The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Christians celebrate Sister’s elevation

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Monday, Oct 13, 2008
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Christians celebrate Sister’s elevation

Staff Reporter

Special prayers held at Saint Alphonsa Church
A procession
was taken out

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Children giving a dance performance at a function at Saint Alphonsa Church in Bangalore on Sunday.

BANGALORE: Even as Sister Alphonsa from Kerala was canonised on Sunday by Pope Benedict XVI at a special ceremony at the Vatican, Christians in large numbers celebrated the occasion in a grand manner in the city.

A function was organised at a well-decorated Saint Alphonsa Church at Manorayana Palya near Sultan Palya where special prayers were held.

A colourful procession was also taken out.

People, who had gathered in large numbers, carried posters of Sister Alphonsa along with the holy cross, and offered special prayers.

The portrait of Sister Alphonsa and the holy cross were taken out in a procession amid a choir singing hymns.

The roads of the Manorayana Palya were lined with posters of Sister Alphonsa, and the church wore a festive look.

“This is really a happy moment for us,” said G. Rebecca, a student of Mahaveer Jain College.

“Sister Alphonsa is the country’s first woman saint and India’s second saint after Gonsalo Garcia, of Portuguese parentage, who was canonised in 1862,” she said.

According to Mamatha Grace, an employee with a private firm, Pope Benedict XVI cleared Sister Alphonsa’s name for canonisation on June 1, 2007, a process that was started 55 years ago. “Alphonsa was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 in Kottayam, 40 years after her death.

She is credited with curing illnesses and diseases in people after her death in 1946, and the Vatican approved the reported ‘miracle cure’ of Genil Joseph, a congenitally deformed child, in 1999,” she said.

Alphonsa was born in Kudamaloor, a village near Kottayam, to Joseph and Mary on August 19, 1910, and after facing several health problems she died on July 28, 1946, in Bharnanganam.

Her tomb became a pilgrimage site and she was credited with several miracles, particularly curing illnesses and diseases.

The life of Sister Alphonsa, whose original name was Annakkutty, was one of piety and spiritual fervour. Even in her lifetime, she was considered saintly by those known to her.

Archbishop Bernard Mores offered prayers to Sister Alphonsa. Information Technology Minister Katta Subrahmanya Naidu was present.

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