The Congregation of Holy Cross was founded by a French diocesan priest named Basil Anthony Moreau in the year 1837. According to his vision, Holy Cross was to be a religious community made up of Sisters, Brothers and Priests dedicated to the service of the Church. As a young seminarian he nurtured a dream to be a missionary and to work beyond the boundaries of France and the diocese of Le Mans to which he belonged. Consequently, it was not long after founding the Congregation that Father Moreau began sending missionaries to other parts of the world, to countries of Africa, Europe and North America.

The existence of Holy Cross in India goes back to the 19th century and has its roots in the arrival of Holy Cross in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). The first Holy Cross missionaries, comprising of three Sisters, three Brothers and three Priests, bound for Dacca had landed in Calcutta on May 26, 1853. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of North-East India came under Dacca at that time and so it was that Holy Cross men made their way to Agartala in Tripura in 1856, and later to Mizoram. As time went on and as missionary work expanded, it was considered necessary that Indians be recruited to continue the work of Holy Cross in India.

Vocations to the priesthood and religious life were growing rapidly in South India where the Christian faith was well rooted. Hence, the first house of Holy Cross in South India was opened on April 6, 1959 in Yercaud, near the town of Salem in the state of Tamil Nadu. It was the beginning of what would later become the District of India, a sector of the congregation, nurtured and supported by the French-Canadian province of The Fathers of Holy Cross. This first foundation was then followed up by the opening of new houses in Bangalore, Trichy, Kerala, Bombay, Pune and Mangalore. The first Indian Holy Cross, Fr. Mathew Vadakedom, made vows in the congregation on August 16, 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1964. By 1984 there were enough Indian religious of Holy Cross working in a good number of foundations both in the South and in North-East India so that this sector was erected as a separate province of Holy Cross on October 4, 1984.

The establishment of the Indian province gave further impetus for the growth of Holy Cross in India. Ministries in the North-East expanded, both in terms of the number of persons involved, as well as in the kind of services rendered to the people of Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram. As Holy Cross began to assume a significant role in the life of the Church of North-East India, the District of North-India was formed in 1997. .Most Rev. Lumen Monteiro,C.S.C. had already been appointed the first Bishop of Agartala Diocese, in the state of Tripura, in 1996 and was followed by the appointment of Most Rev. Stephen Rotluanga, C.S.C. as Bishop of Aizawl Diocese, in the state of Mizoram, in 2001. The North-East missions now comprise a separate province of Holy Cross. (sincen 2003).

Today, seventy-one religious in the South are involved in a variety of ministries including Parish ministry (8), Education (4), Social Action (4), Catechetics, Retreat-Direction, Family Ministry and Counselling. They serve the Indian Church in fifteen ecclesiastical dioceses of the country, spread over several states, including Goa and Andhra Pradesh where recent ministries have been started. A good number of young men who also dream of dedicating their lives to God in the service of people are in various stages of their training to become future priests of the congregation.

As the early missionaries came from abroad, now it is our turn to minister to these areas. Two of Holy Cross Indian priests  work in France and another four are in Toronto preparing themselves for future ministries there.

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