- It was the "miraculous cure" of a boy with clubfoot that led to her canonisation. She will be bestowed sainthood on October 12 this year - ahead of Mother Teresa.
- Alphonsa was strikingly beautiful in her youth. Her family wanted to marry her off. To ward off suitors, she jumped into a fire to disfigure herself.
- She took her vows in 1936. Ten years later, she died. Her funeral was attended by less than 100 people.
- Her sainthood comes as a shot in the arm for the Catholic church which has of late been troubled by desertions to Pentecostal denominations
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‘Miracle boy’: Ginil had clubfoot, but began walking after a ’99 visit to Alphonsa’s tomb
It was the "miraculous" cure of Ginil Joseph, a young boy suffering from clubfoot—a congenital condition in which the foot is turned inward—that's being cited for granting her sainthood. Dr Aleyamma Korah of the Vimala Hospital, Kottayam, was among those interviewed by the Church tribunal in the prelude to the canonisation. She testified that a clubfoot doesn't get corrected naturally. It can be rectified only through surgery. "This child was brought to us completely cured when he was two years old. The parents say they put the child on the tomb of Sister Alphonsamma at Bharananganam and it all happened after that," she says.
Ginil's father, Shaji Jospeh, a sales tax official, recalls it was on May 11, 1999, a Saturday, when the miracle happened. "We returned from the tomb and while we were at the evening prayers, reciting the rosary, Ginil gently stood up, firmly on his feet. It was so unlike him. Earlier, his limbs used to droop almost lifeless. If this is not a miracle, what do you call it?" he says. Shaji was once a Sunday Catholic—a reference to those who attend church on obligatory days. But today, he is a firm believer in the "redeeming faith of Christianity."
Already the numbers of physically challenged people making a beeline to the tomb of the nun are growing. Then there are schoolchildren, lighting candles on her tomb for faring well in exams. Some of those who have received her blessings later joined the order. "We are very happy that Blessed Alphonsa is going to be canonised," says Sister Graces at Alphonsa Convent, Bharananganam. "We are waiting for that occasion."
The announcement on canonisation after a formal meeting of the Pope and other cardinals at St Peter's Basilica on March 1 was preceded by the mandatory evaluation of the life of the candidate by the Congregation for Cause of Saints. It was Pope John Paul II who set in motion the process of canonisation when he beatified her, conferring on her the title of Blessed, during his 1986 visit to India. The clergy see canonisation as a godsend, given the kind of excitement it could generate in today's age of media explosion. For, the first Indian to get into the Vatican hall of fame was St Gonzalo Garcia, born of Portuguese father and Indian mother, at Vasai in Maharashtra in 1556. His martyrdom at Nagasaki in 1597 and canonisation in 1862 happened when there was not even the radio to propagate the news. "Now, there will be a virtual blitz, getting the message to the four corners of the globe," says Fr Thelekkat. And in the days to come, central Travancore will occupy a special place in the map of world Christianity.
