Sister Alphonse, and Sister Margarita

Sister Alphonse, a native of Kerala, has just been affirmed as a saint by Pope Benedict.

She is still remembered in India for her sweetness and piety: she didn't teach, due to being sick much of the time, but children at the sister's school remember her smile more than any "big deeds", and were impressed that she would smile and be pleasent even to those who disliked her and the other sisters.

But one aspect of Sister's life was sort of hushed up in a lot of the reports: That she wished to be a nun, and when her family tried to marry her off, she walked into a fire to stop the marriage. One reason for her poor health were these burns.

Westerners, unaware that women in India and elsewhere were brought up to obey their parents in all things, including the parent's choice for a marriage partner, can't imagine the heroism of such a deed.

Yet when I worked in Africa as a missionary, I heard a similar story, from an unlikely source: one of our cheerful African sister-nurses who ran a local clinic.

Back then, the girls wishing to become nuns would wear a modified habit, and say their prayers and live with the sisters, while they received their basic education (nursing, education). They wouldn't take vows until after the education, because often the family, seeing an educated daughter who could bring the family a huge bride price, would order her home to marry. Some of these wives became the pillar of the lay community; others were married to abusive polygamists and lived a life of misery. But some of the girls resisted their parents, going against the strict customs, because of their desire to serve God.


One nurse who ran a busy clinic in our area I will call Sister Margarita. She was always laughing, and loved by all at the mission. One would think that she had never had a day of trouble in her life.

Then, one day she told us her story.

Her family was not Christian, but said nothing when she said she wished to be a sister. So she happily finished her "medical assistant" course, expecting to join the sisters after graduation.

But when she went home to visit family after graduation, she found that her father had accepted an offer of marriage for her.

"oh, I cried and cried", related Sister. "I couldn't eat, and couldn't sleep". Finally, after three months, her worried mother persuaded the father that they had two choices: a dead child, or a nun, and the father, who after all loved his daughter and thought marriage to the rich storekeeper was a good thing, gave in.

So Sister Margarita became a sister, spending her life cheerfully caring for her people.

Just an ordinary nun with an extraordinary story.