SAINT ALPHONSA – First Woman Saint from India

Blessed Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception from Kottayam, Kerala, India is being raised a saint on Oct. 12, 2008 at St. peter's Square, by Pope Benedict XVI. Alphonsa, who was religious of the Franscican Clarist Congregation (FCC) is the first Indian woman to be raised to the status of a saint.

Annakutty Muttathupadath, who later received the religious name Alphonsa, was born on 19 August 1910 as the fourth child of Muttathupadath Ouseph and Mariam at Kudamaloor, in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry, in the southern state of Kerala. She lost her mother when she was only three months' old. Her aunt (mother's sister) brought her up as a beautiful young lady and wanted to marry her off to a well-to-do family. However, Alphonsa wanted to dedicate her entire life to Jesus Christ like Little Therese of Lisiuex. As a culmination of her desire to dedicate her entire life to the Lord, she jointed the Franciscan Clarist Convent at Bharananganam on 2 August 1928.Even though her poor health was a great hurdle to her progress in her religious life for which the superiors wanted to send her home, she persevered in her commitment and earnest desire. After many ordeals, she took her perpetual vows on 12 August 1936. She considered her entire life as a holocaust to the Lord in which the victim would be burning slowly and steadily. Each suffering she offered as a beautiful flower in the wounds of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the end of her life, she was overwhelmed with great pain and frailty of the body, but in the midst of the excruciating pain she committed her soul to the heavenly bridegroom, peacefully reciting the names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, on 28 July 1946.

For the faithful of India, this marks a historic first, for Blessed Alphonsa will become the first Indian woman to be declared a saint.. Pope John Paul II had declared Sister Alphonsa as Blessed on February 8, 1986, along with Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, also from Kottayam, Kerala. Her tomb at Bharananganam, near Kottaym is visited by large crowds of faithful, throughout the year.

The first Indian saint is a Jesuit, St Gonzalo Garcia, Born in Vasai, near Mumbai and canonized in 1862. He died a martyr's death in 1597 at Nagasaki, Japan, along with St Paul Miki and other Jesuits.