INDIAN MYSTIC NUN

 

One may ask why certain rare souls are given the gift of mysticism and even rarer gift of the stigmata. We shall never know for certain, but perhaps the very hiddenness is a gift to us all, in the suffering these saints do for all humankind.

ST. MARIAM THRESIA MANKIDIYAN was an Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic  sister and the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family. She was born in Puthenchira, a village in present day Kerala, India. She is said to have received the stigmata which she kept well-guarded.

Thresia was born in Puthenchira in Irinjalakuda Revenue Division of Thrissur district n 1876 as the third of five children of Thoma and Thanda and was named in honor of Teresa of Ávila. Her family was once rich though became poor when her grandfather married off seven daughters after selling property for each costly dowry, which led to her brothers and her father taking up drinking. Her mother was her father's second wife, the first having died during childbirth in 1872. She had two sisters and two brothers. 

Her mother died in 1888 after blessing her children who gathered at her deathbed. Her mother's death marked the end of her studies, when she then dedicated herself to contemplation in her local parish church, making a private vow to remain chaste.

In 1891 she hatched a scheme to sneak from home to lead a life of penance in the hills but soon decided against this and instead returned home. From 1902 to 1905 she was subjected to several exorcisms from Father Joseph Vithayathil, under orders of the local bishop, and from 1902 it was Father Vithayathil who became her spiritual director until her death.

In 1903 she requested the Archbishop of Thrissur, John Menachery, to build a house of retreat but it was turned down. This happened after she had formed a group with three other friends and engaged in apostolic work with poor families. The Archbishop instead suggested she make an effort to join a religious congregation and encouraged her to join the new Congregation of the Franciscan Clarists but she soon left as she did not feel called to it.

She later accepted Archbishop Menachery's request in 1912 to join the Carmelites at Ollur and was there from 26 November 1912 until she left on 27 January 1913 because she did not feel drawn to them either. In 1913 she set up a house at Puthenchira and on 14 May 1914 founded the Congregation of the Holy Family to which she was professed and accepted as the was the first superior of the congregation.

She was said to have had a range of spiritual experiences such as receiving the stigmata, which she hid from public view. In 1926 a falling object struck her on the leg and the wound soon festered. Thresia was admitted to the local hospital though doctors deemed her condition fatal and she was moved by bullock cart back to the convent where on 7 June 1926 she received the final sacraments and the viaticum. 

She died at 10 pm on 8 June 1926 from her leg wound that her diabetes exacerbated. Her final words were, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul".  

 St. John Paul II beatified her in 2000 and Pope Francis canonized her on 13 October 2019. Her feast day is May 8.

The first miracle that led to her beatification was that of the cure of Mathew D. Pellissery, who was born in 1956 with congenital club feet. He could barely walk with great difficulty on the sides of his feet until he was fourteen. After 33 days of fasting and prayer by the whole family, invoking the help of Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan, his right foot was straightened during sleep on the night of 21 August 1970. Similarly after 39 days of fasting and prayer his left foot was also straightened overnight during sleep on 28 August 1971. Since then, Mathew has been able to walk normally. This double healing was declared inexplicable in terms of medical science by as many as nine doctors in India and Italy and thus met the last canonical requirement for her beatification. Mathew Pellissery was present there during the beatification ceremony