The Congregation of the Sisters of the Destitute was founded at Chunanagamvely, Aluva, and Kerala on 19 March 1927by the Venerable Fr.VarghesePayapilly with four members as pioneers. It was a very humble beginning in a guard house. VenerableFr.VarghesePayapilly was anointed by the Holy Spirit with a special charism. It was to carry on the mission of Christ by becoming a channel of compassionate love to the poor and destitute by personalizing the inner attitudes of Christ. He was fascinated by the word of God, As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me”(Mt.25:40).Until the 19 century there was no organized way of charitable service in Kerala to take care of the poor and the destitute ,aged and infirm. Deeply moved by the compassionate love of Christ he came forward with the idea of founding a congregation to realize the special charism he has received. The founder gave training to the pioneer sisters to make home visit in the locality and to take care and shelter the abandoned, destitute with compassion.

The founder Venerable Fr.VarghesePayapilly was called to his eternal reward on October 5, 1929 and Msgr. George Valliarumpath was appointed as director and under his able guidance and untiring efforts, the congregation continued to grow and flourish. S.D took a radical step and made her first missionary journey and reached Delhi in 1958 and Europe in 1964.It was a great privilege to have the training and guidance of Msgr.GeorgeValliarupath for a span of 41 years until 1970 when he expired.

We are blessed with Six provinces;three provinces in Kerala namely St.Mary’s,St.Vincent and St. Joseph and three in the mission outside Kerala namely Santhidham,Pushpadham and Krupadham and a region namely Santhome in Tamil Nadu.

SD bear witness to the compassionate love of Christ in this wounded world through 1740 sisters in 238 communities spread in 77 dioceses in 11 countries in India andabroad. We are happy that we could help many sister congregations in their early stages of formation.