Prayer to St. Alphonsa

Today, the Church honors St. Alphonsa on her feast day – July 28th.

🙏 Prayer to St. Alphonsa — https://thecatholiccrusade.com/prayer-to-st-alphonsa/

St. Alphonsa is honored in the Catholic Church as the first woman of Indian origin ever canonized a saint, and the first canonized saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Her life stands as a witness that holiness can be found even in the midst of great physical suffering.

Born Anna Muttathupadathu in 1910 in Kudamaloor, Kerala, India, she lost her mother when she was still a small child and was raised by her aunt. From an early age she felt called to religious life. When her family arranged a marriage for her as a young woman, she took drastic steps to preserve her vocation and was ultimately able to join the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, taking the name Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception.

Her years in religious life were marked by chronic illness and physical suffering, which she offered up with remarkable peace and humility. She worked as a teacher, beloved by her students for her gentleness, even as her health continued to decline. She died in 1946 at the age of 35.

In the decades following her death, many miraculous healings were reported through her intercession, especially near her tomb in Bharananganam, which remains a major pilgrimage site in Kerala to this day. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 and is honored as the patron of the sick and suffering, and of India.

Today, on her feast day, we ask for St. Alphonsa’s intercession for all who carry the weight of illness or suffering, that they may find in her example the grace to bear their crosses with faith and trust in God’s will.

St. Alphonsa, pray for us.

Prayer to St. Alphonsa