Six years after the Canonisation of Sister Alphonsa (Alphonsamma) of Bharananganam as India’s first woman saint by the Vatican, two other beatified candidates from Kerala have moved closer to attaining sainthood with Pope Francis approving the miracles attributed to them.
Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara (known as Chavara Achan) and Sister Euphrasia (known locally as Evuprasiamma) will be declared saints by the Pope most likely on October 17, according to sources in the Syro-Malabar Church. An official declaration by the consistory of Cardinals and announcement of proceedings on Canonization are likely to be made on April 27.
Both Fr Kuriakose Elias and Sr Euphrasia belonged to the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Church to which Sr Alphonsa also belonged. On Thursday, the Pope approved the decree submitted by the Vatican’s committee on sainthood by accepting the miracles attributed to Chavara Achan and Sr Euphrasia, who were beatified during the tenure of Pope John Paul II, sources said.
Born in Kainakari near Alappuzha in 1805, Fr Kuriakose Elias was a social reformer and educator of the Kerala Catholic Church, who said that schools should be opened along with churches. He founded the congregation Carmalites Mary Immaculate. Chavara Achan was beatified in 1986.
Sr Euphrasia who led a life of total devotion was born in 1877 as the daughter of Anthony and Kunjethi of Eluvathingal in Kattoor near Irinjalakkuda in Thrissur district. She lived the life of a nun at the St Mary’s Convent at Ollur, Thrissur for about 45 years. She died at the age of 75 on August 29, 1952.
Sr Alphonsa of Bharananganam in Kottayam district was Canonized on October 28, 2008 to become India’s first home-grown saint. The convent at Bharananganam where she lived has since been converted into a pilgrim centre.