The Good Shepherd Sisters’ mission to Ceylon 150 years ago
Upholding a legacy of service: The Good Shepherd Sisters
It was the Benedictine Italian Archbishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Sillani, who initiated the first Catholic convent in this country yet it drew upon the efforts of a French saint Mother Euphrasia to plant the seed which has now become a mighty tree through whose portals thousands of girls have passed.
Good Shepherd Convent is a semi- government Catholic Girls’ school founded in May 1869 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Located in the neighbourhood of Kotahena, the convent-school educates girls from kindergarten to age 18.
On April 15, 1869, Rev. Sr. Mary Anucita Marandi, Sr. Mary Suzanne Cardiff, Sr. Euphstie Joseph and Sr. Mary Sacred Heart Masi arrived in Sri Lanka following a request made in 1867 by the then Bishop of Colombo, Hilarion Sillani to Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia Pelletier (now St. Mary Euphrasia), to set up a school of the Good Shepherd order.
The Good Shepherd congregation marked the beginning of the Sisters’ mission to British Ceylon and the Far East. Nuns from this original convent opened Good Shepherd Convent in Kandy, St Mary’s School in Pettah (closed) and St Bridget’s Convent in Cinnamon Gardens. In 1939, Sisters based in Colombo expanded to Singapore, then part of the Straits Settlements, and present-day Malaysia.
On May 1, 1869, the school began functioning with just eight students with the first Superior of the Convent, Sr. Mary of the Seven Dolours Joly taking over the task of leading the School as Principal. One of the priorities of the Good Shepherd Sisters had been to construct a chapel. Consequently the site was blessed on June 21, 1869 and the construction was left in the able and artistic hands of Fr. Stanislaus Tabarrani. During the 1870s’ the school had around 100 day scholars. The construction of a two-storey building, to house an orphanage began on June 21, 1869, guided by Bishop Sillani.
Kotahena was then a slum area and soon the Sisters began to fall ill. Within a few years, two Sisters died, and Sr. Seven Dolours and Sr. Annunciation returned to Angers. Then arrived a group of Irish Sisters. They kept well and the house flourished.
A school for English speaking girls was the first requirement. A school was opened without delay and soon after, a day school for those studying in Sinhalese. Within a few months, an orphanage was established for the care and protection of destitute girls. A Home of Refuge for girls in moral danger was considered a grave need and in November 1924, Archbishop Antonius Coudert, OMI chose the property at Nayakakanda, as his Silver Jubilee Memorial.
In January 1926, the building was opened. Later a creche for the babies and a Montessori School for toddlers were added. Here is the real “raison d’etre” of the Good Shepherd Congregation.
A very important event was the changing of the Provincialate to Nayakakanda in 1955, when Sister M. Good Counsel Mills (Irish) became the Provincial Superior. From then on, the centre of all the development of the Province was here, and also the Novitiate. Under Sister Good Counsel’s guidance, the Good Shepherd Province of Sri Lanka grew and prospered and became internationally known.
This is also another historic event in the province of Sri Lanka. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Sisters of St. Francis Xavier had established themselves in Negombo and Kalamulla. It was then that Mgr. Brault, OMI went in person to the Mother House in Angers, to request a Sister who would direct these Sisters as their Superior. Sister Mary Solange Duchesne, a small-made, humble Sister from Belgium, was sent to Sri Lanka in 1909.
The Francis Xavier Sisters in the Colombo Diocese grew in zeal and were in charge of 40 parish schools, orphanages, and a home for elders and boarding schools. The Novitiate was in Bolawalana, Negombo. A branch in the Kandy Diocese had seven houses accomplishing the same mission with their Novitiate at Matale.
Sister Mary Gonzaga Fernando was the first Sri Lankan to be elected as Provincial Superior of Sri Lanka /Pakistan in the year 1978. She accomplished the task as General Councillor in Rome for 13 long years from May 1984 to September 1997.
On October 12, 1975, the Contemplative Sisters transferred to the Halgashena Estate, Hanwella. In 1989, a house was built for them in Nayakakanda, and they came to reside in this new and permanent place of their own. As the number grew another house was opened at Niripola, Hanwella in November 1992.
With Sr. Mary Francine Muthugala now Province Leader of Sri Lanka/Pakistan, the two Communities now number 15 final professed Sisters and one temporary professed. The Good Shepherd Sisters are grateful for all the blessings they have received during these 150 years and remember all their Sisters, lay Mission partners, benefactors and friends, both local and overseas who support them and journey with them in many different ways.