The Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel are members of a

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...

dedicated to female education. It was founded in the latter part of the 19th century by Mother Veronica of the Passion,

O.C.D. The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

, under the guidance of her mentor, Bishop Marie Ephrem of the Sacred Heart, O.C.D., who had envisioned the birth of a "Carmel for the Missions" in India, devoted to teaching and education. Sister Veronica of the Passion had come to India as a member of the teaching congregation of the

Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition (French: ''Sœurs de Saint-Joseph-de-l'Apparition''; Latin: ''Institutum Sororum a S. Joseph ab Apparitione''; abbreviation: ''S.J.A.'') is a religious institute of pontifical right whose members pr ...

, founded in France in 1832 by

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Emily de Vialar (+ 1856). She had entered the congregation in 1851, shortly after her conversion to the Roman Catholic Church from the Church of England. She met Bishop Ephrem upon her assignment to India in the early 1850s. Like the other Discalced Carmelite friars providing

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

care to western India, they had sought to provide Catholic education to the women and young girls under their care. Inspired by his vision of such a

of Carmelite Sisters, Sister Veronica entered the Carmel of Puy, France, as a novice in the Discalced Carmelite Order. After her profession, she began to train a group of young European women of varying nationalities for the task of education in India. On November 19, 1870, the first group of Sisters arrived in Mangalore, under the leadership of Mother Mary of the Angels, who was the first

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while t ...

and

novice mistress In the Roman Catholic Church, a novice master or master of novices, lat. ''Magister noviciorum'', is a member of a religious institute who is responsible for the training and government of the novitiate in that institute. In religious institutes f ...

, to start the Mission.

St. Anne Convent St. Anne Convent, located in Melbourne, Kentucky, is the home of the American Province of the Congregation of Divine Providence, a community of Roman Catholic Sisters. The convent houses the provincial offices of the congregation, the residences o ...

, which became the Motherhouse, was the cradle of the Apostolic Carmel. The Apostolic Carmel has spread its branches into the various parts of India,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, Kuwait, Pakistan, Kenya, Rome and Bahrain. The Congregation is governed under Six Provinces and centrally administered by the General Team from the General Motherhouse in Bangalore, with Sister Agatha Mary as the present Superior General (2008). The mission of the religious institute was and remains Catholic Education. It provides a Catholic value-based education, with special attention given to the disadvantaged sections of society through various levels of education: pre-primary, primary, secondary, pre-university, higher, technical and special education for the disabled. The other ministries include: healing ministry, nursing care, de-addiction and rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts,

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

groups, prison ministry, ministering to persons with different disabilities, community-based-rehabilitation,

Catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

and faith education.

External links

Mother Mary Veronica of the Passion at The Congregation of the Apostolic Carmel
{{Catholic religious institutes Discalced Carmelite Order Catholic teaching orders Carmelite spirituality Catholic female orders and societies Catholic religious orders established in the 19th century

See also

External links