The Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the daughter of Coimbatore Diocese, which was given birth by the Zealous and pioneering priests belonging to the Paris Foreign Mission Society. They worked and developed this diocese in all aspects with admirable zeal and hard labour. The cradle of Christianity for Coimbatore Diocese was Karumathampatti, so also this Congregation which was begun at Karumathampatti. Both grew up alongside braving time and tide.
The seed was sown for this Congregation on 21st November 1853 by Rev. Fr. Joseph Louis Ravel, a French Foreign Missionary at Karumathampatti when he was administering Coimbatore Vicariate with a fore sight, Savariammal, an innocent 18 year old woman from the rural background, who had never seen a religious sister nor known what a religious life is meant, approached him to convey her deep love and yearning to serve God. She revealed her uncontrolling desire to serve God in all earnestness in obedience to His will, Fr. Ravel, though astonished, thanked Our Lord to bless this young heart with the required sustencence to serve in the vineyard of our Dear Lord.
Spirited with enthusiasm and intuition at this, Fr. Ravel bought a small house at Karumathampatti, where in Savariammal and two other girls, Shanthaiammal and Arulaiammal were to start their lives of spirituality and allied religious ways. Seeing the fervour and devotion of these Sisters, Monsig. Godelle, the then Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry appointed on 23rd December 1856, Mother Arockiamary from Carmalite Order Pondicherry as the Superior of this New-founded Congregation. The four Sisters enthused more girls to join the Convent. In 1859, the Convent was shifted from Karumathampatti to Coimbatore.
The Congregation grew quite rapidly and on 8th October 1865, Msgr.De Pomierre, the then Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore, appointed Mother Maria Shantha as the first Superior General of the Congregation. The special aim of the Congregation is to bear witness to Christ by service of the neighborhood, specially through Christian, moral and general education of children and young women; taking care of the orphans, the sick the aged and the needy and through the Charitable works which may help us bear witness to Christ and His love.
After about one and half centuries of our unrelenting spirit of services in the mother church through evangelization, education medical and other social ministries the Holy See had been graciously pleased to recognize our dedicated fervor and service. our Congregation was elevated to the status of Pontifical Right by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on 15.12.2000.
Inspired by the Charism of Our Congregation viz “A Living Teaching of the Great law of Charity” our Sisters focus on the marginalized and those living at the fringe of the society. To disseminate that Charism with the preferential option for the poor, our Sisters are serving in.
In order that the Church of today may benefit more fully from lives consecrated by the profession of the counsels and from the vital function which they perform, the holy synod deal only with the general principles of the up-to-date renewal of the life and discipline of religious orders. Before all else, religious life is ordered to the following of Christ by its members and to their becoming united with God by the profession of the evangelical counsels. For this reason, it must be seriously and carefully considered that even the best – contrived adaptations to the needs of our time will be of no avail unless they are animated by a spiritual renewal, which must always be assigned primary importance even in the active ministry.
- Vatican Council II
As per our Constitution we started preparing for the General Chapter a year ahead. The first and foremost aspect of it was carrying the Scientific Evaluation for our Congregation which was headed by Rev. Fr. Sebasti L. Raj, S.J., Provincial, Society of Jesus, Madurai Province. There is a strong view that the Charism of the Congregation has to be redefined to suit the modern situation. Similarly, there is almost a unanimous view that the ministries of the Congregation should be reviewed and re-focused on the basis of the charism of the Congregation. This is a crucial aspect to be looked into, as the majority of the sisters have expressed serious concern about the ministries and their relevance to the charism of the Congregation. So the 25th General Chapter of our Congregation redefined and refocused the Charism, sharpened its content and made it simple and clear, keeping the modern context in mind as "Be the gospel witness by uplifting the underprivileged".
- Scientific Evaluation Repor
In order to help us in our renewal, it is God's plan that paved the way for the Great Historic Silver Jubilee of the General Chapter that was held between 7th and 17th May 2013 with the participation of our sisters (Delegates 78 and 9 Representatives) under the theme of "Reign of God Springs in the depth of renewed Consecrated Life". This was an historical chapter in which the participants were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit to get the insight to redefine the above Charism in order to meet the challenging, modern situation and to review and refocus our sacred ministries. Thus the restructured Charism will be accepted by us as our Charism.
