CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL, KOLKATA

The ardent desire to be one with the creator, urged Mother Veronica of the Passion to serve humanity with generosity, courage and determination which gave birth to the Apostolic Carmel in 1868. Mother Veronica, nee Sophie Leeves was born in 1823 in a pious culture to English Anglican Parents in Constantinople. She was gifted with the singular gifts of mind and heart which was nurtured by sound education and wide experience. Though the daughter of a Protestant Pastor, she embraced the Catholic faith in 1950, amidst bitter opposition from the family. God took possession of her heart so powerfully that she courageously and generously responded to the call to religious life. She entered the congregation of the sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition in 1851, taking the name Sister Veronica of the Passion. She came to India 1862 and worked in Calicut. When in prayer, she experienced a divine call to enter Carmel. She made the difficult choice of leaving her congregation of St. Joseph's to join Carmel, a Congregation of cloistered sisters at Pau in France. Again it was terribly difficult for her to leave the peace and happiness of the cloister to set about the task of founding a new Carmelite order for India, to serve the need of faith formation through education of young girls of the West Coast of India.