Bringing Hope to Communities in Need Around the Globe

In 1851, Propaganda Fide, the Vatican congregation that oversees the Church’s missionary work, asked Blessed Basil Moreau if Holy Cross would assume responsibility for the Church’s mission in East Bengal. Whereas other congregations had refused because of the region’s poverty and difficult climate, Moreau accepted. After the first group to set sail was forced to turn back in December 1852 due to a storm, a second group of priests, brothers, and sisters arrived to Calcutta on May 20, 1853. They made their way to Dhaka and Noakhali by June.

Holy Cross established a presence in East Africa in 1958 in response to a general invitation by the Holy See to organize the Church’s missionary activities around the world. The first group of Holy Cross religious in East Africa was led by long-time missionary Rev. Vincent J. McCauley, C.S.C., who later became the first Bishop of Fort Portal Diocese and whose cause for sainthood was introduced in 2006. The Holy Cross religious settled in the northern portion of the Mbarara Diocese in Uganda, which later became the dioceses of Fort Portal, Hoima and Kasese.

Three Holy Cross religious arrived in Santiago in 1943 to administer Saint George’s College. They believed they were going to do university work. Little did they know that “college” actually meant a school of pre-kindergarten through 12th graders.