Pope clears way for first Indian saint

(June 2, 2007) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday cleared the way for the canonization of an Indian nun from southern India – the first native Indian who will be declared a saint by the Catholic Church. The Pope approved 17 decrees regarding miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtues of 329 persons. Among them are Indian nun, Sister Alphonsa of the Syro-Malabar rite Church and a lay woman from Equador, Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran. A miracle each attributed to their intercession clears them for sainthood.
In the decrees issued on Friday, the Pope also formally recognized the martyrdom of 188 Japanese Catholics, 127 victims of the Spanish Civil War and an Austrian layman executed for refusing to fight in the Nazi army. With the publishing of the decrees, the canonization and beatification ceremonies can be scheduled. However, the Vatican did not announce dates for the ceremonies.
Indian Sr. Alphonsa, a Franciscan Clarist nun, was born on August 19, 1910 at Kudamaloor, Kottayam in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry. Her life was anything but extraordinary or remarkable. She was stricken with suffering and sickness falling ill with double pneumonia in June 1939 and was again seriously ill in 1940. She died on July 28, 1946, just before her 36th birthday. Sr. Alphonsa was declared Venerable on July 9, 1985 and declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II on February 8, 1986 at Kottayam, Kerala.
In another decree, Pope Benedict recognized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father Antonio Rosmini, founder of the Institute of Charity, also known as the Rosminian Fathers. The decree clears the way for his beatification.
The martyrdom decrees were issued for:
- Jesuit Father Peter Kibe Kasui and 187 fellow Japanese martyrs, including priests, religious and laypeople who were killed between 1603 and 1639. They were either beheaded, burned at the stake or boiled to death.
- Augustinian Father Avellino Rodriguez Alonso and 97 other Augustinians and six diocesan clergy who were killed 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.
- Adorer of the Blessed Sacrament Sister Emmanuele Arriola Uranga and 22 other women from her order, who were also killed in Spain in 1936.
- Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian husband and father of three, who said he could not be both a Catholic and a soldier for the Nazis. He requested permission to serve as a medic, but the request was denied and he was executed in 1943.