A Closer Look at St. Alphonsa: The First Indian Woman Christian Saint

By Sr. Teresa Joseph, FMA –

The feast day of St. Alphonsa Muttathupandathu on July 28 is an appropriate time to take a closer look at this saint. Born on 19 August to Joseph and Mary, She was fondly called Annakuttty. Already in her early childhood, she experienced deep pain. Just three months after her birth, her dear mom passed away. Her maternal aunt, Annamma Muricken, took care of little Annakutty from class four onwards. Her aunt knew to blend well affection and firmness. In 1923, Anna badly burned her feet when she fell into a pit of burning chaff. That accident left her permanently disabled. As a caring guardian, Annamma was preparing Annakutty to be an able and worthy housewife for a good bridegroom.

Understanding God’s Dream

God had a special dream for Annakutty. One fine day she had a vision of St. Theresa of Liseux and the seed of religious vocation was sown in her heart. No marriage proposals ever attracted her. Finally, seeing Annakutty’s strong resistance to every marriage proposal, her aunt allowed her to join the Clarist convent at Bharananganam, Kerala in 1927 on the feast of Pentecost. She took the name of Alphonsa on 2 August 1928 when she became a postulant. She did her higher studies at St. Theresa’s School, Chenganacherry. After completing her studies, she taught for a year at Vakakkad. On 12th August 1935, Alphonsa entered the Novitiate. The Lord had special plans for her and during the time of her novitiate, she had a strong attack of haemorrhage. She was miraculously cured by Fr. Kuriakose Elias on the ninth day of novena prayed by her and the community. Alphonsa made her solemn profession of her religious vows on 12th August 1936.

Taste of Sickness and Pain

Alphonsa had sickness and pain as her companions of life. The bed of thorns, and acute pain never discouraged her instead it helped her to rejoice in the Lord and to praise Him. She realized that suffering is good and valuable for her own growth in holiness and that of the world. She became a little ambassador among her companions and novices and encouraged them to embrace suffering cheerfully. It is remarkable to know that Alphonsa was familiar with the grain of wheat which has to fall down and decay for raising new sprout and how it has to be ground to be made into hosts which has to e transformed into the Body of Jesus. She often used to remind those around her how the grapes have to be crushed to make wine to become the blood of the Lord.

The Prayer of Saint Alphonsa is very profound.

O Lord Jesus, Hide me in the wound of your sacred heart
Free me from my desire to be loved and esteemed
Guard me from my evil attempts to win fame and honour
Make me humble till I become a small spark in the flame of love in your Sacred Heart
Grant me the grace to forget myself and all worldly things
Jesus, sweet beyond words, convert all worldly consolations into bitterness for me
O my Jesus, Sun of Justice, enlighten my intellect and mind with your sacred rays
Purify my heart, consume me with burning love for you, and make me one with you. Amen.

Death at a Young Age With Favours Ever Abounding

Alphonsa died on 28th July 1946 at the age of 35 in Bharananganam. The funeral was simple and attended by few people. Soon something great began happening. Through the intercession of Alphonsa, it was the children who loved her to receive favors and rapidly her tomb at Bharananganam turned into a great centre of pilgrimage attracting pilgrims from far and near.

On 2nd December 1953, H.E. Cardinal Tisserant inaugurated the diocesan process for her beatification. On 9th November 1984, Pope St. John Paul II officially declared that Alphonsa had practiced the Christian virtues heroically. She was beatified on 8th February 1986 by Pope St. John Paul II and declared a Saint on October 12, 2008, by Pope Benedict XVI. The miracle attributed to her intercession and approved by the Vatican for the canonization was the healing of the club foot of an infant in 1999. She is the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and is the patroness against illness.

Sense and Scent of Alphonsa’s Suffering

“The only thing I wish for in this life is to bear suffering for the sake of God’s love and to rejoice in it. I am fully convinced that the worldly pleasures are not for me,” said Alfonsa.

A peep into the letters of St. Paul, the great Apostle and ardent Missionary will take us to the sense and scent of true suffering. In Rom 5:3-5, St. Paul expresses very efficaciously how suffering can help to bring forth the best in a person: perseverance, character and hope because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for us manifesting God’s unconditional love for us. Thanks to her intense love for Jesus, Alfonsa knew the worth of suffering. Her constant contemplation on the suffering of Christ and her love for the crucified Lord gradually taught her to experience the Lord’s personal love for her and to embrace suffering.

What she wrote to her spiritual director testifies to this.”Dear Father, as my good Lord Jesus loves me so very much, I sincerely desire to remain on this sick bed and suffer not only this, but anything else besides, even to the end of the world. I feel now that God has intended my life to be an oblation, a sacrifice of suffering” (20 November 1944).

During his Apostolic Pilgrimage to India, in his speech at Nehru Stadium, Kottayamon on February 8, 1986, Pope St. John Paul II spoke how from early in her life, Alphonsa experienced great suffering. “With the passing of the years, the heavenly Father gave her an ever fuller share in the Passion of his beloved Son. We recall how she experienced not only physical pain of great intensity, but also the spiritual suffering of being misunderstood and misjudged by others. But she constantly accepted all her sufferings with serenity and trust in God, being firmly convinced that they would purify her motives, help her to overcome all selfishness, and unite her more closely with her beloved divine Spouse.”

Maturing in Suffering, a Saint in the Making

“I had aspired zealously to become a saint. I felt that burning desire after reading the autobiography of St. Little Teresa of Lisieux,” affirmed Alphonsa. The death of her dear mom, gradual declining of her own health and all that life offered her did help her to learn to face suffering with dignity and courag.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has expressed it eloquently in his homily at her canonization. He recalled Saint Alphonsa’s life as one of extreme physical and spiritual suffering. “This exceptional woman … was convinced that her cross was the very means of reaching the heavenly banquet prepared for her by the Father. By accepting the invitation to the wedding feast, and by adorning herself with the garment of God’s grace through prayer and penance, she conformed her life to Christ’s and now delights in the ‘rich fare and choice wines’ of the heavenly kingdom. … (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,” the pope stated before the ceremony ended.

St. Alphonsa Journey With Us

Saints have amazing ways to reach out to those on earth. While they were alive they had been so much part of this world that now from heaven above their eyes are turned towards us. After the ceremony in St Peter’s Square, Rome, emeritus Pope Benedict had a message in English for the 5,000 Indians in the crowd of tens of thousands: “As the Christian faithful of India give thanks to God for their first native daughter to be presented for public veneration, I wish to assure them of my prayers during this difficult time.” He added: “I urge the perpetrators of violence to renounce these acts and join with their brothers and sisters to work together in building a civilisation of love.”

Today, on the feast day of St. Alphonsa, we invoke God’s choicest blessings on all of us especially on 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.