Pope Francis will declare Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, a nun from Kerala, a saint on October 13, her congregation said on Tuesday. The Pope had officially approved the canonisation of Thresia, who was the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, at the Vatican on July 1, PTI reported.
Pope Francis announced that the canonisation will be held in St Peters Square. The nun will be canonised during a Mass along with others, including John Henry Newman from England, Italian Josephine Vannini, Swiss Marguerite Bays and Brazilian Irm Dulce Pontes.
Thresia, who belongs to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, was born in the village of Puthenchira in Thrissur district on April 26, 1876. She died in Kuzhikkattussery village on June 8, 1926.
Pope St John Paul II had declared the nun venerable on June 28, 1999, and she was beatified on April 9, 2000. Thresia was professed in 1914.
“Education of girls was Mariam Thresia’s liberation theology in action, without the slogan,” PTI quoted a Church document as saying. “Several young girls were attracted to her by her simplicity, humility and shining sanctity. At the time of her death at the age of 50, there were 55 Sisters in the congregation, 30 boarders and 10 orphans under her care.”
The Vatican has declared three Indian Catholics, originally from Kerala, as saints.
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