Veronica of the Passion (1 October 1823 – 11 November 1906) was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

nun who founded the

Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel The Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel are members of a Carmelite religious institute dedicated to female education. It was founded in the latter part of the 19th century by Mother Veronica of the Passion, O.C.D., under the guidance of her mentor, B ...

, a religious congregation of the

Discalced Carmelite 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 ...

Third Order for women based in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Life

She was born as Sophie Leeves in 1823 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, capital of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, to Henry Daniel Leeves, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

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to the

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there, and to Sophia Mary Haultain, the daughter of a

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the British army. When Leeves was in her teens a change came over her. She spent long hours in prayers. "Easter Tuesday ended in a dark night" she wrote. "I blew out the last candles. The house was still. Suddenly a clear but soft voice broke the stillness and I heard these words distinctly 'My peace I leave you; My peace I give you'. Then all was still again, the night as well as my heart". Leeves felt drawn to the

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, especially the

sacrament A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...

s of

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and

Holy Communion The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

. Leeves and others were annoyed at this. She broke off her engagement to a naval officer. Leeves was received into the Catholic Church on 2 February 1850 in

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. The following year, she went to France where she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, which had been founded in 1836 by

Emily de Vialar Her Reliquary in Gaillac. Emily de Vialar or Émilie de Vialar (1797–1856) was a French nun who founded the missionary congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Life Emily ...

. After completing the

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, she was

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as a member of the

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on 14 September 1851 and received the name Sister Mary Veronica of the Passion. In 1863 Veronica was assigned to teach at the congregation's foundation in India, sent at the request of the bishop Marie Antony, who had appealed to France for assistance to hand over the education of youth to religious. As a preliminary step he had bought a house at Calicut (now

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

) in 1860 and fitted it up for a convent and at the request of the people opened a school there on 1 April 1862, calling it St. Joseph's School. Veronica and Mary Joseph, after a long and tiring voyage and a brief halt at Mangalore, arrived there on 27 April 1862, and took charge of the school. She served as the first Superior of the convent and spent two years teaching at both Mangalore and Kozhikode. It was there that Veronica met the priest Marie Ephrem of the Sacred Heart Garrelon. He, along with the other Discalced Carmeltite

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

who provided

pastoral care Pastoral care is an ancient model of emotional, social and spiritual support that can be found in all cultures and traditions. The term is considered inclusive of distinctly non-religious forms of support, as well as support for people from rel ...

for

western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union te ...

, had long envisioned a group of teaching Sisters to provide an education to the women and girls of the region. The friar felt that Veronica was an excellent candidate to lead this effort, which coincided with her own inner call to join the Carmelite Order. After much reflection and anguish, Veronica accepted the call to start such a foundation. She left the Sisters of St. Joseph and returned to France, where she entered the Discalced

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

of Pau as a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

. After her

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, Veronica embarked on the formation of a small group of European women who had joined to start the foundation in India, living in a house in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

. They officially formed the Congregation of the Sisters of the Carmelite Third Order Regular, known as the "Apostolic Carmel", on 16 July 1868, the feast of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order, particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Ca ...

. A small group of three sisters left for India, under the leadership of Mary of the Angels, who served as the first

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and Mistress of novices of the new congregation. They arrived in India on 19 November 1870, about the same time as Ephrem was appointed as the local bishop. Shortly after their arrival, the sisters opened the St. Ann School for Girls. In 1873, Veronica returned to her own monastery, the Carmel of Pau, where she died on 16 November 1906, at the age of 83. On 5 September 1892, the congregation Veronica helped to found became formally affiliated with the Discalced Carmelite Order. It has grown and now has branches in various parts of India, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Pakistan, Kenya, Rome and Bahrain. The Congregation is governed under six Provinces and centrally administered by the General Team from the General Motherhouse, Bangalore, with Agatha Mary as the present

since 2008. Veronica's cause of

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

was taken up by the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel in 1997. Veronica has been declared

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

in July 2014.Promulgation of decrees: new 'Venerables'

Writings

Veronica left an ''Autobiography'', a large number of letters and some ''Regulations for the nuns of the third order of St Teresa''. *''Carmel in India'', London, Burns and Oates, 1895 (new edition at Mangalore, 1964). *''Vie merveilleuse de Sœur Marie de Jésus crucifié'', Montpellier, 1903.

Bibliography

* Marie des Anges: ''A short history of the apostolic Carmel'', 1890 * Mary Candida AC: ''The apostolic Carmel; seed time'', Bangalore, 1974. * Mary Carol AC: ''A strange destiny: the life of Mother Mary Veronica of the Passion, foundress of the Apostolic Carmel'', Bangalore, 1988.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20090206212923/http://providenceghss.com/mother.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20091017011601/http://www.holyangelsschoolcbse.org/objectives.htm
St. Joseph's Anglo-Indian Girls' Higher Secondary School "Our History"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veronica of the Passion 1823 births 1906 deaths Discalced Carmelite nuns Venerated Carmelites Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism 19th-century British Roman Catholic nuns 19th-century French nuns Founders of Catholic religious communities 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians People from Istanbul Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis 20th-century French nuns