Canonized Persons
1.Beginning of the Canonization Process of Fr. Varghese Payapilly.
After 80 years of our Founder’s demise, the Canonization process the Servant of God Fr. Varghese Payapilly, started by the Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil of Archdiocese of Ernakulam Angamaly with the request of the then Mother General of SD Congregation, Sr. Smitha Vempilly on 25th August 2009. Sr. Roseline Elavanal was appointed as the Postulator of the cause. The Archdiocesan Tribunal for the beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Fr. Varghese Payapilly (Rev. Fr. Varghese Pottackal, Rev. Fr. Saju Augustine Kuthodiputhanpurayil CST, Rev. Sr. Sibia FCC, Rev. Sr. Mahima MSJ) took their responsibility by an oath on 6th September 2009 in the public meeting held at the Mother House Chunangamvely. The tribunal interviewed 85 people who have seen the Servant of God and heard about him from the family members and parishners. Major Archbishop appointed a Historical Commission ( Rev. Fr. Thomas Panthaplackal CMI, Rev. Fr. Augustine Kallely, Rev. Sr. Kusumam SD) on 28th September 2009, to examine and to write a report of the documents that are not published about the Servant of God. After completing all the inquiry, the Archdiocese tribunal were closed by the Major Archbishop Mar George Cardinal Alencherry. Then the boxes containing the documents were sent to Rome on 16th November 2012 through the Nuncio in Delhi.
On 24th April 2013 the boxes which was containing the documents of were opened in Rome. We got the Validity Certificate of the Archdiocesan Inquiry conducted in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly for the Cause of the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Fr. Varghese Payapilly on 10th June 2014. On 17th May 2016 the Historical Commission in Rome accepted the positio prepared by the Roman Postulator, Sr. Grace Koovayil SD, with consultation of Msgr. Paul Pallath, the Relater of the Causes of Saints. On 24th October 2017 the Theological Consulters and on 10th April 2018 the Congregation of the Cardinals accepted the positio by casting votes. On 14th April 2018 Pope Francis declared the Servant of God Fr. Varghese Payapilly as the Venerable.
2.Servent of God Sr.Fidelis
Fidelis Thaliath (1929 – 2008), popularly known as “Doctoramma” (“Mother Doctor”), was an Indian religious sister, gynecologist and social reformer who worked among the destitute people in Delhi. She was declared Servant of God in 2021. Fidelis Thaliath was born as Kochuthresia in 1929 in Puthanpally, a village in the then Cochin State, now part of the south Indian state of Kerala to Joseph Thaliath and Mariamkkutty.[1] She joined the religious congregation, Sisters of the Destitute in 1952 and took the perpetual vow of chastity in 1956. In 1964, she moved to Chicago where she joined the Loyola University to obtain a medical degree in Gynecology. Subsequently, she returned to India to start her career as a medical professional in Holy Angels’ Nursing Home in Delhi but returned to Chicago in 1973 to complete her master’s degree in 1977.
Returning to India in 1977, she founded the Jivodya Hospital, which was built on a plot of land in Ashok Vihar in Delhi, bought with a gift of US$ 1000 she had received for purchasing a car[3][note 1] and served there in the Department of Gynecology.[4][5] During her time in Delhi, she was involved in several social activities, focusing on helping the destitute people and founded two centres, one to house the poor women in Vikaspuri and the other, a home for the handicapped children in Ghaziabad. Hers was a life set aside for the underprivileged and the needy. Nourished by the sacrament of eucharist and rosary in her hands, she walked through the streets of Delhi, caring for the sick and the abandoned. She not only took care of them and provided medicines, but also prayed for them. Her selfless service brought meaning to the lives of so many poor patients, especially the lepers.
Thaliath died on January 17, 2008, at the age of 79.[6] Loyola University Chicago, her alma mater, have since instituted a scholarship, Class Of 1960 Sister Fidelis Thaliath, MD, Medical Student Scholarship Fund, in her honor.