Rev. Father, knowing how ardent you are in your mission to spread the Catholic Faith in every respect, I am eager to inform you about the spread of faith and to strengthen it through the congregation established through God’s grace .

        When I became the principal worker in the diocese, people expressed the felt need for women’s education. They said that the misery in the family life of women on account of ignorance was the greatest evil to the society .

        In the Indian psyche there was a deep-rooted conviction that women should never be educated. A woman used to be ashamed to tell that she was a literate. In order to rescue the women from this traditional evil, to empower them with self respect, to develop the ability to come up in the male dominated society and the Church, to share their knowledge in their families, they had chosen me to found a society for women to carry on the noble apostolate.

       To realize these desired aims, I felt the need to found a congregation for Indian Women.  I chose a few young women who were desirous to dedicate their lives to God. In the beginning it was very discouraging. At last the clanging of the church bell announced the founding of the “St, et Immaculate Coeur de Marie”.   “The Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” for the education young women through free education.

       At first people were wondering what these women were up to. No child came near these sisters. Yet the sisters kept living a lonely but happy life. At last one little girl ventured in and seeing her many more came. As time passed by, the wrong notion of not sending girls to learn vanished. More and more people sent their wards to learn. As the education spread, people were happy and nourished great hopes in the bright future of their children. Boys and girls vied with each other to excel in their studies. The children learnt catechism and the replies to prayers said in the church. People were faithful to daily family prayers. Children were prepared to receive sacraments. Young women learnt to dress neatly with modesty. People frequented sacraments with fervor. The desire to learn spread to small and remote villages and farms. On the request of the people we established convents and sent our sisters. Our Mother House had to be expanded in order to meet the growing demands.

We established convents at Nellithoppe and Purathakudi. The local people received the sisters and marched along in procession accompanied by dance and local music. Literate mothers could teach their children. It is easier for the learned women to teach other women. These literate women were of great help in the spreading of our Catholic faith.          

Pondichery,                                                               Signed                                  

9-11-1858.                                                                                                                              L. DUPUIS

My dear sisters!

            Our dear Father in the year 1874 in May 31^st on Sunday said mass in our convent and blessed the people, finished his meditation and as usual began to talk to me on things that I didn’t know some times. He talked on many other happy events and went to his presbytery.

On that day, Fr. Prele who used to accompany him in his tottering age had gone to Cadalur to celebrate May Devotions. On the first of June, on Monday morning our dear Father could not say mass as he began to faint. So Rev. Fr. Arul Maria Nather celebrated mass in our convent. Fr. Prele came back at 9.00 A.M. to Pondy after the celebration of May Devotion. Knowing the state of Big Father and deciphering the way his face changed, he came to the convent and informed with great sorrow about the disease of Father. How can I narrate the sorrow we had. Just as the solar eclipse, the sorrow that we were going to face on accounts of the death of our dear Father engulfed us.  Even then without losing hope, raising our eyes to God, we prayed. God have mercy on us. If it is your will to let Father to stay with us, to comfort us in this world, keep him. If it is your will to stop his suffering and grant him eternal rest, let your will be done in all things. We prayed thus and kept weeping.

The disease began to be severe on Tuesday second of June. Then Bishop Lavona treated him with great difficulty. But by God’s will death came on account of the disease.

That night all the priests and the deacons in a group came and administered the last sacrament to our dear father. After that Rt. Rev Bishop asked our Father if he could invite the sisters. To that our father agreed with joy. On Wednesday 4^th June, in the morning all of us went to our father’s room. I could not explain the depth of sorrow he and we had. Rev. Fr. Prele and we knelt down. Though our Father wanted to say many advises and many things, he could not talk at that time. On that, his Lordship asked our Father if he could say to his sisters to follow as per the rules he had taught and pray for him. Our Father replied that is what he desired. After, the more he saw us, the more sorrow over powered him and caused shortness of breath or panting. Bishop Lavonya told us a few comforting words and asked us to come to the portico. He said, “You do not worry. I shall be your Father after him.” He also told some consoling words. Then our dear father looked at us with sorrow from the chair he sat, through the window. I cannot describe how sorrowful he and we felt. We came weeping and lamenting to the convent. Even though we could not see him after that, Fr. Prele and assistant sister Savariammal went to him and later reported to us how he was. On Thursday 4^th June at 8 p.m. he was sinking. All the fathers came and prayed for him. Seeing this Sr.Savariammal came to the convent and told that Father had passed away. Then we all went to the presbytery.  Then we came to know he did not die, because we heard him panting. After we went home.  At 5p.m. our dear Father had a happy death.  Immediately bells were rung. All the people in the church prayed. They transferred the body of our dear Father from his room to the infirmary.

 I revealed my desire to Rev. Fr. Prele, that he should be dressed in the cassock and mass vestments stitched by the sisters. When he went to ask permission from the Bishop, Bishop gave permission to the sisters to do whatever they wanted to do to their dear father. As per that we dressed him in the cassock and the mass vestment sent by his nephew. We kept the crucifix on the pillow. I got an inspiration when I was praying to him before the burial that is, to cut a part of his beard. I did that and kept it safely. We were at the altar of St. Joseph when our father’s body was being bought to the Church for burial. When his body was blessed in the Church and taken to the symmetry, if I had to write about the deep sorrow in me, my eyes would be covered with my tears. Whenever I think of the death of the father I suffer most anguish. God’s special grace saved us from this misery.

After burying our dear Father our sister stayed there for an hour and turned to the altar of St. Joseph and prayed, Lord we have lost our dear Father. Here after you will be Our Father. But we now prayed, please make Father Prele who was the assistant to our father as our father. We returned to our convent. That night, sisters of Carmel convent sent us supper .

The next day we desired to have a solemn requiem mass for the repose of the soul of our father. But we could not do, as that day was the feast of the Most Sacred Heart.

On 22^nd June we tied black cloth from the convent street to our convent and celebrated requiem sung mass. Numerous people came for the mass. At the end of the mass we began singing the song composed by Savarael Nayakar on what good our father had done to the church and to Pondy diocese. At that time I can’t express how we were trembling from heart and body and suffered. Our hearts were drowned in the ocean of sorrow just as the sky was covered with dark clouds.

My dear Sisters! After describing the death of our dear father and the resulting sorrow I cannot but write about his holiness, the outstanding noble qualities I had known from the day of the founding of our congregation. So I am writing these so that, the coming future sisters of our congregation may know something at least.

My dear daughters, how can I enumerate all his good qualities?

1.We were struck with wonder about his respectful attitude because 30 years after founding our congregation, we know what color his eyes were. He lived among us, moved with us socially but he could not distinguish the face of the sisters. He knew and recognized only through the voices of the sisters. I think he knew the faces of those who moved with him closely.

2.He was calmness itself. We due to ignorance behaved in such a way as to cause him pain and anger. Yet he never got angry with us, or used harsh words. He used to advice and corrected us quietly with calmness. Even when he had to correct us lawfully, like a mother who gave bitter medicine to cure the disease, he used to teach and correct us through his advice.

3.He never wasted time. He was always busy. Whenever we went to his room he used to be busy writing books and translating. Even when he was sick and when was not saying mass, he kept writing. He never sought rest. Apart from these times of work, he used have on his hand a prayer book and a rosary.

4.He was a very pious person. Many a time he used to spend his time in prayers and meditation. At that time, whoever stood before him he would not look at him/her.

5.He meticulously followed the virtue of poverty for our edification. There were no expensive articles for his use. He used only old and low quality materials. As we repaired his dress he had very few new clothes. He had many old and patched dresses.

6.He was very proficient in Tamil. He has written many new novels, translated and printed them. The leading ones are: First part and the second part of the Sacred Month of St. Joseph. Apart from this he had written many books for the priests. He has written the following books namely: the secret of religious life in two major parts solely for the sisters. We must read them once a year in our convents. This was the wish of our dear Father. In his old age as a legacy before his death he had bequeathed us. As good children who meticulously follow the dying messages of their father, we must faithfully observe his holy teachings.

When our dear Father was dying we had our 10 convents, 12 schools, professed sisters 84 and novices 16. He founded our congregation in 1844. He died on 04-06-1874 on Thursday at 5p.m. He founded our congregation and ruled it for 30 years. We cannot enumerate what he had suffered, worries and hardships, because he had to search for women who were virtuous and had astuteness or sharpness of mind, resoluteness and piety to make them nuns. As these sisters firstly had to teach, he had to teach them first. Of the many difficulties he had, a very sad one that was, there was a deep- rooted notion among public that, girl children should not be taught. So little by little, with patience, calmness and with care, he removed this false belief. Even Hindus had requested to include their children along with the Christian children as beneficiaries by the congregation of the sisters of the Immaculate Heart. He had established schools for the Hindus at Pondy and Kumbakonam. He worked hard to establish convents for the sisters, constructing buildings for them, training the sisters in learning and teaching them proper behavior. Apart from that, he was appointed as inspector of schools and did the work as an examiner. In the mission he assisted the Bishop as vicar general. He was the manager of the Press. Because of the excess of work, he soon became weak and sick. Let us imitate him, as he was the best in following all the virtues, dear to God and men. He was a suitable father to us. He gave us his parting gift, all the books he had authored. Let us imitate and follow him. Our dear father was a member of the Foreign Mission Fathers, (Mission Estranger) for 43 years. On his 68^th year, he died as a Saint.

Dear sisters! Our big dear father and founded our congregation, helped it to grow and did very many great things. He even wrote his will Rs.4425/- to our congregation. So for the repose of his soul offer masses on the anniversary of his death on 4^th June, on his birthday on 25^th August and on 16^th of every month, in Pondy motherhouse. So it is our duty to offer 16 masses for him every year.