Daughters of St. Mary of Providence

views updated

DAUGHTERS OF ST. MARY OF PROVIDENCE

(DSMP, Official Catholic Directory #0940), a pontifical institute that originated in the work of a group of young women in a small country parish in northern Italy about 1872. Under their pastor's direction they opened a hospice to care for the aged and to offer instruction to young girls. In 1881 the Reverend Luigi Guanella (d.1915) organized the group as a formal religious community, and Sister Marcellina Bosatta, the foundress (d.1934), became the first superior general. The Holy See gave final approval to their rule in 1917. The sisters arrived in Chicago, Illinois, in 1913 to assist Italian immigrants, and in 1925 they opened a residential school for mentally retarded girls. Since then, their ministries expanded to include care facilities for the disabled and aged. The general motherhouse is in Rome, Italy; the United States provincialate is in Chicago, Illinois.

[m. mauri/eds.]