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Pope Leo XIV approved the beatification of Mother Eliswa Vakayil and set the date of the ceremony for November 8 in Kerala, India.
The beatification was presided over by Cardinal Sebastian Francis, who was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023. Prior to the ceremony, Cardinal Sebastian praised Mother Eliswa speaking to Radio Veritas Asia, explaining how she was "a woman of great substance, rooted in faith, guided by conviction, and generous in love."
He also added, quoting Mother Eliswa's own words, "The only subject of our desire should be the three letters: GOD. Humanity needs to return to the primacy of God, above creation, humanity, and history."
Mother Eliswa is important in the history of Catholicism in India, as she founded the Congregation of the Teresian Carmelites (CTC), which was established in 1866 as India’s first indigenous congregation for women.
Who was Mother Eliswa?
She was born in in 1831 and was married at the age of 16 and had one daughter before her husband died unexpectedly.
J-P Mauro writes for Aleteia that although "a second marriage was suggested to Eliswa, she instead chose to immerse herself in a life of silent prayer and service. She began to make frequent visits to her Catholic parish in Koonammavu, where she attended adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and surrendered herself wholly to the Holy Spirit."
About 15 years later, Eliswa felt called to consecrate her life to God and approached Rev. Fr. Leopold Beccaro O.C.D, asking him for spiritual guidance. She then spent four years of intense discernment and was joined in prayer by her sister and her daughter.
Mauro explains that, "All three were received into the Carmelite order in 1866, when they moved into a newly built bamboo convent that became the foundation for the Community of Teresian Carmelites (C.T.C.)."
She spent the rest of her life in contemplative prayer and many recognized her remarkable sanctity during her life.
Eliswa died on July 18, 1913, and was buried at the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Joseph. Later on her body was moved to a tomb chapel called Smruthi Mandhiram at St. Joseph’s Convent of CTC at Varappuzha.
