Karuna Mary Braganza

Mary Braganza, RCSJ (25 October 1923 – 16 October 2019), popularly known as Karuna Mary, was an Indian Catholic religious sister of the Society of the Sacred Heart, and former principal of Sophia College, Mumbai. Sr. Karuna Mary formerly led 204 colleges managed by the Society of the Sacred Heart. During her tenure at Sophia College, in 1970, the institution started Sophia Polytechnic. In 2008 the Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri for her social contributions.

Biography Mary Braganza was born on 25 October 1923 in Mapuca in the Indian state of Goa, the fifth of what became 10 children in the family, but grew up in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai. She graduated from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and secured her post-graduate degree from the same institution. Her social activities had already begun during her college days when she organized mission camps in Talasari. She joined the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1950, made her vows in England. Returning to India, she was a teacher at Sophia High School, Bengaluru, and, after working there for a few years, joined Sophia College, Mumbai, in the English department. She rose to become head of that department, vice principal, then principal of the college in 1965, the first Indian to hold the position.

During her tenure as the principal of the college, she initiated several educational and social projects. She founded Bhabha Institute of Science, a division of the college for science education up to graduate level and started new departments for sociology, psychology, and biochemistry. Another of her major contributions was the establishment of S.P.J. Sadhana School for the Developmentally Challenged, on the college campus, where differently abled children were given vocational training and provided with opportunities for rehabilitation. She is also known to have encouraged students to take up social activities; student involvement with Warli tribals and at Kosbad were two such programmes. Her involvement is also reported in the establishment of Sophia Center for Women's Studies, division for vocational studies, at Sophia College, A periodic writer on developmental education, she has served as the editor of the newsletter published by the Indian Association for Women's Studies (IAWS), where she regularly contributed editorial articles.

The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2008. Braganza, a life member of the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), retired in 2006 and lived in Pune.

Braganza died in Pune on 16 October 2019, at the age of 95.