(July 31, 2009) The feast of India’s Saint Alphonsa attracted 100,000 more people
this year than last year as the popularity of the nun’s tomb as a pilgrimage site
continues to grow rapidly. Father Joseph Thadathil, rector of Saint Alphonsa Pilgrim
Centre at Bharananganam, a quiet village in Kerala state’s Kottayam district, said
about 500,000 people offered prayers to Saint Alphonsa for the nine days leading to
her feast day on July 28. This year was the saint’s first feast day celebration since
she became the first Indian woman to be canonized on Oct. 12, 2008. Bishop Joseph
Kallarangatt of Palai led the Mass. Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, head of the Syro-Malabar
Church, also attended the celebration and urged the pilgrims to emulate the saint.
Saint Alphonsa, born in 1910, joined the Franciscan Clarist convent and made her final
vows in 1936. The member of the Syro-Malabar Church was a schoolteacher and suffered
illness for the last 10 years of her life. She died in Bharananganam in 1946 at the
age of 36. Father Thadathil said “people who suffer the most find an answer in Saint
Alphonsa.” Several people mainly young waited for hours to offer their prayers. Pope
John Paul II beatified Saint Alphonsa on Feb. 8, 1986.