Blessed Mother Eliswa Vakayil

Eliswa Vakayil, religious name Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (15 October 1831 – 18 July 1913) was a religious sister from Kerala. She was the founder of the first indigenous Carmelite community for women in India, the Third Order of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns (TOCD), which later became the Teresian Carmelite Sisters and the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC). Pope Francis declared her venerable in 2023, and she was beatified on 8 November 2025, at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Ransom in Vallarpadam. Eliswa Vakayil was born on 15 October 1831, in the village of Ochanthuruth, part of the Cruz Milagres parish in Ernakulam, Kerala. She was the eldest of eight children born to Thomman and Thanda, a couple from the Vyppissery family. The Vyppissery were a wealthy and notable "Capithan" family who ensured Vakayil received an education, which was uncommon for Catholic girls in the region at the time. At the age of 16, in 1847, Vakayil entered into an arranged marriage with Vareethu Vakayil. The couple had a daughter, Anna, who was born on 21 April 1850. Her husband died a year and a half later, leaving her a widow at the age of 20 with an 18-month-old child. Despite being encouraged to remarry, Vakayil chose a life of silent prayer and dedicated service. She spent over a decade in a simple hut constructed near her family home, dedicated to prayer and charity. In 1862, she confided her desire to consecrate her life to God to the Italian Discalced Carmelite missionary Leopold Beccaro. He served as her spiritual director and helped her in establishing the congregation. Vakayil having been joined by her daughter, Anna, and her younger sister, Thresia, initiated the religious life. Their first convent was a simple bamboo-mat hut built on Vakayil's property in Koonammavu, where they began to follow the rule of the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.