History of the Society / Congregation

History of the Society / Congregation

Our Revered Founder Rt. Revered Fortunatus Henri Caumont, a Franciscan Capuchin from France came to Rajputana to serve the Lord as a missionary. He was appointed a Prefect Apostolic. The Founder felt Rajputana needed an Indian Congregation to serve the needs of the Dioceses. The girls in the cities and urban areas were very backward and were prisoners of strict purdah system. They were exploited and oppressed due to their lack of education.

Being a man with a sharp intelligent mind and with a visionary and missionary spirit, impelled by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, Our Founder started our Congregation of the ‘Mission Sisters of Ajmer’ on April 26, 1911- the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and placed it under her patronage.

One of the first works that was entrusted to the Mission Sisters by the Founder was the care of the poor, unloved, the unwanted, destitute children for the Diocese. Under the guidance of Mother Mary Matilda, though very few in number, the Mission Sisters not only cared for the unloved orphans, but sought after the poor and street children and cultivated in them the habit of coming to school.

The Educational Apostolate was the next venture. In 1919 Sophia School was started on April 16th. Sophia is the name given to our schools which means ‘Wisdom’ with its motto giving Wisdom- God to little ones. In spite of few hands to work in the vineyard of the Lord, Mother M. Matilda went ahead opening mission stations with welfare centers to attend to the medical needs of the poor. She also opened Primary Hindi Medium Schools to provide education to the children of the rural areas.