Silchar Province of Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany was erected on August 6, 2021 when the erstwhile Northeast Province was divided into two provinces-Guwahati and Silchar. Sr Lucious was installed as the first Provincial Superior of the new province and Sr Clara Mendonca, Sr Surekha, Sr Harsha and Sr Mary Naulak were installed as her council members.
The story of Silchar Province cannot exist without the story of Northeast Province. Bethany Sisters came to the North East of India in 1962 and established their first convent at Kolasib in Mizoram. The pioneers- Sr Misericors, Sr Dolora, Sr Inviolata and Sr Sylvine were warmly welcomed by the Holy Cross Fathers working there and by the local people on June 28, 1962. Their immediate mission was to look after the girls’ hostel and teach in St John’s High School run by Holy Cross Fathers. From here Bethany spread rapidly. By 1986, twenty four years after the arrival of the first group of sisters, there were 11 convents spread across Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Tripura and Manipur. It was in that year the region which was part of Northern Region was raised to the status of a Vice Province and Sr Lillis was appointed as the first Provincial Superior of North East Vice-Province. The Provincial House was in Silchar attached to Holy Family Convent, until the year 1997 when it was shifted to Guwahati.
In 1987, the Silver Jubilee of Bethany’s presence in North East was celebrated in Kolasib. The period after the Silver Jubilee saw a spurt in the growth and expansion of the Vice Province. By 2012 when the Province celebrated its Golden Jubilee, 18 more foundations had been added and by 2019, the number of houses in the Province had risen to over 33 covering all the states of North East India except Sikkim. A house had been opened in Biratnagar, Nepal as well, making it the first foreign mission of the Province. Sr Lillis, Sr Canisia, Sr Edleburgh, Sr Noeline and Sr Joy have led the Province as Provincial Superiors during the 57 years of its existence.
Thirty three houses may not seem a big number, but the geographical area over which these 33 houses are spread is quite large when we remember that most part of North East is hilly terrain and road journey is the norm in majority of the places where our convents are located. It was felt that distance and inaccessibility of the mission stations make the work of the Provincial administration harder than it should be. Hence in the month of June 2020, the Northeast Province was divided into two provinces- Guwahati and Silchar by a decree of the Superior General Sr Rose Celine BS. At the time of formation of the Province, there were 17 convents spread over the states of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, parts of Meghalaya and Assam.
