Pope Francis – The Indian Connection

Pope Francis is the only pontiff to have canonised six saints from India during his 12-year papacy.
Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia Eluvathingal from Kerala were canonised on November 23, 2014. The following year on 14 January 2015, Joseph Vaz was canonised. On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa was canonised at Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City. St. Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan was canonised on October 13, 2019 and on May 15, 2022, Devasahayam Pillai or Mar Lazarus Sahada was canonised.
Fr. Kuriakose Elias Chavara is the first canonised Catholic male saint of Indian origin and was a member of the Syro-Malabar Church , an Eastern Catholic church. He played a major role in educating and uplifting people especially of the lower ranks of society. He started an institution for Sanskrit studies at Kerala in 1846 and he took the initiative to start schools in nearby villages.
He is the patron saint of all CMI (Carmelites of Mary Immaculate) and CMC Institutions that primarily focuses on maritime education. The institutions include: CMC Maritime Academy, Kochi and Chennai; CMC International School, Coimbatore; Coimbatore Marine College, Coimbatore and Mangalore Marine College & Technology, Mangalore.
Mother Rose Euphrasia was born on October 17, 1877 in the family of Eluvathingal Cherpukaran Anthony and Kunjethy in the Kattur village of Edathuruthy parish. She was Mother Superior of the Convent of St Mary at Ollur. She was known as the ‘Praying Mother’ as she endeavoured to lead a life of constant prayer and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her Sisters referred to her as a "Mobile Tabernacle", because the divine presence she kept within her radiated to all she encountered.
Joseph Vaz, the third of six children was born in 1651 at Benaulim, his mother's village in Goa. His parents, Cristóvão Vaz and Maria de Miranda, were devout Catholics. Cristóvão belonged to a prominent Naik family of Sancoale. Joseph Vaz attended elementary school in Sancoale where he learned Portuguese. He did a course in rhetoric and humanities at the Jesuit college of St. Paul and studies in philosophy and theology at the St. Thomas Aquinas' Academy in Velha Goa or Old Goa.
Joseph Vaz arrived in Ceylon at a time when the Dutch took control of the island from the Portuguese. The Dutch banned Catholicism and imposed Calvinism as the official religion. Joseph Vaz travelled throughout the island bringing the Eucharist and the Sacraments to clandestine groups of crypto-Catholics. By the time of his death, Joseph Vaz had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church on the island. The ‘Apostle of Ceylon’ as he is known was a Portuguese Oratorian priest. Pope Francis cannonised him on January 14, 2015 at an open-air Mass ceremony at Galle in Colombo.
The founder of the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 dedicated her life to serving the "poorest of the poor" worldwide. Mother Teresa was canonised on a sunny afternoon at the Vatican. The Missionaries of Charity now operate in over 133 countries. Her admiration for Saint Pope John Paul II and vise versa are legendary. I had the privilege to attend her funeral and pay my respects to her body before it was draped in the tri-colour.
Pope Francis cited Mother Teresa as a “generous dispenser of divine mercy who made herself available for everyone through her welcome and defence of human life, particularly those abandoned and discarded”. The Pope emphasized that for Mother Teresa, mercy was the "salt" and "light" that gave flavour to her work and shone in the darkness of poverty at her canoisation.
Mariam Thresia was born in Puthenchira village of Kerala in 1876. The founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family she is known as the ‘Patroness of Families’. The Syro-Malabar nun received frequent visions and ecstasies as well as the stigmata which she kept well-guarded. Her feast day is celebrated on June 8.
Saint Devasahayam Pillai was an Indian layman and martyr of the Church. He was born into an affluent Hindu family in 1712. He served the royal household in Travancore. Pillai chose the name Lazarus, or Devasahayam in the Malayalam language at his baptism in 1745.
He was shot to death in 1752 and his body was transported to St. Xavier Church in Kottar. Later when his remains were interred beneath the altar, the site became a popular pilgrimage destination.
Devasahayam Pillai became the first Indian layman not connected to any religious institute to be beatified. His liturgical feast is celebrated on January 14. At the May 15, 2022, canonization Mass, Pope Francis said that the lives of the saints prove that holiness is not an unreachable goal accomplished by a select few but comes from acknowledging and sharing God’s love. Pillai, he said, exemplified the Christian call “to serve the Gospel and our brothers and sisters, to offer our lives without expecting anything in return, or any worldly glory.”

Authored By: Prof. Marcellus D’Souza
Marcellus D’Souza contributes to ‘Old Bombay’ and ‘The Speaking Tree ’. He is Professor of Journalism at the University of Mumbai.