History of Chota nagpur
Jesuits of the Belgian Province, arriving in Bengal in 1859, had established a formidable mission field of Bengal-Bihar-Orissa. They had found an able mission-collaborator in the Filles de la Croix (F.C.) or the Daughters of the Cross of Liege had, at the behest of His Lordship Bishop Steins, arrived in Karachi in India (then) in 1862 and in Calcutta 1868. While ably complementing the mission venture of the Belgian Jesuits in Bengal, the Daughters of the Cross had expanded along with them to Balasore in north Orissa, Midnapur and Chaibasa in south border of Bengal and Bihar respectively. Thus when the Gangpur Mission commenced in 1908 in Kesramal, the first choice of the Jesuits for Sisters was none other than the Daughters of the Cross. Request was made to the Sisters, but they were short in personnel. Therefore, they had to make tough a decision, and in order to take up the new mission they had to close down an existing one in Chaibasa in south Bihar, where among other things, they ran an orphanage of about 200 Children.
After decision was made to close down Chaibasa in order to move to the Gangpur Mission, anxious preparations preceded to departure for Kesramal. And finally 14th October 1909 the Daughters of the Cross arrived at Rajgangpur by train and were welcomed by Fr. Alary.
Sisters were engaged in giving instructions to the catechumens, teaching in school, giving medical aid. Later they started lace making and training school, visited the villages and gave their service to the poor people. Along with the fathers, they went about doing all the work that came their way, with greater dedication. Sometime later a hospital marked the unique contribution of the sisters in the mission.
December 9th 1926 was another remarkable day for the Daughters of the Cross as on this day the second station of the congregation had it’s beginning in Gangpur at Gaibira. The mission center Hamirpur was without the service of Sisters for four years and there was a great need of the sisters. Therefore, on January 13.1941 Sr. Julitta and Sr. Lutgardes left Gaibira for Hamirpur. They were received by Fr. Lallemand and the school children singing and dancing waiving peacock feathers. Women of the dera welcomed them by washing of hands. How happy they were to see the Sisters at Hamirpur, especially Fr. Lallemand who had interceded so much to get the Daughters of the Cross in his mission. Sisters were engaged in the school and the other most important work for the Sisters was catechumenate, both in the center and out in the villages.
Bishop Westerman’s remarks
Contribution of the Daughters of the Cross toward the building of the mission was immense, to say the least. Rt. Rev. Herman Westermann SVD, Bishop of Sambalpur sums it up aptly when he says:
If the Sambalpur Diocese today prides itself upon such a numerous and zealous Christian community and such a flourishing school system, a large share of the credit for it is due to the Sisters. Already in October 1909, a little more than a year after the first Jesuit Father had set his foot there, a small band of the Daughters of the Cross also arrived in Kesramal. The womenfolk in particular were still rather reserved, and as Fr. Grosjean wrote absolutely averse from going to church and attending Mass on Sundays. To reason with them was of no use, but the sisters had their own means of getting them around. They gave medicines to their babies, sweets to the bigger children, caresses to the little girls and infinite kindness to the women themselves.
The Sisters of the Daughters of the Cross continued to give their service with much dedication in different parts of Sambalpur Diocese (then) now it is Rourkela Diocese. They have grown in number so as their mission stations. Daughters of the Cross came from Calcutta Province then and now it journeyed as Region till 2001, Vice-Province in 2006, and Province in 2009. Rourkela Province consists of three states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh. It has spread to different diocese around like Jamshedpur, Khunti, Ranchi, Simdega, Hazaribag, Sahebganj, Cuttack & Bhubaneswar, Jashpur, Kunkuri etc.