History – Auxilium

Auxilium Lonavla could be said to be the daughter of Auxilium Wadala. The first invitation to open a house came from the parish priest of Lonavla as early as April 1951. On 22 April 1951, at the invitation of the local parish priest, Mother Teresa Merlo, along Sr Angela Bosotti and Sr Clementina Lobo, came to visit the place. They felt that the offer made to them was not satisfying as there wasn’t sufficient place to start a foundation. And this offer was practically immediately after the tragic death of Sr Eugenia Versino.

Around the 1960s, the good work done by the Sisters of Auxilium Wadala attracted Mr D. S. Gandhi. He proposed to Sr Bertha Sperrfechter, the superior of Auxilium Wadala, the possibility of starting a good English Medium Convent School for the children of the Officers working in his Anti-Friction Ball Bearing Factory in Lonavla. Accordingly, when the newly appointed Mother Caterina Mania visited Bombay along with her vicar, Sr Consiglia Tarricone, they along with the superior of Wadala Sr Bertha Sperrfechter, visited Lonavla. Mr Gandhi facilitated their meeting, with the municipal council of Lonavla to start an English medium school, helping the Sisters in identifying possible locales. The town authorities seemed favourably disposed even to donate the land and the house for gratis. Mr Gandhi also gifted a princely sum of Rs1000/- as his contribution to the new venture.The Provincial, Mother Caterina Mania, after getting the necessary permissions from the Major Superiors in Turin, on 4 April 1961 sent Sr Angela Bosotti and Sr Walentyna Czernick to Bombay to do the preliminary work needed for the new house. The two of them travelled by train carrying

a big trunk with all the necessities. On reaching the Lonavla station, they met Sr Bertha Sperrfechter and Sr Clementina Lobo who had come to receive them. They handed over their belongings to a certain Mr Smith, a Catholic Anglo-Indian gentleman, who in turn kept their luggage in the house of the benefactor, Mr Gandhi, while the four Sisters proceeded to Bombay by the same train. On 8 April, along with Sr Bertha Sperrfechter and Sr Maria Dal Corso⁴, the future pioneers went to Lonavla to meet the owners of the proposed “Kohinoor Villa”, hoping to negotiate with them a possible date for the transfer of the property. As they seemed to be rather unsure or reluctant to move soon, the Sisters returned disappointed on the following day and sent up fervent prayers to speed up the process.

On 18 April 1961, the Provincial, Mother Caterina Mania arrived accompanied by Sr Maria Dal Corso from Wadala in the car of Mr Gandhi, the benefactor of the project. They met the owners in the presence of the notary, signed the transfer of property documents and settled the payment for the property which consisted of a big villa, spacious grounds, a garden and an orchard. After signing the documents, they returned immediately by the same car.

In her application to the General Council asking permission for the Lonavla foundation, Mother Caterina Mania gives the following details: There was a plot of 4 acres with a sufficiently large house that could,in the initial years, function both as the convent and the school. The property was available for Rs90,000/- and a Hindu gentleman (Mr D.S. Gandhi) was helping in the negotiations, as he and his employees were keen on having a good Catholic school in the vicinity. Mother Caterina Mania, however, saw also other possibilities like having a pre-aspirantate for girls from Bombay, who, given the long-distance, were always reluctant to go to Madras. Besides, Lonavla, being a hill station could also serve as a holiday house for Sisters from Bombay, who otherwise had to make a long uncomfortable journey of 46 hours to travel to Wellington. In addition, there was also the news that the Salesians too were planning to start their aspirantate in Lonavla. The house of Wadala would contribute to the purchase of the land and the local population too would generously donate their mite fully aware that ultimately it would benefit them in the education of their daughters. Indeed, it was the Kairos moment of Lonavla!

The three Sisters destined to be the pioneers of the house – Sr Angela Bosotti, the superior, SrWalentynaCzernick, thePolish Sister and Sr Caroline Fernandes, a Temporary Professed – who had arrived by train around 10.30am,were hesitant to enter the house as the owners were still living inside. The owners consisted of a Parsi widow, her son and her daughter-in-law. The three pioneers continued to intensify their prayers for a smooth transfer. After waiting for quite some time with great perplexity, to their great relief, the owners invited the Sisters to join them for lunch. After lunch, they lit an oil lamp in front of an image of Our Lady of Fatima, prostrated themselves in front of the image in the Indian style of sahashtangapranam and recited their prayers at the feet of Our Lady. Then, with tear-filled eyes, they placed the image in the hands of the Sisters, as if handing over their most precious treasure, affectionately embraced the Sisters bidding them goodbye, and left the house at 3pm.For the three pioneers, it was a very touching and affirming experience to witness how Mother Mary had preceded them to their new mission smoothening out all possible hurdles along their way.

1. 1. The Beginnings of Auxilium Convent School Lonavla

On 24 April 1961, the Sisters began their mission of taking admissions to the school. There were many enquiries, but perhaps due to the long distances, the actual admissions on the first day happened to be just 5! Nevertheless, the school opened on 1 May 1961 with 15 pupils, both boys and girls, on its roll. kindergarten and the elementary classes from I – IV were started, with the language of instruction being English. It was to be a co-education school till class IV.

Given the long distances to and from the school and the rugged terrain of Lonavla, some kind of conveyance facility to the school was a strongly felt need. To the great delight of the Sisters and the pupils on 8 July 1961, a van arrived from Vellore thanks to the goodness and generosity of the Provincial, Mother Caterina Mania. With the availability of this new facility, on 13 July itself, the children were given their first outing to a nearby waterfall.

On 13October, came a surprise inspection from the Education Department. Despite their anxiety regarding the lack of approval from the Department for the starting of the school, the Sisters interpreted it to be a providential sign helping them to understand the requirements and the procedures involved for the school recognition. So, they warmly welcomed the ADEI (Assistant Deputy Education Inspector) and requested him to explain to them the procedures involved. The Inspector, pleasantly surprised by the humility and warmth of the Sisters, became a friend of the Institution and promised to help them as and when needed.

On 16 October, the superior, Sr Angela Bosotti and Sr Helen Fernandes went to Poona to meet the Inspector for Schools and personally presented him the application for the approval of the school. They returned in the afternoon, happy to have met the Chief Secretary (in the absence of the Inspector) who patiently explained to them the different procedures and gave them the forms to be filled up. It was the first step in the process of applying for recognition. They re-visited the Department and managed to meet the Inspector on 22 October. Once again, there was a follow-up visit from the Assistant Inspector to check up regarding the recognition of their Elementary School.. He guided the Sisters regarding the various requirements. On 18 December, the Inspector arrived early in the morning, and checked every record, visited every class, questioned the pupils, filled in the different forms and wrote a very favourable report regarding the school. Being satisfied with everything, he told the Sisters:“You are truly servants of humanity. We would never be able to do what you are doing with so much dedication”.

By the end of December the number of children in the kindergarten increasing to 36 and a total of 54 in the Elementary School; indeed, a big jump from the 15 they had started with only eight months ago.. On 19 March 1962, the Inspector returned to sign the admission register. After much convincing, on 30 April 1962, exactly one year since the beginning of the school, the Education Department gave recognition to the elementary school, consisting of I – IV Std. In 1962, a larger number of new admissions came in .Thanks to the word-of-mouth publicity of the children. On 19 June, there was one more inspection. The Inspector, guided the Sisters regarding the various norms and scholastic problems and wrote a positive report on the Visitors’ Book He returned once again on 13 – 14 September and after visiting each class, suggested to the Sisters to apply for the recognition of V Std which was opened in the previous May. He wrote: “The school has been started only last year. The no on roll has almost doubled. By the end of December 1963, there were 133 children, 32 in the kindergarten and 101 from I to Std VI. A significant growth indeed in the span of less than 3 years.