India GOSaint Alphonsa: the nun of Bharananganam and India’s first woman saint
അൽഫോൻസാമ്മ
A Clarist nun from Kerala who bore illness and pain without complaint; in 2008 she became the first Indian-born woman to be canonised.
Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception was a Franciscan Clarist nun from Kerala who lived only thirty-five years, most of them in illness, and became in 2008 the first woman of Indian origin to be canonised by the Catholic Church. Keralites call her Alphonsamma. Her tomb at St Mary’s Church in Bharananganam is a place of pilgrimage, and her feast day is 28 July.
Story
As a girl she is said to have stepped into a pit of burning husks to disfigure her feet and escape an arranged marriage; she wanted the convent. Her years as a nun were a chain of illnesses that she called her way of prayer; she died at thirty-five, and the schoolchildren of Bharananganam were the first to call her a saint. Pilgrims of every faith now file past her tomb by the parish church.
👣 Her life
A short life, told mostly through what she endured.
- 1910
Born Anna Muttathupadathu, called Annakutty, on 19 August at Kudamaloor in Kerala. Her mother died when she was a baby, and she was brought up by her maternal aunt in the Murickan family.
- 1923
At thirteen, to escape the marriage arranged for her, she put her feet into a fire of burning chaff. The injury left her partly disabled for life.
- 1927–1936
Joins the Franciscan Clarist Congregation in 1927 and takes the name Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception on 2 August 1928; first vows in 1931, final vows in 1936. She teaches when her health allows.
- 1946
Dies at Bharananganam on 28 July, aged 35, after years of illness.
- 1986
Beatified by Pope John Paul II on 8 February.
- 2008
Canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 12 October.
Why she matters in Kerala
Kerala’s Thomas Christians trace their faith, by tradition, to the apostle Thomas and his landing in 52 AD. Alphonsa, of the Syro-Malabar Church, became that Church’s first canonised saint, born and buried among its people. She founded no order; what her Church remembers is a long illness borne patiently in a convent, an illness she called her way of prayer. By the tradition of Bharananganam, the schoolchildren there were the first to call her a saint. Another saint of the same Church, canonised in 2014, is Kuriakose Elias Chavara.
Her tomb at Bharananganam
She is buried at St Mary’s Church in Bharananganam, the village where she lived and died, and pilgrims of every faith, not only Catholics, come to the tomb. Her feast is on 28 July, the anniversary of her death.
Bharananganam is not yet in the India GO database, so there are no opening hours or directions here.
❓ FAQ
What is Saint Alphonsa known for?
For bearing years of illness and pain with patience as a Clarist nun in Kerala, and for being the first woman of Indian origin canonised by the Catholic Church, in 2008.
When is the feast of Saint Alphonsa?
28 July, the day she died in 1946.
Where is Saint Alphonsa buried?
At St Mary’s Church in Bharananganam, Kerala, the village where she lived as a nun.
Why did Saint Alphonsa burn her feet?
At thirteen, in 1923, she put her feet into a chaff fire to avoid an arranged marriage, because she wanted to become a nun.
What was Saint Alphonsa’s real name?
Anna Muttathupadathu, called Annakutty at home.