Daughters of the Cross in India - Bombay Province
In 1861 Archbishop Steins of Bombay passed through Liege on his way home to Holland. In Liege he heard a good deal from his brother Jesuits of the new Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross which was spreading rapidly in Belgium and Germany and which was devoted to all kinds of good works. He made it his business to see Canon Habets the co-founder of the Daughters of the Cross and ask for some sisters for his vast diocese........In 1862 the first five sisters came to India ,at that time Karachi Thus began the story of the Daughters of the Cross in India. The foundation members were Sisters Sebastienne, Lambertine, Anselma,Louise and Armande.It was at first governed directly from Liege in consultation with the Archbishops of Bombay and Calcutta. In 1875 it became a separate Province.
Bandra (Bombay)
In 1864 the Archbishop of Bombay’s great diocese included Karachi which is now in Pakistan. It was to Karachi that the sisters first came in 1862. Foundations were made in Bandra (Bombay) when the second group of sisters went out the following year. It became famous for its FOUNDLING HOME & ORPHANAGE under Sister Theodorine. Now it is the setting for an enormous and excellent school. Bandra is the Provincial House and Novitiate.
The arrival of Sr. Theodorine, the virtual founder of the India mission
In February 1868, 38 Indian girls were sent to us from a Catholic orphanage at Poona, as the Nuns of Jesus and Mary wished to make their institution a European orphanage. So, with the number of orphans having risen, and the inmates of St.Vincent’s Home for the aged increasing, it soon became evident that they needed extra accommodation.
As a temporary measure, Msgr. Meurin s.j., rented a one-storey house at the cost of Rs.80/- per month for them on the opposite side of the road.
In 1867, a third group of 5 Sisters left the Mother House, Liege, for India and came directly to Bandora. At their head was Sr. Theodorine, who played an important role in the growth and development of the life and mission of the Sisters at Bandra. With her coming, the story of the apostolate of the Daughters of the Cross in India continues to unfold.
Belgaum figures prominently in the life of Sister Theodorine. Mere Marie Therese had intended her to be its Superior when she went to India in 1867 but the Archbishop asked that she should be kept in Bandra. Belgaum was the scene of her first visitation in 1875. It was transferred in Sister Theodorine’s lifetime to the Canossian sisters.
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