Bringing spiritual strength and joy to the Catholic community in India, two beatified candidates from Kerala, Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia will be conferred sainthood by the Vatican on November 23, six years after Sr Alphonsa became the first woman Saint of the country.
The date for elevation of Fr Chavara and Sr Euphrasia to sainthood was taken by the consistory of cardinals held in the Vatican today, church sources said.
Celebrating the occasion, prayers were held in churches in Kottayam and Thrissur associated respectively with the two beatified persons to be conferred with sainthood.
The Vatican had in April this year approved the acts attributed due to intercession of Fr Chavara and Sr Euphrasia before completing long-drawn procedures to be followed under the church rule before conferring sainthood.
Both of them belonged to Kerala-based Syro Malabar Church, from which Sister Alphonsa also hailed, and were beatified during the tenure of Pope John Paul II.
Chavara (1805-1871), born in Kainakari near Alappuzha, was a social reformer and educator of Kerala's Catholic community. He founded the congregation called Carmalites Mary Immaculate (CMI), which runs several educational and charity institutions. He was beatified in 1986.
Sister Euphrasia (1877-1952), who led a pious life of total devotion, hailed from Kattoor near Thrissur in central Kerala.
Sr Alphonsa of Bharananganam in Kottayam became India's first home-grown saint when she was canonised on October 12,2008. The convent she lived in has since then turned into a pilgrim centre, visited by devotees from all parts of the world.
