Thirty Eight years ago on 8 September 1989, a quiet yet significant step was taken in the Congregation’s journey: the opening of our first presence outside India in Italian soil. It was not merely an expansion, but a homecoming of the heart – a return to the land that shaped the soul, spirit, religious call and priesthood of our beloved Founder, Servant of God Stephen Ferrando. What began as a daring step of faith has over time, become a meaningful part of our Congregation’s journey, deeply tied to our origins and the unfolding needs of a growing missionary Congregation. It was a movement both inward and outward, reconnecting us with the cradle of our spiritual lineage while reaching into new spaces of pastoral need and Gospel witness. 

The idea had first surfaced in the deliberations of General Chapter III in 1982.   At that time, the Congregation was seeing remarkable growth, especially among the tribal communities of North East India.  With vocations increasing and the scope of the mission widening, questions of initial formation, educational preparedness of the sisters, ongoing formation and financial sustainability of the missions came to the fore.  Under the discerning leadership of Mother Mary Rose Thapa, Superior General  and Mother Elizabeth Pakumala, the then Vicar General and their respective Councils, the matter matured.  By General chapter IV of 1988, the decision was taken to begin a community in Italy. 

Our Founder Servant of God Stephen Ferrando carried within him the deep and dignified imprint of his Italian heritage-rooted in the rugged grace of Piedmont region, a land of strong hearts, deep faith, and missionary fire.  This region, which gave birth to Don Bosco and so many passionate witnesses to the Gospel, also formed him– in its language, its spirituality and its enduring sense of purpose.  It was the quiet strength of his homeland – the simplicity of its people, their tenacity in hardship, their love for God  and neighbour and great devotion to the Holy Mother of God – that most deeply marked his soul. While he would one day leave behind the vineyards and valleys of his native land and the embrace of his beloved family and people, as well as the historic city of Turin– with its sacred spaces, formative grace and Salesian spirit that shaped his religious and priestly call– for the missions of North East India, their imprint never left him.

In 1969, years after Bishop Ferrando had made India his home, during one of his visits to Italy,  he was moved by the much needed service of a group of Italian sisters to the elderly in a Home for the Aged.  At the same time he was painfully aware of the difficulty paused by the decreasing number of vocations to religious life in the context of Europe. And his compassionate heart could not but tell them that in a few years’ time, he would send his sisters to take care of them and wrote to the sisters immediately about it.  That letter to his daughters now preserved and held with both clarity and tenderness brings forth the divine design that our presence in Italy was not only a plan but a promise and a wise, Spirit-led continuity of the Charism.

From the start, our work in Italy had remained modest in scale compared to the vibrant populations we serve in India, but deeply meaningful in substance. The sisters found themselves drawn especially to spaces that resonated with the Founder’s impulse: homes for the aged, parish ministry and very recently a home of hospitality.  Here, the mission is often about accompanying and rekindling faith where it has waned and offering visible witness.