Western Province

A branch of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany brought forth a shoot at Chittapur, Gulbarga District in Karnataka in the year 1972 which then was under Bellary Diocese. It was Rt. Rev. Ambrose Yedanapally, the second Bishop of the Diocese who invited the Bethany Sisters to work in this diocese. Chittapur was a dry area and often afflicted by famine, drought and want. People were deprived of good education and health care facilities.

Fr Anthony Puthenkalam was a zealous missionary and he loved Mary the Queen of Heaven. So ardent he was that he was desirous to bring Sisters to his parish in Chittapur.  He prayed hard and worked strenuously to help his suffering people. He was not peaceful until the Bishop gave him the news about the arrival of Bethany Sisters to his diocese. Sr Rosette along with SrSuguna, Sr Lililoa and Sr Santhosh began their missionary journey in Chittapur on 25 May 1972. Providentially, a local man named Dr Mahalinga Marakini Bhat was unable to continue the English medium school he had started. He offered this school to Fr Anthony Puthenkalam, his best friend, to continue it with 64 students; it was handed over to Bethany Sisters.  Sr Rosette was at the helm as the Headmistress of this school named as ‘Shishu Vihar’. She being the pioneer, Headmistress, Superior, was concerned with the strength of students in the school and also of the faith formation of the people because the surrounding areas lacked educational opportunities specially students of Raichur, Mudgal, Kavtal Bidar and Chittapur.

A severe famine struck Chittapur and the surrounding area in the same year. The poor people were hungry and thirsty. Through the help of local donors ‘Gangi Kendra’ (Gruel Centre) was opened to serve the hungry. Later this centre became the boarding in the year01 October 1973.  38 guntas land was donated by Deshamukh a local donor for the Boarding. An infrastructure was put up; partly it is used by the sisters as Convent and partly for the Boarding. As a result of the dedicated service of sisters this boarding proves to be the cradle of vocations for religious and priestly life.

Over the years the strength of the children in the boarding is on decline since many hostels have come up in recent years in the surrounding areas. Boarding was also the beneficiary of B.D.S.S(Bellary) till 1997. After that, food and the maintenance of the Boarding is taken care by Jyothi Seva Kendra Trust through the generosity of Dr Michael Ohm, Germany.

Sr Sandra Maria BS
Correspondent

Sr Lucy Priya BS
Warden

 Hostel Building

Hostel Students