Archdiocese begins informal documentation on India’s “Apostle of Eucharist”

By Ignatius Gonsalves

Kochi, March 28, 2022: A Catholic archdiocese in the southern Indian state of Kerala has informally begun the documentation on Ajna George, who many now view as an apostle of Eucharist.

Ajna, a member of the Jesus Youth movement and an assistant professor, died January 21 in Kochi, the commercial capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. She was 27 when she died fighting cancer.

“The Archdiocese of Verapoly has informally begun the documentation with the knowledge and guidance” of Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil, Father Sojan Mathew Maliyekal, the archdiocesan spokesperson media commission secretary, told Matters India March 28.

The priest said many people and groups, including a Jesus Youth delegation, had met the archbishop to request him to take up the cause of Ajna.

The archbishop explained to them the canon law on such matters, especially the waiting period of at least five years after the candidate’s death before initiating the cause.

Only the Pope can waive that canonical stipulation. “Quite rarely has it happened. Pope John Paul did it in the case of Mother Teresa and Pope Benedict did it for Pope John Paul. Such fast tracking will not be sought in the case of Ajna. But efforts are already on in systematically documenting her life which itself will take many years,” Father Maliyekal explained.

The priest recalled the archbishop stressing the need for conserving relevant and precious data on the young woman, who many now hail as India’s Carlo Acutis. “It will be a sin of omission if we lose them,” Father Maliyekal quoted the prelate as saying.

Immediately after Ajna’s death the archdiocese began to receive overwhelming number of testimonies and clamor for taking up her cause. The archbishop then authorized the media commission to coordinate the data collection and documentation.

“Video interviews have been conducted with Ajna’s parents, her parish priest, and her lone sibling, an elder sister,” Father Maliyekal said.

He said the media commission plans to interview George’s Jesus Youth mentors, coworkers, spiritual directors, teachers, friends and countless fans. “Documents such as rare photographs, Ajna’s writings including letters, prayers and songs are being collected. So also testimonials from doctors, nurses and paramedics,” the archdiocesan official said.

Father Jean Felix Kattassery, George’s spiritual director for nearly two decades who first compared her to Carlo Acutis, says Ajna’s love and longing for the Eucharistic Lord despite indescribable pain and sufferings makes her an apostle of the Eucharist in the 21 Century.

Carlo Acutis was an English-born Italian who died of blood cancer October 12, 2006, and was beatified 14 years later.

“I am happy and eternally grateful to God for choosing me to be a witness and a humble instrument to proclaim it,” the priest told Matters India March 28.

He says Ajna’s tomb has already become a place of prayer although it might take years for her cause to be officially taken up for canonization. “People from far and near, mostly the young, flock her tomb. Two books have been already published on her heroic life and witness, within two months of her death. Both are in Malayalam,” Father Kattassery, who was Ajna’s parish priest, said.

The first book was written by Father Vincent Warriath, titled “Eesho Kochu” (Child of Jesus), that was published within 30 days of Ajna’s death. The second book titled “Divyakarunyathinte Vanambadi” (The Nightingale of the Holy Eucharist) is coauthored by Father Joseph Kumbukkal and Jithu George, Ajna’s Jesus Youth friends.

Father Kattassery, who knew Ajna as a ten-year-old girl, says her life proclaims the redemptive value of sufferings as shown by Jesus.

The priest says Ajna used the social media in her life’s mission of spreading Eucharist devotion.

On December 21, 2021, a year before her death, despite intense pain she sent a WhatsApp message to a friend, “If you keep the cancer healing part away, I don’t have words to explain how perfectly He (Jesus) takes care of every other aspect of my life-spiritual, mental, financial etc. Physical needs are fulfilled in unimaginable ways. So it is clear that He is with me.”