By Matters India Reporter

Theni, April 3, 2024: A 35-year-old Catholic nun was found hanging in her room in a convent in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district.

Sister Janet Mary belonged to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph of Trichy province and she lived with two other nuns in the convent that comes under the Archdiocese of Madurai.

The three nuns worked as teachers in a Theni school.

The funeral was conducted April 2 at the congregation’s headquarters in Chennai, the state capital which is more than 500 km northeast of Theni.

The nun apparently died on April 1.

Sr Janet Mary
Sources told Matters India that the police had to break down the nun’s room door as it was locked from inside.

The nun’s mobile phone and diary are apparently missing from her room.

Sister Mary is the second Catholic nun to die of suicide in Tamil Nadu. In 2022, a sister drowned in an open well at Eraiyur village in Kallakurichi district.

Sister Mary hailed from Veerasambanur village in Thiruvannamalai district, more than 300 km northeast of Theni. Her parents had died years ago and she is survived by a brother and two sisters. She had spoken to her brother at 8 pm the night before her death, but mentioned no problems.

When the nun’s body was brought to Chennai some activists protested before the congregation’s generalate at St. Thomas Mount. Sister M Arockiam, the superior general, has agreed to give compensation to Sister Mary’s family members.

The activists said they would form a factfinding team to find the reason for the nun’s death.

Felix, coordinator of Kristhava Makkal Kalam, a Dalit activist in Chennai, told a press conference that the congregation should cooperate with the investigation.

Sister Arockiam said they await the autopsy report.