The first Oriental women’s congregation that officially began mission in northern India marked its 50 years of service last week.

Sisters of Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) in Noida province of Uttar Pradesh state marked the golden jubilee April 8-10 with special programs such as prayers, retreat and feeding the poor.

The jubilee remembered the saga of seven nuns of the Kerala-based congregation, who came to work in Agra archdiocese in 1960. They came invited by its then Capuchin Archbishop Dominic Romuald Basil Athaide.

“We believe we are the first women’s Oriental congregation to start work in northern India,” said Sister Jolly Tom, a councilor based in Noida.

She said the seven nuns worked with various mission programs in the archdiocese including teaching, medical care, caring children and the aged.

The pioneering nuns in the northern mission were “daring” because they were unfamiliar with the local language, culture and food habits.

“We really do not know how they made that daring decision to venture into the unknown. We all consider it the work of the Holy Spirit,” Sister Tom said.

The congregation has now houses in all states in northern and in northeastern India, with some 1,300 sisters working in 223 convents in ten provinces.

Sister Tom said their nuns began to spread their work northern India at a time when some Latin bishops resisted the Oriental Church’s moves to start work in northern missions.

“But we never faced any problem in our work,” she said adding that the Latin dioceses welcomed their convents. “We now work both in Latin and Syrian dioceses,” she said adding people they serve do not understand the difference.

“We came to serve the poor and continue to do it,” the nun said adding that the jubilee programs reflected this.

The nuns shared food with some 350 “very poor” people and rickshaw pullers who live near their convent. They also gifted five kilos of wheat flour to poor families.

The FCC is the largest women congregation in India. India’s first saint, Saint Alphonsa, belongs to the congregation. It is one of the most populous congregations that attract vocations.

“But most our vocations in the north are local and tribal,” the nun said adding this contrasts with the situation five years ago when most vocations came from Kerala.

Source: UCAN

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