By Lalita Roshni Lakra
Ranchi: The Daughters of St Anne, the first women’s congregation in northern India, on April 16 celebrated the 60th death anniversary of their founder Mother Mary Bernadette Prasad Kispotta.
Jesuit Archbishop Felix Toppo of Ranchi presided over the Mass concelebrated by his Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas and several priests including St. Mary’s Cathedral parish priest Father Anand David Xalxo.
A brief biographical sketch of Mother Kispotta was read by Daughters of St Anne Sister Sushanti Guria at a simple function in Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand state where the congregation is based.
In his homily Archbishop Toppo asked the congregation to thank and praise the Lord for choosing a simple and humble tribal girl for carrying out his mission and for establishing a religious congregation through her instrumentality. He also called for prays to speed up the founder’s beatification process.
All the saints had experienced ups and downs, joys and sorrows, consolations and desolations and even “dark nights” of their souls. They were so gripped by the power of the Spirit that they could follow inner promptings and eventually found religious congregations, the archbishop said.
According to him, God accompanied Mother Kispotta, a loving, benevolent, compassionate, strong, and supportive person. She and her three companions were inspired by the committed and charitable life of the Loreto nuns who served tribal people, he added.
Their families and the tribal society could not understand why their daughters wanted to remain virgins for the whole life, contrary to their world view. “Naturally, Kispotta’s father opposed her idea vehemently. Many eligible bachelors were proposed as her match. She refused. At one moment, her father, in his uncontrolled rage, brandished a sword to kill her. She remained firm in her decision,” the archbishop said.
Mother Kispotta had to face many more struggles and persecutions as the Spirit led her, he added.
“In all these experiences her love for and faith in God kept on increasing. Simultaneously, the desire of serving people and saving their souls also grew stronger and stronger. In fact she boldly affirmed that “If God is with me who could be against me?” She is overwhelmed by grace of God and thanks God whole-heartedly,” Archbishop Toppo said.
The prelate urged her successors to maintain the founder’s spirit and aims, but adapt and renew to meet the challenges of changing situations of the world.
On June 16, 2016, Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, gave the No Objection Certificate” and Cardinal Toppo August 7 that year declared Mother Kispotta a Servant of God, the first in the four-stage canonization process.
Archbishop Toppo released a souvenir titled, “Chhotangpur Ki Chingari” (Spark of Chhotanagpur) on the occasion.
After the Mass, the gathering paid homage to Mother Kispotta at her tomb at St. Anne’s Mother House in Ranchi.
Only a few sisters could attend the program in Ranchi because of the rising cases of Covid-19. Other offered Mass with local faithful at their respective places.