In 1841 a call from the Bishop of Agra, India, Rt. Rev. Dr. J. A. Borghi to work for
the education of young girls was joyfully accepted. Six nuns set out from Lyon for
Agra, facing many dangers over land and sea. They left Marseilles on 28 January
1841 in sailing ships via Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Naples, Malta, Alexandria, and
Cairo. They crossed the Sinai desert in palanquins and mules to Suez and from there
once again by sea via Aden, they arrived in Bombay on 3 June. The monsoons and bad
roads led them, a few days later, to set sail for Calcutta, arriving there on 27
June. From Calcutta they went up the Ganges by steam boat to Allahabad and from
there, they travelled in bullock carts to Agra, where they arrived late night of
11 November 1842.
The European and Indian Christian Communities with Bishop Borghi at the head led
the nuns to Akbar's Church while young girls sang "Jesus Corona Virginum". A Pontifical
High Mass was offered. Guns boomed daylong in their honour. After Mass they were
led to their Convent.