she fell into a pit of burning chaff. Apparently, this was a self-inflicted injury in order to avoid her foster mother's attempt to arrange a marriage for her. Annakutty, in order to get out from a commitment to marriage, reached the point of voluntarily causing herself a grave burn by putting her foot into a heap of burning embers.

"My marriage was arranged when I was thirteen years old. What had to be done to avoid it? I prayed all night... Then an idea came to me. If my body were a little disfigured no one would want me! ... O, how I suffered! I offered all for my great intention". This accident left her partially disabled for the rest of her life.

Later, Anna joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC), a religious congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis, and through them, completed her schooling. The period 1930–1935 was characterized by a grave illness. Sister Alphonsa took her permanent vows on 12 August 1936. Later she returned to Bharananganam from Changanacherry and taught high school at St. Alphonsa Girl's High School, but was often sick and unable to teach. For most of her years as a Clarist Sister, she endured serious illnesses. She was reportedly cured of her ailments through the intercession of Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara.

Health Decline

Later again, painful illnesses followed one after the other: typhoid, double pneumonia, and the most serious of all, a dramatic nervous shock, the result of a fright on seeing a thief during a night. Her state of incapacity lasted for about a year, during which she was unable to read or write. Her health continued to deteriorate and she received extreme unction (anointing of the sick) on 29 September 1941.

In July 1945, she developed gastroenteritis and liver problems that caused violent convulsions and vomiting. After a series of serious health problems, she died on 28 July 1946, at the young age of 35. She was buried at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Bharananganam, Travancore (present-day Kottayam district) in the Diocese of Palai.

Although her life was marked by suffering, her greatest strength was in her endurance when she said these words “I feel that the Lord has destined me to be an oblation, a sacrifice of suffering... I consider a day in which I have not suffered as a day lost to me".

Beatification

Claims of her miraculous intervention began almost immediately upon her death and often involved children of the convent school where she used to teach. Hundreds of miraculous cures were claimed from her intervention, many of them involving the straightening of clubbed feet, possibly because of her having lived with deformed feet. Venerable Sister Alphonsa was beatified along with Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara, T.O.C.D., at Kottayam, on 8 February 1986 by Pope John Paul II during his Apostolic Pilgrimage to India.

She was canonized on 12 October 2008 at Vatican City. In the homily, Pope Benedict recalled Saint Alphonsa's life as one of "extreme physical and spiritual suffering." Later he said “(Her) heroic virtues of patience, fortitude, and perseverance in the midst of deep suffering remind us that God always provides the strength we need to overcome every trial,"