Mariam Thressia

Blessed Mariam Thressia (26 April, 1876 - 8 June 1926) from Puthenchira, a locale in the city of Thrissur, Kerala, India.
==Early life==
Thressia was born as the third child of Chiramel Mankidiyan Thoman and Thanda. She had the great desire to love God above everything else right from her infancy. She showed great interest to go to church with her mother daily to attend the Holy Mass, to pray and even to make her confession at a very early age onwards, i.e., from the time she was six years old. She considered the day of her receiving the first Holy Communion at the age of 10 as the happiest day in her life. When she lost her loving mother at the age of twelve, she ran to the statue of the Mother of God and asked her to be her mother and promised to be her faithful daughter. She wanted to join a convent but the financial strains of the family stood in the way. The coming of Fr. Joseph Vithayathil as the Vicar of Puthenchira Parish was a turning point in the life of Thressia. Even before joining any convent she was visiting the families and comforting those who were suffering and preparing them for a good confession and, if God so willed, for a good death. This was unheard of in those days as women were supposed to remain within the four walls of the household. She wanted to suffer with Jesus and asked him to give her crosses to carry with him. So she had the grace of bearing the five wounds in her body enabling her to identify herself with the Redeemer. After a long period of waiting on 26 November 1912 she could join the Carmelite Convent at Ollur where Blessed Euphrasia also was a member. However, after a short period of stay there, owing to the request of the parishioners of Puthenchira, she was brought back to Puthenchira by Bishop John Menacherry to start a solitary home in the parish under the direction of Fr. Joseph Vithayathil. This solitary home became on 14 May 1914 the first house of the new congregation founded by her, Congregation of the Holy Family, with herself as the first Superior General, as Thressia and her companions were given the habit of the new congregation and Thressia a new name, Mariam Thressia. She was really a mother not only to the members of her congregation but to everyone who had the fortune of experiencing her motherly love. Having borne in her life the sufferings of her Lord and His people, she breathed her last on 8 June 1926. 
==Beatification==
She was declared blessed by Pope John Paul II in Rome on 9 April 2000.
==External links==
* Blessed Mariam Thressia
Category:Indian people
Category:Beatified people
Category:Founders of Roman Catholic religious communities
Category:Syro-Malabar Catholics
Category:19th-century venerated Christians
Category:1876 births
Category:1926 deaths