Our congregation ‘The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery’, is an international apostolic religious institute of pontifical right, founded in 1650 in Le Puy, France, by Reverend Jean Pirre Medaille, S.J. The General house is in Rome, and the Provincial house in Igatpuri, Maharashtra. The Sisters are serving in the Diocese of Jhansi from 1970.
Contemplation of Christ “emptied of Self” through love in the Incarnation and Eucharist inspired our Founder Fr. John Peter Médaille to found the Congregation in response to the needs of his time. In dynamic, creative faithfulness to our Founder’s initial insight, we desire to express this response concretely today as Sisters of Saint Joseph, allowing ourselves to be challenged by the Word of God, the call of the Church and the world, and especially by the needs of the poor.
IN INDIA The Foundation of the Congregation in India was an example of collaboration and partnership among the Congregations of St. Joseph. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry came to India in the year 1854. They first landed at Vishakapatnam and from there they moved to Kamptee in Maharashtra in a bullock cart.
We were one of the pioneers in education specially for girls in India. Our mission is to respond to the needs of the time. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery have established their presence in 17 States of India. Currently, we minister in the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and in the North East in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland. We have 4 Provinces in India.
INTERNATIONALLY We, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery are about 2010 in number working in 17 countries on the 5 continents.
