No sooner had Sr. Alphonsa been dead in an odour of sanctity on 28 July 1946 and her mortal remains interred than her renown as a saint spread far and wide. People irrespective of persuasion and denomination visited her tomb with prayers of intercession. Every supplicant was overwhelmed by the luminous aura and the numinous aroma that suffused the air there, and every prayer was answered. Before long, Mar Sebastian Vayalil, Bishop of Palai, initiated the canonization process.