Alphonsa to become saint today

Thiruvanathapuram: Thousands of Christians were flocking to a small town in southern India yesterday to celebrate the planned canonisation of a Roman Catholic nun, against a backdrop of the worst anti-Christian riots in decades.

Sister Alphonsa will become India's first woman saint when she is canonised by Pope Benedict at a special ceremony at the Vatican today.

"It is a very important event and a big recognition for a woman born in a simple, ordinary Indian family," said Archbishop Raphael Cheenath in Orissa state.

Tens of thousands of people were thronging a church in the town of Bharananganam in Sister Alphonsa's native Kerala state ahead of the occasion.

Special masses are being held in all Catholic churches in the state.

Bells will ring and firecrackers will burst across Kerala when the Pope declares Sister Alphonsa a saint at 1.30pm, said Father Dominic Vechoor, chancellor of Palai diocese, where she was a nun from 1927 till her death in 1946.

The canonisation ceremony will be telecast live from the Vatican, where a large number of church and state officials and pilgrims from India are expected to be present.

About 100,000 people are expected today when mass will begin at the crack of dawn, said Lukos Joseph, trustee of the Alphonsa Church in Bharananganam, where roads have been smoothed and the church and convent sport a fresh coat of paint.

Alphonsa will be India's second saint after Gonsalo Garcia, of Portuguese parentage, who was canonised in 1862. Albanian-born Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003, a first step to canonisation.