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The
School Missionaries of the Union of St. Catherine of
Siena is a Dominican Congregation founded in 1924 by
Servant of God Lugia Tincani, a Dominican tertiary under
the guidance of a Dominican friar Ludovic Joseph
Fanfani. Affiliated to the Dominican Order from the
onset the congregation was given the status of “ a new
shoot sprung from the age old trunk of the Dominican
tree” by the then Pope Benedict XV.
The main apostolate of this
congregation is to be teachers and evangelizers in the
secular schools, with the motto “to take the charity of
Truth to the youth “ especially to those who lack
fundamental knowledge of Christian principles and are
less open to the evangelical Truth.
Our foundress Luigia Tincani was
born in Chieti ,Italy on March 25th 1889,on the feast
day of the Annunciation as the youngest child of a true
Christian family. Her father Carlo Tincani was a
professor of Latin and Greek and also held the post of
the Director of Education. Hailing from a highly
cultured back ground Luigia was well aware of the then
problems of Christian education in a time when
anti-clericalism and skepticism were waging war against
the Catholic tradition in Italy. She soon realized that
the battle for a right education must be fought in the
field of public schools which the majority of the youth
attended. However she was convinced of the need of
support from heaven that all powerful support that God
grants in return to complete dedication to Him in
religious life. Meanwhile Luigia began to be the leaven
in the society by her active involvement in the several
movements initiated at the dawn of 21st century.
The year 1912
witnessed some concrete steps in her future plan.
Luigia with a clear inspiration from above decided to
establish a group of devout and intellectually prepared
catholic women who would enter the secular centers of
education; she came under the direction of fr. Ludovico
Fanfani a staunch Dominican; she chose for heavenly
patron st. Catherine of Siena whose mantle of fearless
spirit fell on her. Her collaborators were knit together
and thus formed a very original type of religious life
in Gubbio in 1924. Perceiving the type of apostolate of
this new born religious family Pope Pius XI named them ‘
School Missionaries’ who were to fulfill a prophetic
vocation purely in the educational field.
Thus beginning from
Pope Benedict XV the Popes in succession blessed and
patronized the new born Union which in turn grew and
multiplied on a steady basis. A true follower of
Dominic, Mother Tincani began founding small new
communities in various parts of Italy and gradually
else where in the European Continent. The first ever
community of this kind was founded in Holland in the
year 1983. The year 1990 witnessed another new
foundation in Poland under the patronage of Pope John
Paul II. with the intention of penetrating the world of
youth; and the Lord has blessed us with beautiful local
vocations to this day. As for now Union offers its
service in Italy, Holland , Poland, India and Pakistan.
Of late a new foundation in the distant United States
of America is getting finalized .
As the members of the
Dominican order Mother Luigia’s sisters receive the
habit on the day of profession but they renounce the
privilege of wearing it adapting to the dress code of
the locality in order to be more agile and better able
to adjust to the needs of times and places where they
work. Sustained by intense contemplative life and
systematic study they reach out to the poorest of the
poor viz those who hunger and thirst for Truth and love.
Mother Tincani cherished a deep
love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin and saw in Mary
of Annunciation a perfect model for the life of her
religious-the Virgin in adoration of the invisible
presence of the Word of God in her and generously
sharing that priceless treasure with her neighbor at her
visitation to St. Elizabeth .Thus the Dominican motto of
Contemplation flowing into Action constitutes our motto
too.
A true missionary in fact and in
deed Luigia dispatched her sisters to the Indian
continent in the year 1947 to found the first Asian
mission in Lahore. The year 1948 witnessed political
upheaval in the sub-continent resulting in the
bifurcation and the birth of Pakistan ;so the Indian
mission turned out to be Pakistan mission compelling the
first Indian missionaries to the heroic act of
renouncing their Indian citizenship in favor of
Pakistani citizenship; among them the only surviving
member is sr. Benedicta D’Souza who with unfeigned
missionary spirit continues to serve the mission in
Pakistan.
It took nearly 20
years to establish a purely Indian mission in Mumbai in
the year 1967, the pioneers being sr. Stella sr. Jessie
; the year 1969 witnessed the blessing of our first
Indian house in Juhu, Mumbai which served as the
formation house for the new arrivals. By the year 1978
the sisters moved further south to Mangalore and
established the first community in Surathkal in 1981.
Through the instrumentality of the Bishop of Kochin we
acquired a small plot at Edakochin and established our
first convent in Kerala in 1984. In the year 1994 we
moved to Bangalore where the first Indian Novitiate was
erected; The Jubilee year 2000 witnessed the birth of a
new community at Thokkottu, Mangalore. And now we are on
the look out for new mission stations in the North where
there is a wide scope for mission and evangelization.
In all the existing
locations we engage mainly in teaching in the Diocesan
educational institutions. We extend our service to the
non-Catholic schools as well. Thus shouldering the same
responsibility and fatigue as any other teacher or
colleague we aim at making the Gospel message reach the
hearts of those who approach us irrespective of caste or
creed.. As teachers we have better possibility and
hence the greater responsibility to prepare the ground
sufficiently well to sow the seeds of Gospel Truth; and
this indeed demands of us an adequate preparation in the
field. We trust in the Lord’s promise that His word will
never return to him without bearing fruit. Besides
teaching apostolate we avail our service to Parish
ministries such as Sacristy, Catechism, Basic Christian
Communities, family apostolate and the youth wherever
needed.
We are aware that more than ever
our mission today demands of us the personal and
communitarian contemplative dimension of Dominican life.
Keeping this in mind we try to be ever more faithful to
the regular observance, common celebration of Liturgy
and personal prayer which sustain us in our missionary
compaign; and we strongly believe that the Good Lord
who has initiated this work in us will bring it to
completion in His own way and fulfilling his own plans
in fidelity to His unfailing promises.
“Ours is not to question
why ours is but to do and die” |
