St. Alphonsa - Early years
Hello and welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on lives of the Saints in the catholic church from around the world. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. These saints are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint.
In this month of July especially from 19 to 28, hundreds of thousands of people converge on the small town of Bharananganam in the Southern Indian state of Kerala, to celebrate the feast of St. Alphonsa. So, in July we shall listen to the heroic life of St. Alphonsa. She was Franciscan Religious nun, and is the first person of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. St. Alphonsa is also the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the St. Thomas Christian community in India.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on 12th October 2008. In his homily, the Pontiff recalled St. Alphonsa's life as one of "extreme physical and spiritual suffering."
"(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.
Today we shall listen to the early years of St. Alphonsa.xxxAnna Muttathupadathu, known today as St. Alphonsa, was born on 19 August 1910 in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. Alphonsamma, as she was locally known, was the 4th child born to Cherian Ouseph and Mary Muttathupadathu, in Arpookara, near Kottayam, a village in the princely state of Travancore, which was under the British rule at that time. Born into the ancient and noble family of Muttathupadathu belonging to the Archdiocese of Changanassery, the child was baptized eight days later, according to the Syro-Malabar rite by Fr. Joseph Chackalayil. At baptism she received the name Annakutty or little Anna, a diminutive of Anne.
She had a poor, difficult childhood and experienced loss and suffering early on in life. Her mother, Maria Puthukari, gave birth to her prematurely, in her eight month of pregnancy, as a result of a shock when she fainted seeing a snake crawling over her.
Anna's mother died three months later due to birth-related complications. Her maternal aunt Annamma, wanted to raise her, but her grandparents did not agree. She grew up with her father and grandparents at Kudamallor till the age of seven.
Her grandfather Eppan Vaidyar taught her Sanskrti and basics of Arithmetic from an early age. She spent a particularly happy time there because of her human and Christian formation. She used to accompany her father Ouseppachan to the church. Her grand-mother, Eliamma, a pious and charitable woman, communicated to her the joy of the faith, love for prayer and charity towards the poor. She told her bedtime stories of saints and also instilled in her a special love for Jesus and Mary.
One evening she narrated the story of Little Teresa. Anna was very impressed by the fact that Teresa of Liseux became a saint at a very young age. The grandmother encouraged her to lead a life like that of St. Teresa. She also said ‘Anna, you will be a saint, like her one day.’
Her grandmother initiated her into the family prayer. At the age of five, the child already knew how to lead, with a totally childish enthusiasm, the evening prayer of the family gathered, in accordance with the Syro-Malabar custom.
She received First Communion on 11 November 1917. She told her friends then: "Do you know why I am so particularly happy today? It is because I have Jesus in my heart!". In a letter to her spiritual father, on 30th November 1943, she confided: "Already from the age of seven I was no longer mine. I was totally dedicated to my divine Spouse. Your reverence knows it well".
xxxIn 1916 Anna started school in Arpookara. On many occasions she proved her brilliance in studies. She loved her classmates and was obedient to her teachers. When the first school cycle ended in 1920, she was transferred to Muttuchira, to the house of her aunt Anna Murickal, to whom her mother had already entrusted her as her foster mother.
Her aunt loved her, but was also strict and firm. She wanted the little girl to be trained as a beautiful and appealing young woman for the prospect of marriage. Assiduous in her religious practice, she accompanied her niece, but did not share the young girl’s friendship with the Carmelites of the close-by Monastery or her long periods of prayer at the foot of the altar. She kept grooming Annakutty to the day of her nuptials, obstructing the clear signs of her religious vocation. But she resisted it vigorously.
In 1923, Annakutty, in order to get out from a commitment to marriage, reached the point of voluntarily causing herself a grave burn by putting her feet into a heap of burning embers. She wrote "My marriage was arranged when I was thirteen years old. What had I to do to avoid it? I prayed all that night... then an idea came to me. If my body were a little disfigured no one would want me! ... O, how I suffered! I offered all for my great intention."
It was Fr. James Muricken, her confessor, who directed her towards Franciscan spirituality and put her in contact with the Congregation of the Franciscan Clarists, a religious congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis. Annakutty entered their college in Bharananganam in the diocese of Palai, to attend seventh class, as an intern student, on 24th May 1927.
Her singular beauty did not fully succeed in freeing her from the attentions of suitors. During the following years Sr. Alphonsa had to defend her vocation. Even during the year of her probation, an attempt was made to give her in marriage, with the complicity of the Mistress of Formation herself. She wrote: "O, the vocation which I received! A gift of my good God!.... God saw the pain of my soul in those days. God distanced the difficulties and established me in this religious state".
xxx
On 2nd August 1928, Annakutty received the postulant's veil, taking the name of Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception in honour of St. Alphonsus Liguori, whose feast it was that day. In May 1929 was assigned to teach at Malayalam High School at Vazhappally. She was clothed in the religious habit on 19th May 1930.
The period 1930-1935 was characterized by grave illness and moral suffering for Sr. Alphonsa. She could teach the children in the school at Vakakkad only during the scholastic year 1932. Then, because of her weakness, she carried out the duties of assistant-teacher and catechist in the parish. She was engaged also as secretary, especially to write official letters because of her beautiful handwriting.
The canonical novitiate was introduced into the Congregation of the Franciscan Clarists in 1934. Though wishing to enter immediately, Sr. Alphonsa was only admitted on 12th August 1935 because of her ill health. About one week after the beginning of her novitiate, she had a hemorrhage from the nose and eyes and purulent wounds on her legs. The illness deteriorated and that the worst was feared. Heaven came to the rescue of the holy novice then. During a novena to The Servant of God Fr. Kuriakose Elia Chavara - a Carmelite who is a Blessed today — she was miraculously cured.
Having cured of her illness Alphonsa restarted her novitiate. She wrote in her spiritual diary: "I do not wish to act or speak according to my inclinations. Every time I fail, I will do penance... I want to be careful never to reject anyone. I will only speak sweet words to others. I want to control my eyes with rigour. I will ask pardon of the Lord for every little failure and I will atone for it through penance. No matter what my sufferings may be, I will never complain and if I have to undergo any humiliation, I will seek refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus".P.J. Joseph SJ
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