Pope Benedict XVI said in his homily about her, “She came to love suffering because she loved the suffering Christ. She learned to love the cross through her love of the crucified Lord.”
St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception or Martha Alphonsa, christened at birth as Anna Muttathupadathu, was a nun and an educator by vocation. St. Alphonsa, known as the ‘Passion Flower of Kerala’ was born on August 19, 1910 to Joseph and Mary Muttathupadathu, in the pastoral village of Kudamaloor, in the state of Kerala. She was fondly called Annakutty, by all. She had committed her life to Christ at the age of 13 and wanted to keep all suitors away from her.
In 1923, she badly burned her feet when she fell into a pit of burning chaff. That accident left her permanently disabled. Anna, later joined the Franciscan Clarists Congregation and arrived at the Poor Clares Convent at Bharananganam, on Pentecost, in 1927. She took the name, Alphonsa on 2nd August, 1928 when she received the postulant’s veil. She taught elementary school, but was often sick. Painful illnesses followed each other. In every situation, Sister Alphonsa always maintained a great reservation and charitable attitude towards the sisters, silently undergoing her suffering.
With this attitude of a victim, for the love of the Lord, happy until the final moment and with a smile of innocence always on her lips, Sister Alphonsa quietly and joyfully brought her earthly journey, to a close, in the convent of the Franciscan Clarists at Bharananganam, on the 28 July, 1946, at the age of 35, leaving behind the memory of a sister full of love.
Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception Muttathupadathu was proclaimed, ‘Blessed’ by Pope John Paul II in Kottayam, Kerala on 8th February, 1986. The actual miracle that attributed to her intercession and approved by the Vatican for canonisation, was the healing of the club foot of an infant, in 1999. Pope Benedict XVI canonised her, ‘A Saint’ in October 2008.
She’s the first woman of Indian origin, to be canonised a saint, after decades of enquiry, by the Sacred Congregation for the causes of saints. She’s also the first saint of the Syro-Malabar Church, an eastern catholic community of eastern Christianity. A Rosary and Bible in hands.
She’s the patron saint of the sick, against bodily ills, against illness and sickness. God has sent St. Alphonsa to show us that suffering is not only useful but necessary. She considered suffering as a gift from God. She teaches us that we must suffer not only for our own sins but for the sins of others too, as we are all members of the same body of Christ.
Countless miracles have been attributed to her intercession, since her death and her tomb is a popular pilgrimage site in Bharananganam, Kerala, in India.
So, on the feast day(28th July) of St. Alphonsa, we invoke God’s choicest blessings on all of us, especially the sick, as numerous miraculous cures are attributed to her. May St. Alphonsa journey with us as we consciously commit ourselves and work together to build a civilization of love.
– Sherida D’Souza