South Asia Province - Loreto

Loreto in India owes its origin to a visit by Dr Bakhaus to Loreto Abbey,

Rathfarnham, Ireland, in 1840 to request Mother Teresa Ball to send

sisters to set up a school for Catholic children in Calcutta. In

response to this, Mother Teresa Ball sent 7 Loreto Sisters and 5

Postulants, all in their twenties, under the leadership of Delphine Hart

to India, announcing that they would probably never see their homeland

again. These pioneers were Mother Delphine Hart, Mother Teresa Mons,

Mother Martina McCann, Sisters Alexia Egan, Benigna Egan, Veronica Fox,

Gabriel Doyle, Miss Isabella Hart (M.Delphine’s sister), a Miss

McDonough who received the habit as Sister Xaveria on her deathbed at

the end of this first year and two other postulants, Miss Shanley and

Miss Fitzpatrick. They sailed on a ship named The Scotia. This intrepid

band left Dublin on September 1, 1841 from Ireland and landed at

Babughat, Kolkata on December 29, 1841. They were the first congregation

to come to North India.