Kerala: Preparations underway for the canonization of local nun

A Franciscan Clarist nun from the southern state of Kerala will become the first Indian woman to be officially canonized by the Vatican.

According to an independent Christian report, Sr Alphonso, will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct.12.

While the preparations are underway, some 300 Franciscan Clarist nuns from around the world, including 75 from India, will be attending the canonization.

Sister Ceelia Mankuriyil, who heads the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, told UCA News last week that, the two–hour–long ceremony will start at 9.30 a.m, Vatican time and prior to the ceremony, a tele–film on the life of Sr Alphonsa would be screened.

Various other activities including "a bhajan (Indian–style hymn) would be sung, followed by prayers, Bible reading and reflection," she added.

Special events have already been planned in Kerala, where the Franciscan nun was born in 1910. Prayers and Mass will be conducted at Alphsonsa's tomb in Bharananganam, in Kottayam.

According to Oommen Chandy, opposition leader in the state legislative assembly, the federal government will issue memorial coins and postal stamps to mark the occasion.

Uday Balakrishnan, who heads the postal department in Kerala, told UCA News his department would honor the new saint by releasing commemorative stamps on the occasion.

Canonization is the act by which the Catholic Church declares a deceased person to be a saint, inscribing that person in the canon, or list, of recognized saints.

The act of canonization is reserved to the Holy See and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the person proposed for canonization lived, and died, in such an exemplary and holy way that he or she is worthy to be recognized as a saint.