Saint Alphonsa (19 August 1910 to 28 July 1946) was a Syro-Malabar Catholic Franciscan nun who is now honoured as a saint.Sister Alphonsa became the first native lndian to be canonized ln 2008.she is the first woman of Indian origin to be canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church, the second saint to be canonized in India and the first canonised saint of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church ofthe Saint Thomas Christian community

When it became possible, Anna joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, a religious congregation ofthe Third Order of St. Francis, and through them, completed her schooling. Anna arrived at the Clarjst convent at Bharananganam, Kottayam district, on Pentecost Sunday 1927. She received the postulant's veil on 2 August 1928 and took the name Alphonsa of the lmmaculate Conception i honour ofSt. Alphonsus Ligouri, whose feast day it was. In May 1929 Sister Alphonsa was assigned to teach at lvlalayalam High School at Vazhappally. Her foster mother died in 1930. Three days later she resumed her studies at Changanacherry, while working as a temporary teacher at a schoot at Vakakkad. On 19 May 1930Alphonsa entered the novitiate ofthe congregation at Bharananganam. On ll August 1931, she completed the novitiate and took herfirstvow