The Irish were in these parts of India since the arrival of the men from Europe - traders, East India Companymen and soldiers. They married locally and left behind children and orphans. As did men from other parts of the world.
The Catholic Church had spread in San Thome after the arrival of the Portuguese in early 16th century. In Black Town (George Town), other Catholic missionaries were at work.
The community came to be managed by two heads - the Padradro, a legacy of the Portuguese with its base in San Thome and the Propaganda Fide with Papal directions, with its base in George Town and St. Mary's Church, now a co-Cathedral.
Fide decided to send Irish missionaries to Madras since they would be generally accepted here to take care of the spiritual needs of the Eurasians and the Catholic foreigners. Fide also saw it important to appoint an Irish Bishop.
When Rev. Patrick Carew was appointed in 1832, he saw the need for the religious to take care of children, the poor and the orphans.
And during one of his trips to Ireland in 1841 he sought volunteers from the Presentation Convents there. Rev. Mother Francis Xavier Curran from the Rathan convent herself volunteered as did a few other nuns.
The Presentation Union congregation was started by Sr. Nano Nagle in 1771, seen in the photo. ( Nagle started schools for the poor in British-occupied Ireland where Catholic schools were not allowed and the first convent was started in 1777).
In September 1841, Rev. John Fennelly, newly appointed bishop for Madras and a small group of nuns led by Rev. Mother Curran boarded a East Indiaman ship called Lady Flora to south India, to Madras.
It took them over four months of an arduous journey. On January 13. 1842 the missionaries sighted the sea off Madras.
At outer sea, the nuns had to climb down ladders to get into small masula boats and then be carried by local men across the surf to the sandy space where First Line Beach Road now runs. ( Above: File image of the seaside in the 19th cent.)
They are said to have made it to St. Mary's church on Armenian Street, opposite Madras High Court (north side).
The Presentation Union nuns had finally arrived. They were to go on to found many schools in Madras and spread their work in the state and throughout India.
