Kerala nun to be saint before Mother Teresa

GOD'S OWN: Pope Benedict cleared Sister Alphonsa's sainthood after he approved a miracle attributed to her.

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New Delhi: Sister Alphonsa from Kerala will become the first nun from India to be canonised by the Vatican ahead of Mother Teresa. She will become Saint Alphonsa on October 12 this year.

The date was announced after a formal meeting of the Pope and other cardinals in the Vatican on Saturday.

Her beatification — that is a recognition by the Church of a dead person's accession to heaven — was ordered by the then Pope, Pope John Paul II, during his visit to Kerala in 1986.

She is the first person to be conferred sainthood from the Kerala Church which traces its origins to the visit of St Thomas around 2,000 years ago to preach the gospel in India.

"The declaration regarding the canonisation would be held in Rome and there would be celebrations and prayers in Kerala too," spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Church, Father Paul Thalekkat was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

Sister Alphonsa was born in a family of straitened means at Kudamaloor in Kottayam district in 1910. She joined the Clarist congregation and led a life of personal trauma and prayer as she suffered from various illness all through her life till 1946 when she died.

Born Anna Muttathupanadathu, she came to be known as the Blessed Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception. After her death, local people attributed some miracles to her.

Sister Alphonsa's journey to sainthood reached its final stages last year when Pope Benedict cleared her sainthood after he approved a miracle attributed to her.

In June 2007, Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree approving the miracles that took place through the intercession of Sister Alphonsa paving the way for canonisation.

Her tomb at Palai in Southern Kerala is a famous Christian pilgrimage spot.