Pope Francis to canonise Kerala nun Thresia today

CANONISATION IS AN OFFICIAL ACT WITH THE ROMAN CATHOLIC OR EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH WHICH DECLARES ONE OF

ITS DECEASED FAITHFUL A SAINT

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Come Sunday, Pope Francis, the supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church, will canonize Kerala’s Sister Mariam Thresia, fourth from the state, at the Vatican.

Of the four saints from Kerala — St Alphonsa, St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, St Euprasia and now St Mariam Thresia — three were women. In his Mann ki Baat programme last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Sister Thresia’s elevation was a matter of pride for the country.

“It is a matter of pride for every Indian that on coming October 13, his holiness Pope Francis will declare Sister Mariam Thresia a saint. I pay heartfelt tributes to Sister Mariam Thresia,” PM Modi had said in the monthly radio programme.

Mariam Thresia’s native village Puthenchira in Thrissur district and the congregation she founded in 1914, Holy Family, are jubilant as the ball set rolling for month-long celebrations. A delegation has left for St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City to witness the event. “It is a proud moment for us. Kerala is truly turning into God’s Own Country,” Sister Elsy Xavior, one of the mother superiors of the congregation, said.

On Sunday, special prayers and services will be held in all Catholic churches across the state to mark the occasion. “It is an occasion for us to uphold values taught by our beloved Mother. Education of girls was her liberation theology. And family was key to her teachings,” said Sister Udaya, another nun of the congregation.

Born in 1876 as the third child of Thoma and Thanda, she made a vow to remain chaste in 1886. She rose in religious hierarchy and founded the Holy Family congregation in 1914, said congregation officials. “She was the leading light for suppressed women. She encouraged family values and blended them with Christian traditions properly to remove evils from the society,” said another nun.

Canonization is an official act with the Roman Catholic Church or Eastern Orthodox churches, which declares one of its deceased faithful, who led a life of sanctity or shed blood for the faith, a saint worthy of being venerated. On July 1 this year, Pope Francis had approved Sister Thresia’s canonisation at an ordinary public consistory of cardinals on causes of canonisation at the Vatican.