Dimapur, December 11 (MExN): The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco of the Province of Guwahati marked the beginning of the Centenary Year of their presence in North East India on December 8 at St Mary’s, Guwahati.
The occasion was commemorated with the dedication of the Shrine of St Mary Mazzarello, Co-foundress of the Institute, in a solemn function officiated by Dr John Moolachira, Archbishop of Guwahati, in the presence of Sr Alphonsa Kurisingal, FMA, Head of the Salesian Sisters of the Province of Guwahati, heads of the 38 centres in which they run and other dignitaries and collaborators of the Salesian Sisters.
It commenced with the hoisting of the centenary flag, followed by the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Dr John Moolachira, according to a press release.
After the Eucharistic celebration, a short presentation on the life of St Mary Mazzarello was displayed by the young women in religious formation, taking one back to the origin and the cradle of the Institute to reminiscence and recall the source of the true spirit and dynamism of the Institute. The family agape will conclude the celebrations.
According to the release, the six pioneers from Italy, namely, Sr Innocenza Vallino, the leader of the group, Sr Giulia Berra, Sr Maria Bricarello, Sr Clotilde Appiano, Sr Antonietta Rosetti and Sr Cecilia Da Roit arrived in Guwahati on December 8, 1923. The gigantic growth of today’s educational mission in the North East had its humble beginnings in a dilapidated cottage in the premises of Don Bosco, Pan Bazar, Guwahati. Though the initial mission was accompanied by various challenges and difficulties, the pioneers threw themselves heart and soul into their mission, and even before they were well acquainted with Assamese, English and Hindi, they launched into village apostolate, hospital ministry, orphanages, vocational training schools, schools in English, Assamese and Hindi medium and formation of past pupils’ association.
The Institute had its birth on August 5, 1872 at Mornese, Italy, with eleven young women who dedicated themselves to God by their religious professions. Today, it has spread to all the continents of the world with more than 11,000 members, 74 provinces and five vice-Provinces. Sr Mary Mazzarello, the first Superior General and the first Sisters of Mornese lived Don Bosco’s Charism, namely, the salvific mission of Christ, in creative fidelity through Christian education for the salvation of young people according to the signs of the time. The tiny seed of the Charism sown 100 years ago in North East bore abundant fruits giving birth to three provinces: Shillong, Kolkata and Guwahati, it maintained.
The Province of Guwahati of the Salesian Sisters was formed on 24 February 2000. The Province has today 38 centres in the four states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, with 291 Sisters. The educational and developmental ministry for the integral growth and holistic formation of young people, women and children ranges from formal to non-formal education: schools and colleges, day and evening schools for neighbourhood and domestic workers, coaching centres, vocational training centres, oratories and youth centers, NIOS, CFG (Child Friendly Guwahati), neigbourhood children’s parliament, hostel and boarding houses, a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts and HIV patients, homes for street children, literacy programme centres, computer centres, family and prison ministry, village apostolate, pastoral services, self-help groups and income-generating activities, nature care ministry as well as networking.
The release stated that the Sisters, ever conscious of the complex nature of education today, strive to keep up the standard of their institutions as sacred temples of learning, grooming and living.
The inauguration of the Centenary Year will be a propitious occasion for every Salesian Sister to continue to live her identity as an educator of young people with renewed enthusiasm and educational passion after the Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd for the realization of God’s plan and the dream of St John Bosco and St Mary Mazzarello, to make young people good human beings and honest citizens and to see them happy in this world and in the next world, it added.
