Mariam Thresia Chiramel, also called Mariam Thresia, was born Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, on April 26, 1876, in Kerala, India.  She died June 8, 1926, at the age of 50. Mariam Thresia was the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family, a Catholic professed religious order of the Indian Syro-Malabar Catholics. Mariam Thresia had a spiritual reputation. She supposedly had regular revelations, many epiphanies, and acquired the stigmata. She had spent her entire life in missionary service advocating for rigorous obedience to her order’s rules amongst her fellow nuns.

Mariam Thresia felt called to God from a very young age and fasted and prayed to grow closer to God. For example, in 1891, she left her home to lead a life of penance in the hills but returned home after a change of mind. A local bishop ordered Mariam Thresia to be subjected to several exorcisms from 1902 to 1905. After 1904, she went by Mariam, believing the Virgin Mary had so instructed her in a vision.

Fun Facts:

• In 1905, she reportedly received stigmata— body marks, scars, and suffering in regions comparable to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion injuries, such as in the hand, wrist, and feet.
• In 1914, she founded the Congregation of the Holy Family and was the first superior of the order.
• Mariam Thresia ostensibly suffered a series of demonic attacks.
• In 1926 Mariam Thresia received a wound from a falling object which festered and proved to be a fatal condition due to her diabetes.
• They buried Mariam Thresia with her remains unwashed in accordance with her wish.