Sons of Divine Providence

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SONS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Filii Divinae Providentiae (FDP; Official Catholic Directory #0410), a congregation of priests with papal approbation (1944 and 1954), founded by Don Luigi Orione in 1903. It is one of five communities that comprise Orione's Little Work of Divine Providence; there are communities of priests, brothers, hermits, and two of sisters (the little missionary sisters of charity, and the Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament; the members of the latter group are blind persons). Orione began his apostolate as a seminarian at Tortona, Italy, in 1892, and after ordination he established a series of oratories for the care and education of neglected boys. The bishop of Tortona gave initial approval to Orione and his companions on March 21, 1903, under the name Sons of Divine Providence. The first foundation in the United States was established at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1949. The generalate is in Rome.

Bibliography: d. sparpaglione, Vita di Don Orione (Venice 1942). d. hyde, God's Bandit (Westminster, Maryland 1957).

[j. coss/eds.]

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Sons of Divine Providence

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