A Biography of St. Euphrasia 1 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 2 A Biography of St. Euphrasia A Biography of Saint Euphrasia 3 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 4 A Biography of St. Euphrasia A Biography of Saint Euphrasia Sr. Dr. Chrisologa Moothedan, CMC ST. EUPHRASIA PUBLICATIONS ST. EUPHRASIA PILGRIM CENTRE, OLLUR, THRISSUR, KERALA, INDIA - 680 306 2016 5 A Biography of St. Euphrasia A Biography of Saint Euphrasia (English) Sr. Dr. Chrisologa CMC Published by Provincial Superior CMC Nirmala Province St. Euphrasia Publications St. Euphrasia Pilgrim Centre Ollur P. O., Thrissur Kerala - 680 306, India 0487 - 2351241, 956245592 Published : 2016 Copies : 1000 Price : ` 100/- Printed at MMB Offset Printers, Tcr-14. 6 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 7 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 8 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 9 A Biography of St. Euphrasia 10 A Biography of St. Euphrasia Felicitous Blessings! “You have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished Look to the future, where the spirit is sending you in order to do even greater things” (V. C. 110). Saint Euphrasia is a saint for all seasons and all peoples, specially because of the utter simplicity and purity of her life. She has not done anything extra-ordinary. She had desired to be a hidden saint and even God destined her to be a hidden saint till He Himself brought her out from hiding to glory! Saint Euphrasia’s life reveals how God weaves in patterns of gold the marvel of a saint from the ordinary fibers of life. Her life proves that it is love that transforms everything into beauty, and in her case specifically into mystic beauty. Saint Euphrasia combines in her life the stream of divine love of a ‘flamingo’ and the merciful love for the brethern in such delicate balance, and to the very details of ordinary day to- day life with in the four walls of Carmel, that she stands as a fitting saintly monument for the Year of Mercy, within the limited horizon available to her! Saint Euphrasia challenges each one of us, to be the face of God’s mercy wherever we are placed by God, simultaneously shining as the radiance of purity and divine flame of love. May myself and all of you my people and the devotees of this saint be enabled to take up this challenge raised by the saint for all seasons and for all peoples in the very ordinariness of life transforming it in love, kindness and mercy. I congratulate Sr. Chrisologa for writing this new biography after the event of Canonization of Mother Euphrasia. Let this A Biography of Saint Euphrasia create a new wave of enthusiasm among its readers, among all those who are walking the Pilgrim way to the Father Land. Mar Andrews Thazhath Metropolitan Archbishop of Trichur 11 A Biography of St. Euphrasia Let the Light Spread! A Biography of Saint Euphrasia takes me back to the Book of Sirach: “Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance ... In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion. Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain. I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.” (Sirach 24: 8, 10-12) In this new biography of Saint Euphrasia by Sr. Chrisologa, the election of God, the beauty, the meaning, the significance and relevance of Consecrated Religious Life are unravelled layer after layer signalling the markings of ‘hope’ in the spiritual itinerary of the Saint. Gods’ designs always move to a great destiny. As Pope Francis himself challenges us, we are caught up in the line of St. Euphrasia as the ‘Prophet of Hope’, to fix our gaze on the 12 A Biography of St. Euphrasia Horizon of ‘Hope’ as we search for renewed signs of life and the ‘rain-signal’ of Elijah with regard to Consecrated Religious life and its relevance for the Modern age. There is so much positive energy of loving in Saint Euphrasia’s life. It is this positive slant of life that makes Saint Euphrasia great. Once she fell in love with God, she fell in love with humanity; love, light, compassion and mercy flowed from her to whoever crossed her path. Her world was very small. But within the four walls of Carmel, she held the whole world and its needs and emergencies. Having met with the Eyes of Christ her vision reached to the far ends of the world and to the depths of the human hearts. In that mystic belt where the whole world converges to the redemptive power of Christ, she was forever the praying, the compassionate, the sacrificing, the enlightening, the instructing, the loving, communicating community nun and worked for the healing of the nations. I pray that the light from the mystic life of Saint Euphrasia spread far and wide and invite the readers to follow the Markings of the Saint wherever they are placed by the hands of Destiny! I take this occasion to congratulate Sr. Chrisologa for writing A Biography of Saint Euphrasia with necessary interpretation at significant points in the saint’s life. May this biography help the readers to be in touch with the fragrant, holy life of Saint Euphrasia, a flower of Kerala Carmel and inspire them to move always in the orbit of the Holy Spirit in union with Jesus, towards the Father’s Kingdom! With blessings, Sr. Sibi CMC Superior General 13 A Biography of St. Euphrasia With Folded hands! Even as I write these few words of ‘best wishes and prayers’ on the publication of A Biography of Saint Euphrasia, I stand in awe before the intensely mystical life of Saint Euphrasia and the Challenges she raises to the CMC daughters and to the Children, to the youth, to the Couples and adults and the old, the sick, the orphaned and the poor, the neglected, the condemned and the lonely. In this moment as I stay with all of you and with the God of Saints, I am reminded of two poems by the author of this biography which appeared in Sucharitha, 2002 on Saint Euphrasia: “His nearness gripped My heart gave way. He beckoned, I followed A small cottage on the hillside, leaving all I found Him But he vanished leaving a vibration in the air My lonely cottage swells with His presence” (“Revelation”) I think it is this intimacy with Christ that shines like a radiant mystical gold thread through all the vicissitudes of life with regard to the Himalayan obstacles to follow her vocation to Consecrated Life, the cataclysmic events at home leading to financial loss and ill repute and degradation of a family history, to days and months and years of misunderstanding, and misinterpretation about the mystical experiences in her life, and finally to continual attacks of Satan and bouts of sickness. In all these events Saint Euphrasia followed just one srategy of an eagle soul. 14 A Biography of St. Euphrasia “It is to target like an eagle the mountainous altitudes, and from the peak Everest view the land below in stop-over and be ready for the next peak in the darknight, for the flame of love” ( Flight No. I) I am glad that A Biography of Saint Euphrasia has tried to indicate the moorings of this great mystic, in its myriad hues. May I congratulate Sr. Chrisologa for this English biography of the Saint, specially done for the sake of people outside Kerala who are eager to know about Saint Euphrasia of the Sacred Heart. I also pray that all the readers may be inspired to take up the challenge of holiness and ‘mercy’ as exemplified in her life! In Christ Jesus, Nirmala Province Sr. Anija CMC Thrissur Provincial Superior 15 A Biography of St. Euphrasia Preface We have travelled forward more than a year after the event of Father Chavara’s and Mother Euphrasia’s Canonization in the Vatican. Praise God! Some how whenever there is a reference to St. Euphrasia there is another name often coupled with it that is of the longtime Vice Postulator who started the Cause as Provincial and who saw to the completion of it on November 23rd, 2014 in 28 years, a rare God-given privilege in the historical sweep of the events of Canonization. I am morally obliged to acknowledge her credentials since it was Mother Cleopatra as provincial who published the biography of Mother Euphrasia in English a translation by Sr. Leo of Sr. Perigrin’s book Anugraheetha Kanyaka in Malayalam, edited by Sr. Cleopatra. That was the occasion of the 37th Anniversary of the death of Mother Euphrasia. Again a second editon of it was published on the 46th Aniversary of the death of the Servant of God, 1998, by the then Provincial Mother Felicita. The Present book, A Biography of Saint Euphrasia is written for the sake of those outside Kerala who would desire a biography in the context of the new insights and informations during the progressive years towards Canonization. All the same I have broadly depended on the findings of the Anugraheetha Kanyaka in Malayalam edited by Sr. Dr. Cleopatra and published in the year 2014. More over the general structure of the content into 14 chapters, the last being a special chapter by Sr. Cleopatra on the history of the Progress towards Canonization also is incorporated accordingly.