Indian congregation joyfully awaits its founder's canonization

Friday, Mar. 22, 2019

THRISSUR, India (CNS) — For the nearly 2,000 sisters and 200 women in formation who make up the Congregation of the Holy Family, the long wait is over.

Since 2012, members of the order based in Kerala state in southern India have observed strict fasts and engaged in earnest prayer awaiting recognition from the Vatican of a second miracle attributed to the order’s founder, Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan.

Pope Francis recognized the miracle Feb. 12, clearing the way for the canonization of the religious leader popularly known as the “patroness of families.”

“We are thrilled now. Our joy has no bounds as the pope has approved the canonization of our foundress,” Sister Udaya Punneliparambil, the congregation’s superior general, told Catholic News Service.

“Mother’s life has been a life of prayer and fasting. So, we have been following her model,” Sr. Punneliparambil said.

“We are happy our prayers have been heard. Now we are awaiting the announcement of the date of the canonization,” she added.

Blessed Thresia was born April 26, 1876, the third of five children to Thanda and Thoma Chiramel Mankidiyan in Puthenchira, 21 miles south of Thrissur. She founded the Congregation of the Holy Family in 1914 and died June 8, 1926.

Devout and prayerful, young Thresia resisted her parents’ plan to have her married at age 10, as per tradition. Instead, she chose to lead a life of simplicity and austerity, despite belonging to a wealthy farming family. For instance, she slept on the gravel floor rather than in her bed.

“I cannot sleep comfortably on a bed when Jesus is hanging on the cross on three nails,” Thresia is seen telling her mother in an hourlong documentary, “Blessed Mariam Thresia -- the Patroness of Families,” produced by the congregation.