About Our Founder

Born on 29 January 1858, in Madras, South India, Sr. Mary Grace D’Lima was an extraordinary human being whose vision of empowering women has shaped and moulded many a future. While her parents were proud of her early achievements, little did they anticipate the tremendous impact their daughter would have on thousands of lives.

After her Matriculation and Teacher’s Higher Grade Examination, she joined St. Joseph’s School for girls in Allepey. While working under the guidance of the Carmelite Missionaries, she felt called to dedicate her life at the service of the poor and the marginalised. She became a Carmelite sister, taking the name of Sr. Teresa of St. Rose of Lima, and was asked to start a Convent and an English Medium School for girls at the age of 29.

Thus was born the Institute of the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa (C.S.S.T.) in 1887 at Ernakulam, in Kerala. Within a span of fifteen years, Mother Teresa had taken enormous strides towards fulfilling her goals. Besides founding a community of sisters, she started three schools, including an industrial school for orphaned children. Her passion for quality education made her send the sisters to Edinburgh for Higher Studies at the University.

She cared for the destitute and abandoned children in the orphanage she founded; sheltered wayward women and initiated a well-planned programme to rehabilitate them with respect and dignity. She found the time to care for the aged, the destitute, the unwed and unwanted women at her Institute. She started a dispensary with a qualified doctor to take care of the medical needs of the people around, helped the Government during the Famine in Relief Programmes, in Ernakulam in 1897, and catered to the needs of the prisoners. She even was responsible for starting a School for the boys, thus simultaneously catering to the education of both girls and boys.

Mother Teresa met with a tragic and untimely death in a train accident on September 12, 1902, leaving behind a community of 12 sisters. Despite their bereavement, the sisters kept the spirit of their Foundress. The varied ministries she started continue to empower generations of young girls and women from all strata of society.

The Institute began to expand to other states of India and overseas. Today there are Colleges and Training Institutions of renown, several Higher Secondary, Higher Primary and Nursery Schools, Homes for the Aged, several Childrens’ Homes, Dispensaries, Crèches, Rehabilitation Centers, Homes for the HIV and Hospices for the terminally ill. Mother Teresa had unbounded energy and a single-minded dedication. Today, her ‘SPIRIT’ lives on through her followers who carry the Good News of Hope through their multifarious services.