Udupi diocese to begin Beatification of Rev Fr Alfred Roche

The diocesan process of Beatification of Rev Fr Alfred Roche will be initiated with a solemn Eucharistic Sacrifice at Holy Family Church in Brahmavar on December 27.

A press release from the Udupi Diocese stated that Fr Alfred Roche, a Franciscan Capuchin priest, was born in 1924 and raised in Barkur in Brahmavar taluk. Fr Alfred who served in Brahmavar for 16 years passed away in 1996.

In recognition of his selfless service, care for the poor, people from all walks of life had hailed him as the ‘epitome of spirituality’.

Twenty-five years after his death, his devotees and well-wishers had been mounting pressure on the Catholic Church to grant ‘Sainthood’ to Rev Fr Alfred Roch.

Vatican Department for Beatification and Canonisation, responding to demands, gave the green signal to initiate the process of raising Rev Fr Alfred Roche to saintly heights.

Beatification and Canonization are intensely complex and lengthy processes in the Church which at times take decades and centuries.

This process will be done according to rules and regulations laid down by the Catholic Church.

At the end of a process, the Pope will pronounce Rev Fr Alfred Roche ‘Beatified’ and then at the end of another process, he will be pronounced a ‘Saint’.

The diocesan process of Beatification will be initiated with a Solemn Eucharistic Sacrifice at Holy Family Church in Brahmavar on December 27 (10 am). This mass will be solemnised by Bishop of Udupi Fr Gerald Lobo.