Two new Indian Catholic saints from “God’s own country”, Kerala, should inspire a spiritual country into being more devout. In many parts of the world agnostics and atheists are gaining ground with places of worship in the more prosperous parts of the world, as well as in countries where Communism is the official state religion, seeing a considerable drop in faith. On the contrary, faith seems to be gaining ground in Latin America, Africa, India and Asia. In tripling the number of modern saints to three, the Vatican has rewarded the faithful.
The canonisation also upholds the principle of the saintly being honoured after their lifetime, the approach being particularly relevant at a time when faith in godmen is being eroded by the unholy antics of a few in India. Inspiration can be found in pious lives like those of Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sr. Euphrasia from India and four others from Italy. Such lives take spirituality beyond formal religion.
History records that Fr Kuriakose began the order of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate in 1836. There are now 20 million Catholics in the country, and 25 million Christians who would lovingly recall Saint Thomas coming to India in 52 AD first to preach the Gospel. India, the home of spirituality, is now blessed by the increasing number of faithful.
