India’s First Female Saint

Today marks the Feast of St. Alphonsa, and the following is adapted from alphonsa.com:

Alphonsa Muttathupadathu (1910–1946) is the first Indian woman to be elevated to sainthood. She is the first female saint from India and the second saint from India. In the 19th century, Saint Gonsalo Garcia, born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father in 1556, was declared a saint.

Born Annakkutty in Kudamaloor, her mother died when she was young and she was raised by an aunt. At age seventeen she joined the Poor Clares, taking the name Alphonsa. She taught in various schools, taking her permanent vows in 1936. She suffered from illness throughout her life. She died at age thirty-five. Her tomb in Bharananganam has become a pilgrimage site. Her canonization cause was introduced in 1953. The miracle attributed to her intercession and approved by Vatican for the canonization was the healing of club foot of an infant in 1999. She was beatified along with Kuriakose Elias Chavara, founder of the Carmelites of mary Immaculate. On October 12, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI canonized her.