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Alphonsa Muttathupadathu Alphonsa of Bharananganam Alphonsa of India Anna Muttathupadathu Annakutty
Lost her aunt/foster-mother in 1930. Taught primary school, and the children loved her for her gentleness and cheery way, but health problems often kept her from the classroom. In December 1936 she was miraculously cured from her ailments through the intervention of Saint Therese of Lisieux and Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara. However, in June 1939 she was struck by a severe attack of pneumonia, weakening her overall. On 18 October 1940, a thief stumbled into her room in the middle of the night; the shock of the event caused a loss of memory, and further weakening. Her condition continued to deteriorate for months, and she was given last rites on 29 September 1941; the next day, she regained her memory, though not complete health. She enjoyed some improvement over the next few years, but in July 1945 she developed a stomach problem that eventually led to her death.
She was noted for her suffering, and suffering in silence. Incidents of her intervention began almost immediately upon her death, and often involved the children in the convent school. Hundreds of miraculous cures are claimed for her intervention, many of involving straightening of clubbed-feet, possibly because of her having lived with deformed feet herself; two of these were submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as proof of her miraculous intervention. The continuing cures are chronicled in the magazine PassionFlower. Thousands converge on the small town of Bharananganam when they celebrate the feast of Blessed Alphonsa from 19 to 28 July each year.
against bodily ills against illness against sickness against the death of parents sick people
Alphonsa.Org Firponet
-Blessed Alphonsa to novices
She did not want her sufferings to be reduced in the least by human attention and sympathy, nor did she want others of know of her suffering. This is a strange expression of humility, which seeks that others should never think of you.
-Cardinal Gracias