The Loreto Alumnae of Ranchi (LARa) will host more than just a reunion at Loreto Convent in Doranda on Saturday, but rather commemorate 175 years of Loreto nuns in South Asia.
"Renew, re-image and remember," said LARa secretary Niti Poddar, a businesswoman and Kanke Road resident, when asked about the motto of the event.
"It's all about the renewal of camaraderie among former students, reinforcing the bonding with their alma mater and above all gratefully remembering the nuns who did so much for spreading education among girls," she added.
About 200 former pupils were expected to take part in the event on school premises on Saturday, many from distant places such as Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai and the US.
Ranchi-based educator Meeta Duggal of the 1958 batch would be the senior-most alumnus. Besides old girls, two gentlemen in their late 60s - students when Loreto admitted boys in primary section - also want to come. "They are Ranchi businessmen Ajoy Chhabra and Pradeep Modi," said Poddar.
"We will felicitate nuns and teachers and help various batches share their experiences," she said. "We are also arranging souvenir stalls and a performance by a local band."
The Ranchi convent opened in 1943, when Loreto sisters responded to an invitation from Father De Muelder of Doranda for opening an English medium school in his parish.
They bought Doranda House, then owned by one Mrs Cloete, where Mother Leila Maguire opened a school in 1943 for the first batch of girls and boys in primary classes. The practice to admit boys continued until St Xavier's School opened in 1960.
The origins of Loreto is traced to Mary Ward, an English Catholic who was declared Venerable or an initial step towards sainthood, by the Pope in 2009. She had founded The Institute of Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) in 1609, popularly known as Sisters of Loreto. The Irish branch of the IBVM, founded by Mother Teresa Ball, came to South Asia.
The first call for Loreto schools had come from Calcutta when the local Catholic society was worried about lack of schools for their daughters. A small band of nuns and postulants led by Mother Dalphine Hart, then only 23 years old, landed at Babughat in Calcutta on December 30, 1841.
