St.Anne Chennai Province

The origin of our Congregation is traced back to the 19th Century in the State of Tamilnadu, India. It was founded by Thatipathri Gnanamma, a lay woman. She was an ordinary woman who hailed from Phirangipuram, a small village in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh. She was given in marriage to Innaiah, the catechist of Phirangipuram. This pious couple was blessed with five sons. Unfortunately, she became a widow at the early age of 37 years. Left all alone with five boys to bring up, she put her entire trust in the divine providence and raised her children strong in the basics of the Christian faith. Four of her sons joined the religious life and one settled down in family life. Freed at last from all family commitments, Gnanamma moved to a village called Kilacheri, 40kms from Chennai and settled down there, although she had no acquaintances there. Thus, the infinite wisdom of God led her step to Kilacheri the cradle, the very Bethlehem of the new congregation.

During her time, the education of young girls was an impossible dream. Gnanamma kept constantly in touch with the illiterate girls in the locality and identified education as a principal means of empowering them. Fr. Arokianathar, the parish priest of Kilacheri, helped her to reflect concretely and go ahead with founding a school for girls in Kiacheri. For the vision to materialize, she started a school exclusively for girls in 1863. Inspired by the committed service to the cause of women, two young girls requested Mother Gnanamma to let them help her in her awesome work and even expressed their desire to do so as nuns. Mother Gnanamma, who was anxious to ensure that her work should continue, accepted their request and sent them to be formed at St.Anne’s Novitiate of the Good Shepherd Congregation in Bellary. After their initial formation, these two became sisters on 04.10.1874 and thus a religious Congregation with a specific vision for the betterment of women known as the “Society of Sisters of St.Anne-Madras” was born. Our Congregation was founded out of the pressing need for empowering women through education. Therefore, it was the mission that demanded the formation of our Congregation.