BENEDETTINE DI NOSTRA SIGNORA DELLA PROVVIDENZA. — Congregation founded by Sister Benedetta Cambiagio, who, with the consent of her husband Giovanni Frassinello, established in Pavia in 1826 the Home for Abandoned Women and, some years later, the Congregation of the B. Sisters. From their origins, the task of the B. di N. S. d. Pr. was the Christian education of the young, especially of poor girls who were abandoned or at risk, through nurseries, schools, workshops, etc. The constitutions were approved by the Holy See in 1937. The congregation has 35 houses and approximately 200 religious.
BIBL.: V. Bondiani, Suor Benedetta Cambiagio, Verona 1925; L. Traverso, Madre Benedetta Cambiagio, Milano 1939. Silverio Mattei