St.Alphonsa – Vadavaimatha

Life of St. Alphonsa

St. Alponsa was born on 19th August 1910 as the fourth child of Joseph and Mary Muttathupadath, in the parish of Kudamaloor in the state of Kerala. She was baptized on the 27th August. Her baptismal name was Anna and her pet name Annakutty. Her mother passed away three months after her birth.

Annakutty started her schooling at Arpookara and left for Muttuchira Govt. School for pursuing her studies from the fourth class onwards under the immediate supervision of her maternal aunt Annamma Muricken. The aunt brought her up extremely affectionately, but equally strictly also. Her one ambition was that the child should be brought up as a respectable housewife for a deserving bridegroom. Annakutty had a vision of St. Theresa of Liseux whose life in spired her to become a religious. She therefore did not yield to any marriage proposal. Finally when she was almost compelled to be betrothed at to the church, she extricated herself from it by voluntary burning her foot placing it an ash pit of burning husks. Against such determine resistance the aunt succumbed to her desire and permitted her to join a convent .

Annakutty joined Clarist convent at Bharananganam in 1927 on the feast of Pentecost. She recived the veil postulant on second August 1928 with the name Alphonsa. Her vestition was on 19th May 1930. Later she joined the St. Theresa’s School Chenganacherry for higher studies, on completing which she engaged in teaching for a period of one year at Vakakkad. Sr. Alphonsa entered the novitiate on 12th August 1935. During this period, she had a sever attack of hemorrhage and it was feared that she would have to be sent back. But on the ninth day of novena held by her and the community seeking intercession of Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavera, she was miraculously cured her. She completed the novitiate and made the solemn profession of her religious vows on 12th August 1936.

Sr. Alphonsa continued to have her repeated spells of sickness and pain. She was on a bed of thrones torn and tortured by excruciating pain and prolonged agony. Here was an rejoiced in the lord and magnified Him. She was longing to suffer even more for her own sanctification and that of the world.

She constantly advised her companions and novices to accept suffering cheerfully citing the biblical references to the grain of wheat which has to fall down and decay for raising new sprouts; it has to be ground in order to be turned into hosts for transformation as the body of Our Lord. She also reminded them of the grapes which have to be crushed for yielding wine to become the blood of the Lord.
Her death(28th July 1946) was unnoticed by the public. The funeral was simple and thinly attended. But soon the school children , who loved her received favors through her intercession. Her tomb at Bharananganam turned into a great centre of pilgrimage attracting people from far and near.

H.E. Cardinal Tisserant inaugurated the diocesan process for her beatification on 2nd December 1953. The Long diocesan and subsequent apostolic processes bore fruit when on 9th November 1984 the Holy Father officially declared that she had practiced the Christian virtues heroically. A miracle wrought through her intercession was also formally approved by the Pope on 6th July 1985.
Providence has been pleased to bestow on this generation the grace to see a daughter of the soil, a seed of the ancient Christian community of Kerala and India, beatified (8th February 1986) in her homeland by the Supreme Pontiff during his visit to this chosen land.

Now Sr. Alphonsa is declared as Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.

Chronology

1910 August 19: Born at the Muttathupadam house, Kudamaloor
1916 May 16 : Started her primary education at Thonnankuzhy Govt. School. Arpookara : She did standard 1-3 there
27 : First Holy communion
1920 : Joins the Govt. School at Muttuchira, Alphonsa did standards 4-6 there
1925, Jan.21 : Confirmation at the Forane Church, Muttuchira
1928, Aug.2 : Joins the Clarist Convent at Bharananganam as a postulant.Receives the postulant’s veil. Receives the name Alphonsa
1930 May 19 : Receives the religious habit at St. Mary’s Church, Bharananganam
1932-33 : Works as a teacher at Vakakkad
1935,Aug.12 to 1936 Aug.12 : undergoes canonical novitiate at the clarist Convent at Changanacherry.
1936, Aug.12 : Profession of perpetual vows
1946, July 28 : Death
1953, Dec.2 : Inauguration of the Diocesan Tribunal for Beatification- Becomes Servant of God
1957, Apr.13 : Exhumation
1980, July19 : The Apostolic Tribunal starts functioning
1985, Aug.13 : Tomb Opened for the second time
1986, Feb. 8 : Beatification by H.H. John Paul II at Kottayam
1996, Jully 19 : Commemorative stamp released in Connection with the Golden Jubilee Of her death
2002, Feb.26 : Tribunal for the investigation of miracles Inaugurated
2007, June 1 : Confirmation of miracles at the Vatican
2008, Oct 12 : Canonization by H.H. Pope Benedict XVI
2008, Nov 16 : Govt. of India releases a stamp to Commemorate the canonization
2009 Aug. 23 : Inauguration of the birth centenary year of St. Alphonsa and the releasing of the Commemorative and circulation coins By Shri. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee(Hon. Minister of Finance, Government of India)
2010 Aug.12 : Conclusion of the birth centenary year of St. Alphonsa. The President of India, Smt. Prathibha Devi Singh Patil,visits the Tom of St. Alphonsa and pays her respect.

The Feast of St.Alphonsa

The main feast is celebrated on the death anniversary of the saint which falls on 28^th July. It was on this day in 1946 that Alphonsa flew off on the wings of grace to be in the beatific presence of her Maker. On the 9 days preceding the feast, novenae, candle-lit processions and special services are held. The con-celebration of the Eucharist, the proclamation of the divine word and the novenae on all the 9 days are led by Bishops. On the feast days, Bharananganam and its environs are deluged by tens of thousands of devotees, cutting across denominational and religious divides. They come, they pray, and they go home filled with divine grace and an ineffable peace.

Canonization

Pope Benedict XVI declared Sister Alphonsa’s name for canonization on 1 June 2007, a process that was started 55 years ago. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 in Kottayam, 40 years after her death, in recognition of the numerous miracles associated with her.
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 was elevated to sainthood on 12 October 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. The final ceremony for the canonization began on 12 October 2008 with the holy relics of Alphonsa being presented to the Pope by Sister Celia, Mother General of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, the congregation to which Sister Alphonsa belonged. Celia was accompanied by Vice Postulator Father Francis Vadakkel and former Kerala minister K. M. Mani, both holding lit candles. Speaking in English, the Pope declared Sister Alphonsa a saint, after reading excerpts from the Holy Bible. The Pope himself read out the biography of Alphonsa during the ceremony

In the homily, Pope Benedict XVI 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”, the pope stated. “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.
Pope Benedict XVI also invited people “to pray for reconciliation and peace for some situations that are causing alarm and great suffering,” specifically citing the civil war situation in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and “the violence against Christians in Iraq and India.”
The ceremony was attended by around 25,000 people of Indian origin – many waving Indian flags – as well as a large delegation from India. A 15-member official Indian delegation, led by Labour Minister Oscar Fernandez, attended the ceremony.
When Sr. Alphonsa was raised to the realm of saints by the Vatican on Sunday, the Catholic Church in Kerala celebrated with at most solemnity the canonization of the first Indian saint from an Indian Rite. Across the State, the canonization was greeted with the bursting of firecrackers and the toll of church bells as Pope Benedict XVI named her St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception.. St Mary’s Forane church Kudmaloor, the parent parish of the saint, celebrated it with great joy and enthusiasm
with this Canonization, the Church in India presents its first Saint to the veneration of the faithful of the whole world. Faithful from every part of the world have come together in a single act of thanksgiving to God in her name and in a sign of the great oriental and western traditions, Roman and Malabar, which Sr. Alphonsa lived and harmonized in her saintly life.

Coin Release

The Honours Government of India Conferred upon St.Alphonsa

Having soared to the acme of sanctity, Sr.Alphonsa’s soul was gathered to her fathers and the order of saints in an odour of grace on 28^th July 1946. She is the first Indian ever to figure in the Catholic canon. That the Government of India bestowed upon her some of the highest civilian honours is a matter of great jubilation and exhilaration for millions of her devotees around the world.

In commemoration of the semi-centennial of her death that fell on 28 July 1996, New Delhi issued a one rupee stamp with a depiction of the saint, which was formally released by the late Mr.K Karunakaran, former chief minister of Kerala, at Bharananganam on 19 July 1996.

Acknowledging the historic import of the occasion, the Central Government sent an official delegation comprised of a dozen illustrious personages to attend the canonization of Alphonsa by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s on 12 October 2008 and as a memorial thereunto published a five rupee stamp in New Delhi on 16 November 2008.

At the inaugural of St.Alphonsa’s birth centennial celebrations held at Bharananganam on 23 July 2009,Mr.Pranab Mukherji, the federal finance minister, released a 5 rupee coin with an embossed portrait of hers on the obverse as legal tender and a 100 rupee memorial coin. The stamps and coins issued in her honour have run into tens of thousands breaking all records.

The gracious presence of Mrs.Prathibha Patel, President of India, at the solemn ceremony held at Bharananganam that rounded off St.Alphonsa’s birth centenary observances was the ultimate accolade accorded to her.

Never ever in India has a saintly soul been so soulfully honoured as has Alphonsa been.

Stamp Release

The Honours Government of India Conferred upon St.Alphonsa

Never ever in India has a saintly soul been so soulfully honoured as has Alphonsa been.

Alphonsa Shrine Church

The main structure of the church, which began to be known as St.Alphonsa Shrine Church following the canonization of Sr. Alphonsa on 12th October 2008 had been built in the year 1945 as a cemetery chapel of St. Mary’s Church Bharananganam. Sr.Alphonsa is the first nun ever to have been buried there. Her tomb now stands at the very place where her mortal remains were buried on 29 July 1946.

During the period 1963-64, a side wing with family tombs was added. With the completion of new tombs in the parish graveyard in 1985, burial in the cemetery chapel was discontinued and the mortal remains of the dead interred therein except those of St.Alphonsa were exhumed and inhumed in the newly built vaults/chambers.

Alphonsa Bhavan

The office of the postulator and the lodging for pilgrims were housed in the Alphonsa Bhavan situated close to the Forane Church.It was built in 1971 after demolishing the two-storied presbytery, the first ever of its kind in Kerala of the 17th century vintage. The living quarters for priests, accommodations for pilgrims, the Alphonsa Museum, an audio-visual gallery and a stall selling devotional objects are here.

The Papal Podium

A unique historical memorial, the papal podium stands adjacent to the Pilgrim Church. Gracing the dais at the Nagampadam stadium at Kottayam on 8th February 1986, Pope John Paul II of blessed memories beatified Sr.Alphonsa and Fr.Kuriakose Elias Chavara. The podium erected in sync with indigenous architectonics was bought by the Diocese of Palai and translocated at Bharananganam.

Grotto & Granite Plaques

Close to the pilgrim churches stands the grotto and are displayed granite plaques engraved with Alphonsian logia.

Alphonsa Tower

The following facilities are available in the Alphonsa Tower situated parallel to the State highway adjacent to the parking ground.

1 Canteen: Direct access to the canteen can be had from the parking ground. Bookings may be made in advance.

2 Accommodation: Accommodation for pilgrims is available on the top floor of the Alphonsa Tower. Bookings can be made in advance. Phone: 04822-236244

3 Public Convenience: The facility stands close to the parking ground.

Shopping Centre: It functions on the ground floor and the first floor of Alphonsa Tower.

Alphonsa Stall

The Pilgrims can get devotional objects as well as books and CD’s on the life of the saint blessed colourful pictures associated with the Saint, statuettes, statues, garlands, biographies, CDs, DVDs, candles, multi-tiered lamps, edible offerings from St.Alphonsa Stall functioning close to the pilgrim centre. It is open from 7.30 A.M. to 8.30 P.M. Holy Oil, candles, neyappam (a confectionery offering) can be had from the opening counter nearly. Open counter is the facility functions near the main stall from 7.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The pilgrims can make the payment here for liturgical celebrations in fulfillment of their vows. Blessed oil, nercha appam (offerings of indigenous confectionaries), candles, calendars, diaries, etc., can be had from here. After 6.00 p.m. the service is offered at the main stall. An extension Stall functions in the museum building from 8.45 a.m. to 4.45 p.m.

Offerings

One of the main offerings to the saint is neyappam, a deep fried confectionery. It is invariably served during the memorial rituals of St.Thomas Christians. It gives physical healing to many devotees. They are distributed in packets at the pilgrim centre. Saris, lamps, lanterns and flowers are offered at the Shrine for favours received or to be received. Supplicants who seek the saint’s intersession so that they may be blessed with children place a cradle at the tomb and pray ardently.

Charity

The poor are given monetary help from charity funds raised with the donations of the devotees for medical treatment and marriage on the strength of a letter of recommendation from the parish priest concerned. Bridal saris are also gifted under the auspices of the charity.

Stained Portrait

In the Alphonsa Tower situated parallel to the state highway and close to the pilgrims church is displayed a stunning 30’ tall stained glass portrait of the Saint.

The garden and the splendorous fountain

The garden and the splendorous fountain near the pilgrim church are an enchanting sight. 35 luxuriant plants in white blossom symbolizing and signifying the 35 completed years of the earthily life of the Saint surround the fountain.

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