The Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of St.Teresa(C.S.S.T) was founded in 1887 by Mother Teresa of St.Rose of Lima (a resident of Chennai) in the town of Ernakulam in Kerala.
It was a time when the vast majority of the people were living in squalor and misery, and the poor were compelled to beg on the streets to earn a living. A caste-ridden society was the order of the dayAs an educationist with spiritual and social thrust and great zeal, Mother Teresa was convinced that all human beings are children of God, with a right to live in dignity.
With the first foundation, St.Teresa’s Convent, Ernakulam, she started a school where all types of students, irrespective of their social and financial status were admitted. In the short span of her life as Foundress(1887-1902), she also set up an orphanage for the poor whom society discarded, and even personally nursed the sick inmates during the epidemics of the time.
A dispensary, industrial school for the poor, and a Home for the aged, were also started. She was a pace-setter, who visited even the prison and attended to the spiritual needs of the prisoners. She brought about liberation from the chains of casteism and poverty.