Founding of Mount Holyoke Seminary and Amy Carmichael’s Arrival in India

Faith Facts

• Mount Holyoke Female Seminary opened its doors in 1837 as America’s first four-year college for women, grounding its mission in biblical principles and Christian service.
• Missionary Amy Carmichael reached India in 1895, where she devoted her life to rescuing children from temple slavery and establishing the Dohnavur Fellowship.
• French Catholic missionary Anne-Marie Javouhey was born in 1779 and later founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, sending sisters across continents to serve the poor and enslaved.

This week marks three milestones that remind believers of the enduring power of Christian women who answered God’s call to education, missions, and service.

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was established by Mary Lyon in South Hadley, Massachusetts, with the conviction that women deserved rigorous academic training rooted in Scripture.

Its curriculum required every student to perform domestic work, fostering both intellectual growth and humble service in keeping with Proverbs 31 values.

Over the decades the school trained thousands of women who became teachers, missionaries, and mothers who shaped families and communities across the young nation.

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”

That same week in 1895, twenty-eight-year-old Amy Carmichael stepped onto Indian soil, beginning a forty-five-year ministry that would rescue more than a thousand children from forced temple prostitution.

She refused to soften the gospel or compromise with local customs, insisting that only the light of Christ could set the captives free.

Her Dohnavur Fellowship still operates today, a living testimony that one life fully surrendered to the Savior can change generations.

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”

Meanwhile, the birth of Anne-Marie Javouhey in 1779 set in motion a French Catholic movement that would send sisters around the world to educate and liberate the enslaved.

Her order established schools, hospitals, and orphanages from Africa to the Americas, embodying the Great Commission in both word and deed.

These three stories converge this week to show how Christian women, empowered by Scripture and sustained by prayer, have shaped education, rescued the oppressed, and carried the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.