Page 2 - SPC Indonesia Then and Now @ 2020
P. 2
The Footsteps of the First Missionaries
to the Mission Land… Indonesia
Sr. M. Margaretha Sri Harini
Long before the catholic hospital came into existence, the
bishop of Banjarmasin, Mgr. Wilhelmus Demarteau,MSF had a
great difficulty in finding religious women congregation to
come to Kalimantan, formerly Borneo.
It was understandable because in the mind of people, Borneo
at that time was a wild forest. The Bishop believed it was not
possible to put up a catholic hospital without the Sisters to
manage it.
The first ray of hope came when Mgr. Demarteau came to
Rome to attend the 2 nd Vatican Council in 1962. The bishop
belongs to the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy
Family (MSF) whose generalate was in the neighborhood of Msgr. Wilhelmus Demarteau, MSF
the SPC Generalate.
The bishop of Banjarmasin, who invited
the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres to come
Through the advice of his Superior General, he approached to Indonesia to manage the
Mother Marie Paul BORD the Superior General at that time,
who accepted and extended the invitation to the Provincial Catholic hospital.
Superior of the Philippine Province.
