Monday 13 October 2008

St. Alphonsa - First Woman Saint of India


Blessed St. Alphonsa - She is the First Woman Saint of India, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and Canonization on 12th October 2008 in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI


Prayer of Saint Alphonsa

O Lord Jesus,Hide me in the wound of your sacred heart. Free me from my desire to be loved and esteemed. Guard me from my evil attempts to win fame and honor. Make me humble till I become a small spark in the flame of love in your Sacred Heart.Grant me the grace to forget myself and all worldly things.Jesus, sweet beyond words, convert all worldly consolations into bitterness for me.O my Jesus, Sun of Justice, enlighten my intellect and mind with your sacred rays. Purify my heart, consume me with burning love for you, and make me one with you. Amen



*****************************************************



Prayer to Blessed Saint Alphonsa

Oh, my Blessed St. Alphonsa, you have been graciously chosen from our midst to be united with Jesus Christ, our savior, in the misery of his passion, death and resurrection. You have grown to the heights of holiness and have been crowned with heavenly glory. Help us in our trials and tribulations.

Oh! Daughter of sufferings, obtain for us the grace to lead a holy life, following your example, in total submission to the will of God. Be with us, transforming all our sorrows into a holy sacrifice in union with Christ Crucified, in reparation to our sins, for the sanctification and salvation of the whole world. Amen




*****************************************************


My Reflections:

We all can't be Saints, but few are choosen to be the holy ones. Saints are filled with the love of God and they are humble, willingly and lovingly attributing to God all that they have and all that they will ever be. They are people of prayer and actually a mediator between us and God. St. Alphonsa is one such Saint, having the miraculous power of healing.

There are so many things we can learn from them. We just need to recognize our call to holiness. There are enough opportunities, enough suffering, enough challenges and, above all, enough grace for all of us to be passionate about God as the saints are.

Let's have faith on all Saints and praise their holiness. And let's pray to them to spiritually enrich our life, so that we can be an example to other's, even though we can't be a Saint like them.


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an Indians we should proud of this. It’s an excellent blog from Prettina. I really admire your written skills.

Issak Bern said...

thanks much for it i will be re visiting it regulary its has good and encouraging message!!

Spirited Youth said...

Hey.. preety... nice Work.. !! Do u read Bible regularly ?

Prettina Anto Louis said...

Yes i do try to read Bible daily morning, to explore and to know about our Lord deeply. Certain part of the bible inspires me a lot.

Thanks for the encouraging comment

May God Bless You

Unknown said...

Prettina.. such a wonderful job u r doing.. Mother mary's blessings be with u always..

Maria Arul said...

Thanks a lot for posting about the first women saint of India. Did u know any saint in india before(male)?

Its a blessing to read your blog for me from the day you started writing.And may our blessed mom bless you abundantly always. Keep posting...Ave Maria.

Prettina Anto Louis said...

Thanks Maria Arul for your inspirational comment.

You asked about any other Indian Saint. According to my knowledge from other sources I would like to share some information about the First Saint from India.

In the 19th century, Saint Gonsalo Garcia (1556–1597), born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father, was declared a saint. In 1627, he was venerated by Pope Urban VIII and on June 8, 1862 Garcia was declared a saint by Pope Pius IX.

There is a Gonsalo Garcia Church in Vasai that was built in 1942 and renovated in 1957. If you get a chance to visit Mumbai try to visit this holy church.

The feast day of this Saint occurs on Feb 5th and is celebrated for a week in his honour.

I hope this information gives a brief picture of the First Saint of India - Blessed Saint Gonsalo Garcia.

May God Bless You

Maria Arul said...

Thanks a lot for your kind reply.

I found a brief info about him here...
Saint Gundisalvus Garcia

https://www.sqpn.com/saintg95.htm

And the photo of church in vasai here...

http://www.geocities.com/unitedit/churches/VasaiChurches.htm

Keep posting about Saints visited to india.
Praise Jesus
Ave Maria
God Bless you
with prayers...arul

Unknown said...

nice writings pretti..may God bless U always..take care :)

Unknown said...

Good work prettina..keep it up.May the spirit of God help you to do more and more writings so that whoever visit your blog get informed about the Saints and Catholic faith and grow well in faith on ur LORD.

Praise the LORD

Anonymous said...

Beatiful photograph at the top. Is this the actual photo of St.Alphonsa? Can you please tell us where did you get it?

Unknown said...

is it the original photo of St. Alphonsa, pls do reply, pls

Prettina Anto Louis said...

Yes, its the same holy Saint. got from web source only.

pixelshots said...

Just came back home after visiting all the places in kottayam ralated to st Alphonsamma..Just was searching to get some web articles related to her and your blog turned up.. nice articles frnd.. hope i will put some pictures from the places in my blog pixelshots soon... cu around..

Pixelshots