“My childhood friend was a saint”

Kottayam: “She used to come here along with her father,” says Lakshmikutty of Kudamaloor. Though 99, she has a sharp memory, especially when it comes to recalling the times she spent with her childhood friend Annakkutty. Annakkutty, who later became Sister Alphonsa, died over 60 years ago. On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI will canonise her as the first woman saint from the nearly 2,000-year-old Indian Church, elevating her to the hallowed sanctum of Christendom. “We used to play in the nearly two-acre compound around our house, where a number of medicinal plants grew in the wild,” Ms. Lakshmikutty says. Little Annakkutty used to come with her father, the local medic. For Lakshmikutty, who stays with her son, Sr. Alphonsa was a friend so close and real. From classes I to IV, they were together.

Lakshmikutty remembers her best friend as extremely fair and smart. They went to the Government Lower Primary School at Thonnankuzhi, near their home, together. Muttuchira, a few kilometres from Kudamaloor, was the house of Sr. Alphonsa’s maternal aunt who became her foster mother after the untimely death of her mother. M.L. Mathew Muricken, who lives at Muttuchira, cherishes his childhood memories of Sr. Alphonsa, who used to visit the house to meet her uncle (Mr. Muricken’s grandfather). She was studying in class VII, staying at the Muricken home, when she joined the convent, he says. The home is now a pilgrim centre, attracting hundred of devotees. “Kochamma was very fond of me,” says Theramma of Pazhooparambil House, Kudamaloor. Theramma, 74, is the niece of Sr. Alphonsa. “My mother, Pennamma, was her elder sister and I called her Kochamma [aunty],” she says.

“Even when she was extremely ill, she used to hold me close to her on her bed,” says Theramma, of her visits to the convent to meet her aunt. She remembers her aunt as a very frail, extremely beautiful lady with light eyes. “Often she would be in bed and we used to take medicines for her,” she said. “She used to give me little presents: toffees, thread for sewing, prayer books. To me, they were special and I kept them separately.” Today Theramma has one of the largest private collections Alphonsa memorabilia. Letters, veils which bears her name, the prayer book used by Sr. Alphonsa, and the little presents her aunt gave her — she has kept them all in a specially constructed box.

Theramma remembers her aunt’s funeral. “We knew about her death in the evening [of 28th July 1946]. It was raining heavily and we started from home early next morning to reach the convent by noon. It was a simple affair and only five of us, including me, participated as relatives.” But Sr. Alphonsa is very close to the hearts of those who knew her. So much so that even as she is being elevated to sainthood, an old lady in this far away village will still be telling her favourite bedtime story to her grand children: “When I was of your age, I had a friend. She was a Saint….”

Source : The Hindu

Alphonsa’s friend feels blessed to witness her canonisation

When Sister Alphonsa will be canonised on Sunday at Vatican as the first Indian-born Catholic saint, her only living colleague, Sister Mary, will be standing in front of the statue of the blessed nun at a convent chapel at Kodanchery in this north Kerala district.

It is a rare moment for Sister Mary, 91, to see her friend being elevated as a saint. From 1936 to 1946, Mary prayed, dined and lived with Alphonsa at the Clarist convent at Bharananganam in central Kerala. Finally, she was lucky to witness the sainthood of her friend — a rare feat in the long process of canonisation. Far away from the ceremonies and celebrations, this retired school teacher cherishes fond memories of her days with Alphonsa. “When Alphonsa breathed her last, I was standing at her bedside along with a couple of nuns. She died after traversing through severe pain. The day before her death, Alphonsa had told us death would visit her next day,” Sister Mary told The Indian Express. “Alphonsa had very few relatives. They could not turn up at the time of funeral. Hence, the inmates of the convent carried her body to the nearby church. I was one of the pallbearers,” she recollected.

In those days, photographing the funeral ceremony was not a practice in convents. But the priest at Bharananganam church insisted on photographing the last journey, said Sister Mary. Sister Mary said from the very next day after the burial, Alphonsa’s tomb became a pilgrim centre. It was students at the local school who, in their prayers, sought Alphonsa’s intercession. Then adults also kneeled down in front of her tomb with bundles of supplications. Later, several stories of miracles trickled in.

In 1956, Sister Mary witnessed Alphonsa’s tomb being opened for collecting mortal remains, as part of the canonisation process. “The church tribunal had recorded my statements about Alphonsa’s life. When I reached the Bharananganam convent in 1936, senior nuns asked me to sing a devotional song. As I stood worried, Alphonsa came running to help me sing,” recalled Mary. She said even at this age she sing those lines. Even during those days, local people used to come to visit Alphonsa, seeking her prayers. Though Mary is the only living colleague of the saint, she has not come to media limelight. “Many nuns of the younger generation do not know me,” she said with a pinch of pain.

Souce : IndianExpress

“First Woman Saint of India”

The news that Blessed Alphonsa will be canonized by his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on October 12, 2008 has been received by the Catholics of India with boundless joy. She is the first Indian woman to be raised to the honours of the altar. Preparations are being made by the Catholics of Kanyakumari district to celebrate the great event in a fitting manner with a series of programmes which will conclude at Blessed Alphonsa Church on A.R.P. Camp Road, Nagercoil on Nov ember 8. On that occasion, Blessed Alphonsa Church, which is the first church in her name in Tamil Nadu, will be declared a pilgrim centre by his Grace Mar Joseph Perunthottam, Archbishop of Changanacherry, in the presence of a massive gathering of the faithful of the three Catholic dioceses of Kottar, Marthandam and Thuckalay. Several other Archbishops, Bishops and dignitaries are expected to participate in the celebrations.

Sr. Alphonsa was a young nun who lived an obscure, ascetic life within the four walls of a convent of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation at Bharananganam, Kerala. She suffered a prolonged period of illness and passed away at the age of 36. Her death was unnoticed by the public and her funeral was thinly attended. But God manifests His glory through little known, humble human beings. Soon some school children, who loved her, claimed to have received favours through her intercession. They were the first to throw light on the holiness of Sr. Alphonsa. Their devotion was taken up by elders. Her tomb grew almost overnight into a great centre of pilgrimage attracting devotees from far and near.

Now she is venerated all over the world as a paragon of virtues of patience and silent suffering. Many miraculous cures and other favours have been acknowledged by devout recipients through the intercession of Sr. Alphonsa. As Rev. Fr. Siqueira S.J. pointed out. “Her short life was one uninterrupted pain of body, mind and soul – disease, misunderstanding (even by her companions), thoughtless and unkind criticism even by those who should have defended her.” What sanctified Sr. Alphonsa’s life was her attitude to suffering and her heroic resignation to it. She had a firm conviction of the ultimate triumph of resignation to God’s will and her tremendous faith in the redeeming value of suffering, physical or mental, endured on behalf of Christ. She had a clear realization of the sufferings of Christ and longed to identify herself with His mystical body.

Therefore even in the midst of acute pain she was able to preserve the innermost love, joy and peace’. She told her Mother Superior that she was willing to suffer even more for the sake of a world that is plunging into ruin. She knew that it would prove redemptive to her and the world. She even advised her colleagues and novices to accept suffering cheerfully, citing the Biblical references to the grain of wheat which has to fall to the ground and decay in order to sprout into a new plant. It has to be ground in order to be turned into wafer used for the Holy Mass. She also reminded them of the grapes which have to be crushed to make wine. This wafer and wine will be transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

In 1984 the Pope officially declared that Sr.Alphonsa had heroically practised Christian virtues. The miraculous cure of the club foot of Thomas Athiyalil wrought through her intercession was formally approved by the Holy See on 16 July 1985 and she was beatified by His Holiness Pope John Paul II at Kottayam on 8 February 1986. Then the Canonization Tribunal was inaugurated on 26 February 2002.

The Tribunal submitted its report after a detailed examination of the miraculous cure wrought through the intercession of Sr.Alphonsa in the case of Jimil Ozhuthotty. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI confirmed this miracle on 1stJune 2007. The Holy Father will canonize her on 12 October 2008. All Indians are proud to have St. Alphonsa, the first Catholic saint in India, born of Indian parents, who lived and sanctified her life in India. As Rt. Rev. Thomas Pothacamury, former Bishop of Bangalore suggested, “It may be that Divine Providence has chosen her to show that the richness and fullness of ascetic life is within the reach of all”.

Fr. Thomas

Powathuparampil

St. Alphonsa Church,

Nagercoil

Souce : The Hindu