A Pal Chowdhury family – a Hindu Bengalee who owned an enormous amount of land – wanted to donate a portion of their property- 30 bighas of land – to the Sisters of Charity in early 1969. The purpose of the donor, was to utilize the property for some charitable purpose and for humanitarian service. A weekly mobile dispensary was started in 1970 by the community of Senior Holy Family Krishnagar which is around 9 kms from Maheshganj. In 1978, a Balwadi for little children and an adult education centre for young women were started. The sisters visited the neighbourhood families to familiarise themselves to the society around them. Most of the people were landless laborers displaced from Bangladesh. Antisocial activities like dacoity, theft and smuggling were the easy means of livelihood for a group of people around though various religious groups had a longing for the Divine in their hearts.
Due to some unavoidable circumstances the community was temporarily erected only on 21st November 1988. A little school was opened and it flourished when the people saw that the children could receive good education in this school. A pre-primary school was started in 2003 in the name of Holy Child School and is gradually upgraded into a full-fledged Primary School.
A dispensary was established and its main attraction now is its service to the childless couples many of whom have been blessed with children through prayers and medicines. The community was officially erected in 1992 by the Provincial Superior Sr. Judith Puthenpura. Non-formal education for young and illiterate girls was started and a well-equipped weaving centre was another enterprise the sisters introduced. A large number of girls learnt new skills to earn a living as they mastered the art of tailoring, and the three R’s. But with the decrease in the number of students as they attended schools in their villages, the project was discontinued in 2005.
At present the community helps the families through Self Help Groups The scheme aims at empowering women and enhancing their family-economic status. The initial suspicion and inhibition of the people towards the sisters is replaced with familiarity and friendly approach. They appreciate the humanitarian services rendered by the sisters.
Junior Holy Family very near to S H F can trace its roots to the inception of our Institute 150 years ago when the first four sisters landed at Krishnagar on 17th March 1860.
The community of Senior Holy Family Convent had been carrying out various services from the beginning and the number of inmates was steadily on the increase. The hostel children, the abandoned babies and the widows were all in the same premises and it was imminent that at least the smaller children be shifted elsewhere. The sisters felt that expansion was the only way out to provide better facilities for all. The sisters purchased a plot of land an orchard close to S H F and the sisters named this place, ‘Providence Garden’. By 1957 the sisters managed to build a house and some sisters stayed there, shifting the Primary school and hostel to Junior Holy Family.
In 1973, the orphanage for babies which was in S H F was shifted to Junior Holy Family for better care. In 1975 the venue for the initial formation of the sisters was moved from SHF to JHF. There were more than 50 orphan children in the early seventies. With the passage of time the number decreased due to various reasons. After much discussion and discernment, this service of caring for the orphan children was discontinued in 2001.
The hostel, from its inception housed girl children from different villages. There were also very poor children, some from broken families and a few joined through the Government Welfare Scheme. In the seventies and eighties, about 300 children used to be in the hostel and were cared for and educated. But in the nineties there was a decline in the number of children due to the establishment of GovT. schools in different villages.
Sr. Brigit Vadakumparambil known for their excellent performances in guiding the teachers as well as the students. Their dedication in the field of education was duly acknowledged by the district authorities who recommended them for the National Award of Excellence. They received the award from the President of India Dr. Sankar Dayal Sharma on 5th September 1993.
A new apostolate was added to the mission of the community in 1975. The venue for the initial formation of the candidates was shifted from Senior Holy Family Convent to Junior Holy Family Convent.
The sisters extend their cooperation in the parish activities, S.C.C programs and visit to families regularly. The community also renders its service to the Diocesan Congregation by taking Bible classes for their novices and teaching English to the Minor Seminarians
In 1943, after the World War 11, a great famine swept over Bengal devastating its villages. During the two years of 1943 – 44, the famine took a toll of about two million people. Bishop Louis Morrow, the then Bishop of Krishnagar, moved with compassion, gathered about 25 famine stricken boys, brought them to Krishnagar and accommodated them in a house. The Bishop requested the Sisters of Charity to look after these boys. When normalcy returned, the Bishop saw bright prospects of educating these boys and he opened a school for them and named the institution, “Junior Don Bosco”. The Bishop wanted the Sisters of Charity to continue the mission of caring for the boys. Therefore, the community of Junior Don Bosco was erected in September, 1946 with Sr. Annunciata Cimpanelli as the animator of the three sister-teachers. Gradually the number of boys increased to 200 and for better accommodation, the Bishop expanded the building.
The sisters take to heart the all-round development of the boys and they lay stress on their spiritual growth, academic excellence and also on maintaining healthy relationships. To keep them connected to their families, every month on a fixed day the parents visit their children; thus, parent-child relationship is maintained and the sisters too meet the parents individually to discuss about the child’s progress.
In 1966, the government registered 30 boys who were being cared for in Junior Don Bosco hostel. Hence, this boarding house also came to be known as “Welfare Home”. It is a matter of great pride to the sisters that about 25 boys who had been educated under their care and guidance in the hostel, are priests now or have joined brotherhood and are serving in different villages.
In 1984, Sr. John Tirkey, who was the Headmistress of the School, received the ‘National award for Excellence’ from the Presisdent of India for her dedicated service in the field of educatioln for long forty years.
The sisters, also visit families especially people in distress, broken families, sick and elderly and try to alleviate their sufferings. Thus the community is an oasis of comfort and solace to the little boys, their families and to the neighborhood.
The community of Senior Holy Family , the first house in Asia, known as the ‘ Lovere of India’ was started in a thatched hut on 17th March 1860. In 1859 Fr. Luigi Limana, a missionary priest had asked Msgr, Marinoni, his superior in Italy for some sisters to work in the missions. At his request, the Superior General of the Sisters of Charity , Mother Teresa Bosio dared to send her sisters to the unknown far away land of India to spread the love of God to the people of Bengal.
The courageous band - they were four sisters and a young girl - set sail by ship to India on 7th February 1860. After a voyage of 37 days, they reached Calcutta on 11th March. Reaching Calcutta, after a couple of days, they embarked on a frail boat which took them three days journey up the river Hooghly flanked by forests and villages. The sisters arrived at ‘Krishnagar’ where they finally set foot on 17th March 1860. They were offered a thatched hut for their dwelling without even having a hedge to protect them from the wild animals.
At the outset the priest entrusted the sisters with a small group of 20 little orphan girls with whom the sisters had to share their little dwelling place for want of any other accommodation. The sisters had started with a small nursery school in the shade of a tree in the church compound. Sr. Antonio Ferrari went about in the villages collecting the children. Besides the three R’s, moral instruction was given priority. Sisters also visited the sick in their huts and distributed medicines. After the outbreak of epidemics like cholera and malaria after the famine and floods in 1870s, a small building was constructed for the dispensary. Before the turn of the 19th century the dispensary could cater to an average of about 10,000 patients a year. The selfless service of the sisters was done at the cost of their young lives as many a times they contracted tuberculosis because of lack of nourishment.
Sisters continued to come to India in spite of the hurdles, immense difficulties and sacrifices in the mission. A house was constructed for the unfortunage homeless women. They are taught to conduct Self Help groups and income- generating programs.
The mission of education progressed and by 1866 the school was known to be the best and the Government Recognition grant was offered. The Industrial school where uneducated young girls and women learnt tailoring and embroidery and diploma which fetched them employment was discontinued in 2008, when the Govt. made ‘Work Education’ as a compulsory subject in the school. The ‘Holy Family School’ was recognized as a Junior High School in 1942 and received full recongnition in 1960
The first group of candidates to become sisters began their formation in S H F in 1966and later they were shifted to the Junior Holy Family. To continue the work of the sisters by lay people, a society was started by the sisters of S H F in the year 2000 under the banner of ‘Associates of the Redeemer’. At present the sisters, though few, are engaged in parish activities, school, hostel and needlework diploma.
In 1974, Rt. Rev. Motilal Baroi sdb, Bishp of Krishnagar requested the Sisters of Charity to extend the work of evangelization through education and upliftment program for the people of Ranaghat. After an initial hesitation, it was decided by the Povincial Superior, Sr. Patricia Erattupuzha and her council to accept the offer. The building was not a welcoming one for the safe stay of the sisters as it had been left unused and neglected for long.Fr. Louis Gobetti sdb, the parish priest of Ranaghat, took great interest in getting the house ready. On 23rd October 1974, Sr. Francesca Zenere, the superior and Sr. Carmel Kisku entered ‘Dayabari’ (House of Mercy), as it was called, with great enthusiasm.
A ‘Grihini’ School for the drop-outs and illiterate young girls was started immediately in view of teaching them literacy, hygiene, stitching, tailoring, gardening and other skills needed for a housewife, besides making them spiritually strong in faith. Initially there were 40 young girls hailing from very poor economic background. After a decade, the number of Grihini School began to decline on account of the free and compulsory educational facilities provided by the government in every village. In 1999, the number of girls was only 10; ‘grihini’ classes had been suspended since then.
At suggestion of the parish priest, Fr. L. Gobetti, to begin educational apostolate became a great advantage for the poor children of the locality and Sr. Rosalia James arrived to take up the task. She gathered the children and started the classes on 17th January 1976 in a tin roofed shed under a tree. The school grew rapidly and a few class rooms were built in 1976 to accommodate the students from Standard 1 – 1V. The children are provided with good education and sound moral values. Later, according to the need, Fr. Gobetti constructed a beautiful two-storeyed building for the school in 1988.
In 2006, Fr. Jose Pulickal, the parish priest of the neighboring parish, Hobipur, requested the sisters to shelter the girl children of the sex workers of Shantipur and provide them educational facilities. The Provincial Superior, Sr. Ines Anthraper, along with her council whole-heartedly approved of the venture, the first of its kind in the province. Accordingly, about 25 girls from Shantipur were admitted to ‘Holy Child Home’ in 2007.
On 5th April 2008, as per the request of Mr. B.D. Sharma, Inspector General of the Prisons, the provincial council approved of the project and the first batch of 5 children of the inmates of correctional homes were admitted to Holy Child Home. The house now reverberates with the chit-chat of 50 children who are too happy to have a home and no one to point fingers at them.
From the inception of the community, the sisters used to attend go to the villages of Debogram and Gangnapur, about 10 kms away from Ranaghat and visit nearby villages.
Sr. Lorenzina della Pedrina, the pioneer missionary from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) used to tour the villages nearby and would visit the people of Maliapota- a remote village in Nadia district of West Bengal where people followed the primitive life-style. After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 the Sisters of Charity from Krishnagar, continued to look after these villages.
Initially, the sisters catered for the Catholics scattered in 11 villages of Maliapota. The diocese built a small house for the convent and the community was erected in May 1970 with four sisters. With the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 millions of refugees began to flow to Maliapota and sisters from other communities and other congregations volunteered to help at the refugee camps. One of the rooms of the convent was used as a dispensary but later, a dispensary was constructed in 1973. Understanding the patients’ and anticipating their needs, the sister Nurse not only provided medicines but prayed with them and helped them to accept suffering with serenity and courage. The sisters managed to help the villagers with uplift programmes like tube-wells, drinking water facilities and toilets. The women are taught the skills of earning a livelihood. The sisters sometimes stay with the people in the village to educate them.
On 29th February 1971 the kindergarten school from the parish premises was shifted to ‘St. Capitanio School’ of the sisters. The classes were upgraded year by year in the year it had reached to Cl. VIII with 800 students. But difficulties arose and now the school functions as a Primary School with about 400 students.
A great need and demand from the local people in the changing scenario made the sisters open an English medium nursery school in 2008 which has now reached the primary level. The children are smart and are expected to join other English medium schools after their primary education
