Srpuhi Kalfayan

Srpuhi Mayrabed Nshan Kalfayan was an Armenian nun and founder of the Order of Kalfayan, plus a school and an orphanage for girls in Constantinople.

Biography

Kalfayan vowed to become a nun at the age of 12 when she lost her father, and she achieved it in 1840.
Kalfayan founded both the Order of Kalfayan and, in 1850, a school for girls which still stands today, though it now accepts boys as well. In 1865 she mobilized financial support for the victims of a cholera epidemic and on 1 January 1866 she opened an orphanage for girls in Hasköy, Constantinople.

Death and commemoration

Kalyfan died on 4 July 1889.
Her name is commemorated in the Kalfayan Elementary School.