India issues commemorative coins for St. Alphonsa

(August 24, 2009) Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has released commemorative coins to mark the birth centenary of Saint Alphonsa, the first Indian woman to be officially recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI declared her a saint at a canonization ceremony in the Vatican on Oct 12 last year. Mukherjee said St Alphonsa had contributed immensely in the fields education, culture and religious tolerance, the Press Trust of India reported. “Her spiritual presence provided oneness, unity, secularism and consonance. Over the years her healing powers made her dear and venerable for a vast multitude of people not only in Kerala but the whole country”, he said. The occasion also marked the formal launch of the year-long birth centenary celebrations of the nun. Sr. Alphonsa, a Franciscan Clarist nun, was born on August 19, 1910 at Kudamaloor, Kottayam in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry. Stricken with suffering and sickness she died on July 28, 1946, just before her 36th birthday. Sr. Alphonsa was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II on February 8, 1986 at Kottayam, Kerala.