By Matters India Reporter
Patna, July 30, 2020: Sister Elsita Mathew, superior general of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, died suddenly on July 30 in Patna, Bihar. She was 70.
The death occurred at 11:35 am in the congregation’s headquarters in Kurji, a Patna suburb, according to Sister Manjula, one of the general counselors.
“She had slight fever four days back but had recovered. She complained of uneasiness last evening and this morning,” Sister Manjula told Matters India over phone.
She said the superior general was laughing with other nuns when she expressed the desire to lie down for some time. “She did not get up,” Manjula said and added that they never felt the need to take Sister Mathew to a hospital as she did not look ill.
She ruled out that the death was not a Covid case. However, she was highly diabetic.
The funeral is scheduled at 9 am on July 31 at Kurji’s Queen of the Apostles’ Church, says a communication from the Patna archdiocesan headquarters.
Sister Mathew, who was born on April 19, 1950, became the superior general of the `94-year-old congregation a year ago, Sister Manjula said.
She had earlier served as the provincial of Ranchi when the congregation was divided into two provinces – Patna and Ranchi. She came back to Patna when she was elected to head the congregation.
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart congregation was founded in 1926 by Bishop Louis Van Hoeck, the first prelate of Patna, at Bettiah, a Catholic stronghold in the West Champaran District of Bihar.
The Jesuit bishop realized a pressing need for women religious to serve in villages where more than 80 percent of Bihar population then lived.
The sisters are engaged in education and catechetical instruction, care of the sick and social service according to the needs of the church and time.
The congregation’s base was shifted to Patna, the state capital, in 1980s.