Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (GA)
Mangalore, May 19: Sr Violette D’Souza, (84), one of the early members of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, left for her eternal home on Wednesday May 16, 2007 at Bethany Mother House, Mangalore.
The funeral rite was held in Bethany Mother house chapel at 3pm on Thursday May 17. Fr Denis Moras, the Vicar General of the diocese of Mangalore was the main celebrant.
Sr Violette entered the indigenous Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, Mangalore, on September 22, 1933 and made her first profession May 28, 1939. She was an outstanding educationalist. The void created by her death cannot be filled in easily, for, she was a special person both for her congregatin and to the society at large.
She received her BA and BT degrees from St Agnes and St Ann’s Colleges, Mangalore. Later on she earned her masters and doctoral degrees in psychology from St Louis University in USA.
She was also trained in retreat direction and was a qualified spiritual director and psychological counsellor. In addition to these accomplishments she held diplomas in spirituality and religious formation from American Universities.
She had grown with Bethany and had shared in the sorrows and experienced of the congregation. She knew the Founder, Msgr Raymond FC Mascarenhas personally. From the time of her entrance into the congregation at a very young age, the perceptive Founder saw in her the potentials for service in, through and for Bethany and provided opportunities to develop them.
Sr Violette had served the Congregation as general councillor, superior of the local communities and as a coordinator of formation in the congregation. As an educator she had served as Principal of Sacred Hearts’ High School, Kulshekar. She was the first principal of Sacred Heart high school, Ludhiana and a pioneering principal of St Theresa’s high school, Karnal.
Her professional experience also extended outside India to USA and Canada. She was a Professor of Psychology at Marquette University and St Louis University in the USA and Mt St Vincent University in Canada. She was a visiting professor of psychology at Sacred Heart College, North Carolina, Our Lady of the Lake College, Texas and St. Louis University, Missouri in USA.
She was actively engaged in giving workshops, seminars and courses in psychology and spirituality to both Christian and non-Christian groups and retreats and prayer seminars to priests, religious and laity in India as well as abroad.
Sr Violette was invited to appear on American television several times to discuss or speak on topics related to psychology and spirituality and the inter-relationship between the two. She was awarded grants from the National Science Foundation of America to do research in topics related to psychology. She was listed in:
Outstanding Educators of America
Dictionary of International Biography
Who’s Who in the World of Women
Distinguished Personalities of the South (USA)
Sr Violette was an avid reader and prolific writer. She has authored relating Bethany Institute specially, 'Unless the Seed Die' (a biography of Msgr Raymond FC Mascarenhas), 'The Vine that He Planted' (a brief history of the first seventy years of the Institute) and 'The Charism and the Spirituality of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany,' 'Footprints on the Sands of Time' (a loving homage to all the departed sisters of the Congregation).
Sr Violette has become a part of history; but departing she has left behind footprints on the sands of time.
Adieu dear Sr Violette.