(UCAN): Pope Leo XIV hailed the beatification of Mother Eliswa Vakayil, founder of the Teresian Carmelites, calling her “a source of inspiration for all those who work, in the Church and in society, for the dignity of women,” and praising her “courageous commitment to the emancipation of the poorest girls.”
Blessed Eliswa was beatified on November 8 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Ransom, Kochi. Born in 1831 and widowed at 20, she became Kerala’s first Indigenous nun in 1866, founding the Third Order of the Discalced Carmelites for women with her sister and daughter.
Today, the congregation has over 1,500 members and 200 convents in India and abroad. Over 20,000 attended the beatification Mass, led by Cardinal Sebastian Francis of Penang and nearly 50 bishops.
Cardinal Francis called Blessed Eliswa “a beacon of hope, a spiritual mother and a saint for our times.” Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly called her “an icon of pride for women in the Catholic Church,” noting her extraordinary courage in a patriarchal era.
Blessed Eliswa’s tomb at St. Joseph’s and Mount Carmel Church in Varapuzha remains a popular pilgrimage site. European missionaries, especially Carmelites, supported her mission for women’s empowerment.
