St. Alphonsa

Month of Saints - Day 21

Some have asked how I choose the Saints to post about.  There are many factors that I consider, and one is that I try to balance people from various races and parts of the world, people from different centuries and stations in life and a balance of male and female.

Today's Saint is a modern woman religious from India.  St. Alphonsa was born in 1910 as Annakkutty (little Anna).  Her mother died when she was young and she was raised by her aunt.  In 1923 Anna was badly burned on her feet when she fell into a pit of burning chaff. This accident left her permanently disabled.

While still a teenager, she joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation taking the name Alphonsa.  She took her permanent vows in 1936.  She taught elementary school, but was often sick and unable to teach. She continued to struggle with health issues throughout her life. She died on July 28, 1946. Claims of her miraculous intervention began almost immediately upon her death and often involved the children of the convent school where she used to teach.

She is the first woman of Indian origin to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church, and the first canonised saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the Saint Thomas Christian community. Her feast day is July 28.