Mariam Thresia to be sainted on October 13

Kochi: Pope Francis will declare Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, an Indian nun, a saint on October 13, her congregation said here on Tuesday.

The Pope has formally approved the canonisation of Mariam Thresia, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, at an ordinary public consistory of cardinals on causes of canonisation at the Vatican on July 1, it said. He has decreed that the canonisation will take place in St Peter’s Square on October 13 this year, the congregation said.

The nun from Kerala will be canonised during a Mass along with John Henry Newman from England, Italian Jose-phine Vannini, Swiss Marguerite Bays and Brazilian Irm Dulce Pontes, it said. The nun belongs to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

She was born in Puthenchira in Thrissur district on April 26, 1876 and died in Kuzhikkattussery on June 8, 1926. The nun was declared venerable on June 28, 1999 and beatified on April 9, 2000 by Pope St John Paul II in Rome. She was professed in 1914.

The foundress and the first member of the Congregation of the Holy Family, Mariam Thresia, "with indomitable energy and utter trust in divine providence", built, in less than 12 years, three new convents, two schools, two hostels, a study house, and an orphanage, a Vatican document said.