Diocese: Mangalore

Pioneers: Mother Nympha Fernandez, Sisters Teresa Castelino and Flora Castelino

While attempting to put in writing the history of the convents of the Ursuline Franciscan Congregation after 125 years of its foundation, the Congregation takes immense delight to trace its roots from its Foundation House, St Ursula Convent at Bolar in South Kanara of Karnataka, India. The name of the Convent is carefully and accurately chosen to represent the Company of St Ursula, a group of twelve committed women, chosen and appointed by Fr Urban Stein SJ, the then parish priest of the Rosario Cathedral, in order to assist him pastorally. St Ursula Convent was the fruit of several factors, in particular, prayer. The first Book of Proceedings (Instruction and Report of the Assemblies of the Company) records an exhortation in the words of Sr Seraphina Noronha in February 1898: “We must pray very hard that a house might be procured for us”. At the initiative of Mother Nympha Fernandez, one of the pioneers as well as the ‘driving force’ behind the Company, a house was put up at the rear of the Rosario Cathedral, with the name, St Ursula Convent. The original portion of the house has been preserved to date as the Memory Hall. A well-known Konkani writer of the time Mr JP Rego, has rightly acknowledged her venture in the Konkani weekly Dirvem. He writes: ‘the large storied house, with a chapel attached, erected in the compound at the rear of the Cathedral in 1901 with funds collected from the elite of Mangalore was mainly the fruit of her untiring zeal’1. The house soon turned out to be the centre of the activities of the Company of St Ursula. As members of the Company, relinquishing the comforts of their affluent homes they began residing in the house. Teresa Castelino and Flora Castelino occupied the house in 1903 and Mother Nympha Fernandez in 1904.

The Company of St Ursula obtained the canonical status in 1934. The long-awaited and exceptional privilege brought along with it certain duties. One of the duties was to initiate the novitiate formation. To meet this need, a corridor was added to the existing building and it was used as a dormitory for the novices. The issue of economical self-sufficiency began to be a great concern for the Congregation. In order to address the need as well as to reach out to the needy children of Bolar and its suburbs, Mother Rose Saldanha, the nominated Superior General of the Congregation, sought and obtained permission from the Board of Directors of the Cathedral to construct a school building within the premises of the Convent. St Ursula Higher Primary School building was ready in 1937. Gradually in view of procuring extra classrooms at St Ursula, the novitiate programme and the general administration which were held at St Ursula until then were shifted to the Holy Rosary Convent, Jeppu in 1948 and 1956 respectively. In 1957 the Convent was graced with a spacious chapel during the tenure of Sr Eliza Pinto. The house was remodelled between 1984 and 1985 under the leadership of Sisters Edilburga Monteiro, the Councillor General and Gabriel Rodrigues, the Superior of the community. Great care was taken to retain the original structure intact while remodelling the house.

Due to its unique significance St Ursula Convent had been chosen to be the centre of administration. Initially all administration was held only at St Ursula. After the novitiate programme and general administration were shifted to Holy Rosary it was chosen again in 1986 as the centre of administration of the West Karnataka Region. It continued to be the main house of the Region till 1997. When the Region was upgraded into a Province in December 1997 the administration of the Province was shifted to Shanthi Dham at Derlakatte which is located eight kilometres south-east of Bolar.

The changeover of the Regional administration from St Ursula did not diminish its significance in any manner. It is sustained to be the centre of Bolar Zone; it is being utilized for several programmes and activities of the Bolar Zone. It serves to be a centre for the meetings of zonal day and zonal recollections (held quarterly), zonal vocation promoters’ meeting, meeting for internal financial auditing etc. A noteworthy factor that  distinguishes St Ursula Convent is its graciousness to make itself available to the work of formation and academic studies: it accommodates student candidates and student Sisters of the Province; it has been a formation house right through. Currently student candidates of Mangalore Province reside in the house. In order to afford sufficient space for student candidates the top of the bank building in the campus was furnished as a dormitory in 1998. Besides accomplishing their academic objectives, they contribute to the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Diocese by participating enthusiastically in various activities of the Cathedral Church and the Diocese of Mangalore.

St Ursula Convent in line with its foundational vision has discerned the signs of the times and responded to them adequately. On September 27, 1996 a hostel, with a capacity to accommodate 25 students, was opened for boys desiring to pursue their education in the Rosario High School. Later on, in order to make accommodation available to women and working girls from outside Mangalore, the old school building was renovated and utilized for the purpose. Besides in the convent premises the base of the dormitory of the student candidates was furnished for the purpose of bank transactions. The building was rented out to Canara Bank on June 13, 1998. This has facilitated the economic stability of the community.

St Ursula Higher Primary School, started in 1937, must be mentioned at this point. The school had catered to the poorest of the poor from in and around Bolar region. The Sisters from St Ursula Convent took extra pains to visit the families of poor students who had dropped out of school; having re-admitted them to school, they provided free education along with books and school uniforms. As eagerness for English medium schools started diverting its pupils to two of the schools in the vicinity, namely, Rosario School and St Ann School, the Sisters were compelled to revise their proposal. On January 4, 1996, with the assistance from the Catholic Board of Education, the school was amalgamated with the Rosario Primary School. The deal was signed by Sr Doreen D’Souza and Fr Cyprian Coelho, the correspondents of the two respective schools. Subsequently, the students, teachers and the school records were moved to the Rosario School. St Ursula Higher Primary School has retained its name among Rosario Institutions and the Sisters continue to head the Primary School. At the occasion, Rs 50,000/- were donated as exgratia towards the construction of the Rosario Pre- University College by the Congregation.

The pastoral apostolate carried out by the Sisters at St Ursula, Bolar is also worth noting. Started as a Pious Association to attend to the needs of the parish and parishioners, the Congregation down the years has been fulfilling the task loyally and lovingly. The Sisters catechize at the Cathedral parish on Sundays, prepare children for reception of the Sacraments, and involve themselves actively in preparation of diocesan-level activities such as Eucharistic procession, priestly and Episcopal Ordinations, Holy week celebrations, community wedding celebrations etc. They make themselves available in particular for arrangement of vestments, seating arrangement, altar and other decorations and for distribution of Communion. They assist in the animation of Jeevan Jyothi camps of Episcopal City Varado. Their hard work, support and collaboration with others brought a great success to the diocesan-level Bible Exhibition held in 2009. They attend SCC prayer meetings, visit families especially at Bengare and join them in celebrating the Christmas. They visit the sick and the aged at Fr Muller Hospital and Home for the Aged, Bajjodi, Sisters Rita D’Souza and Euginia D’Souza in their advanced years of life contributed much to the Cathedral through the decoration of the church and the altar in particular by flowers prepared with their own hands. 

A few celebrations held at St Ursula Convent may be noted. They are: golden jubilee of the religious profession of Mother Ernestine D’Almeida on May 19, 1992, that of Sr Reoline Muliyil on April 4, 1999 and of Sr Edith Rodrigues on April 18, 2009; silver jubilee of the religious commitment of Sr Ancilla Pinto on May 1, 1995 and of Sr Benny Correa on June 11, 1999. On December 30, 2001 the centenary celebration of St Ursula Convent, the ‘Foundation House’ of the Congregation was celebrated in the St Ursula premises. A light-and-sound cultural programme immortalized the event; it depicted powerfully the charism and mission of the Congregation to a general public numbering 2000. A postal stamp imprinted with the ‘Foundation House’ of the Congregation was released on the occasion. On the same day the Memory Hall of the Congregation was established at St Ursula in the location where the first members of the Company lived and prayed. The Memory Hall customarily draws Sisters towards it especially after each Congregation and Province level convention.

St Ursula Convent takes pride in the academic achievement of Sisters who have been students over there. Sisters Ivy Fernandes and Kala Nicholas have secured LLB degree from SDM College, Sr Stella Saldanha has secured 8th rank in Karnataka Open University in BA degree in 2002; Sr Anita D’Souza (of Balehonur) has secured fourth rank and Sr Leena Sequeira tenth rank in Bachelor of Education at St Ann School and Aloysius College respectively. The Convent has lost some of its long standing, exemplary and holy Sisters in the course of time. They are Sr Pauline Lobo on July 25, 1995, Sr Veronica Fernandes on June 12, 1997, Sr Rita D’Souza on March 6, 2000. Sr Jane Frances on June 22, 2010 and Sr Ernestine D’Almeida on March 28, 2012. Eliza Chako Paleli called Elize Bai, a supportive staff of St Ursula calls for a special mention. She served the Sisters for 49 years; in her old age and ill-health she wished to return to her family to Somadhadka in 2010 and she died on December 23, 2012.

Several renovations, modifications and additions to the initial convent have been made over the years; kitchen, storeroom, portico of the house, rooms in the first floor and many more such renovations. Several Sisters have put in their best in running the house in keeping with the charism of the Congregation. A great responsibility lies with the Sisters who are the present members and those that will live there in the future to make St Ursula Convent which has its rich heritage and priceless reminiscences, an oasis from where the Sisters can drink deeply and move out into the world to love and to serve....