Click to play videoKerala: Sudha has brought her 25-year-old handicapped son - struck by a fever at the age of 14 that left him paralysed - to pray at the tomb of Sister Alphonsa. She wants the sister's spirit to heal her son.
"We know we have to come to the saint. Alphonsa amma will surely cure him," says she.
It's the faith of lakhs like Sudha who visit St Mary's church and the tomb of Sister Alphonsa at Bharnimganam in Kotayam that has brought the nun on the verge of becoming the first Indian Catholic saint.
A devotee, Shaji Thomas says, "It's for her relentless service that this great honour is being bestowed upon her. I think all of us will have our faith strenghtened more and more in the church after this."
Born in 1910, Sister Alphonsa spent most of her life of 36 years working for the needy. The church in Kerala feels that bestowing sainthood on a nun like her is perhaps the best answer to the sufferings of missionaries in the troubled areas of Orissa and Karnataka.
It was in AD 52 that St Thomas the direct disciple of Jesus Christ brought Christianity to India through the shores of Kerala. 2,000 years later, when India is all set to have its first catholic Indian saint, the community in Kerala can look up with pride.
(With inputs from Praveen PS from Bharnimganam)
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