The Congregation of the Sisters of Holy Family of Nazareth, was founded on the 16th June, 1935, by Fr. Faustino de Souza, a zealous diocesan priest, pastor of the parish of Sancoale, Goa.
Religious Orders had once flourished in the Archdiocese of Goa ever since its establishments in 1533. However, in 1833, King Dom Pedro of Portugal ordered the suppression of all religious institutes in his dominions. A decisive change in the situation came in 1928 with the rise of Salzar and the “Estado Novo”.
Father Faustino de Souza, who was a very zealous priest and a great visionary, seized this opportunity to move towards the execution of a cherished project that he had been harbouring in his mind and heart – for a number of years, – that of the foundation of a new religious institute in the land of his birth.
Accordingly, he asked his Archbishop Patriarch Dom TheotonioViereira de Castro, permission to take the necessary steps towards the realization of his dream. Encouraged by the approval of his Prelate, he then approached the Superior General of the Bethany Sisters of Mangalore. He requested her to accept the first candidates of the nascent Congregation to be trained in the novitiate of the Bethany Sisters and formed to the religious life there the request received a favourable reply.
Three young girls then proceeded to Mangalore to begin their training under the Bethany Sisters. They were EstelitaCoutinho (Mother Josephine) from Corlim-Mapusa, Abelina Braganza (Mother Joana) from Mapusa and Sabina D’Souza (Mother Nativity) from Duler, Mapusa. A fourth one, AssucianaSilveira (Mother Edith) from Tivim, joined them soon. After a year spent in Mangalore, they returned to Goa to continue their novitiate under the same Bethany Sisters, who generously continued to attend to their formation in Goa. The ancestral house of the Saint Joseph Vaz, in Sancoale, was placed at their disposal, and they settled there on the 16th of June, 1935 – a memorable day in the annals of the Congregation.
This pious Union was canonically erected as a religious Congregation by Patriarch Don Jose de Costa Nunes, on the 25th of March, 1952. By his decree of the 20th August of the same year he approved its Constitutions. A new text was passed in 1971, and still another in May 1978, approved by the then present Patriarch Dom Raul Gonsalves. However, the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law in 1983 was the occasion for a further revision and updating of both the Constitutions and Directives. This revised text was passed and forwarded by His Excellency the Patriarch to the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The founding sisters were Sr. Estelita Coutinho (Mother Josephine), Sr. Abelina Braganza (Mother Joana), Sr. Sabina D’Souza (Mother Nativity) and Sr. Assuciana Silveira (Mother Edith). Mother Joana of the Cross was the First Superior. Though she was almost illiterate and about 15 years old when she joined, she was later found to be very proficient in knowledge and experienced in religious life, possessing a common prudence and administrative qualities.