Rathfarnham, Ireland, in 1840 to request Mother Teresa Ball to send
sisters to set up a school for Catholic children in Calcutta. In
response to this, Mother Teresa Ball sent 7 Loreto Sisters and 5
Postulants, all in their twenties, under the leadership of Delphine Hart
to India, announcing that they would probably never see their homeland
again. These pioneers were Mother Delphine Hart, Mother Teresa Mons,
Mother Martina McCann, Sisters Alexia Egan, Benigna Egan, Veronica Fox,
Gabriel Doyle, Miss Isabella Hart (M.Delphine’s sister), a Miss
McDonough who received the habit as Sister Xaveria on her deathbed at
the end of this first year and two other postulants, Miss Shanley and
Miss Fitzpatrick. They sailed on a ship named The Scotia. This intrepid
band left Dublin on September 1, 1841 from Ireland and landed at
Babughat, Kolkata on December 29, 1841. They were the first congregation
to come to North India.