CAPUCHIN NUNS. - Cloistered nuns of the Second Franciscan Order or of St Clare. The noblewoman Venerable Maria Lorenza Longo (d. 1542) founded in Naples a monastery of religious known as “delle Trentatré,” which in 1538, under the impulse of the reform of the Capuchin Friars Minor, adopted the first Rule of St Clare with constitutions informed by the Capuchin spirit.
The Capuchin Nuns are distinguished by strict poverty, penance, and humility; they immolate themselves in prayer and sacrifice. In 1576 the monastery of Rome was founded; they spread rapidly in Italy and abroad: Barcelona (1599), Paris (1606), Marseilles (1625), Lisbon (1665), Lima in Peru (1708). Among their number flourished St Veronica Giuliani at Città di Castello, Blessed Maria Maddalena Martinengo at Brescia, the Venerable Florida Cevoli at Città di Castello, Diomira Maria del Verbo Incarnato at Fanano, Angela Maria Margherita Prat at Barcelona.
According to a 1934 census, the Capuchin Nuns have 34 monasteries in Italy, 31 in Spain, 15 in Mexico, 3 in France, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Germany (Trier), 1 in Czechoslovakia (Litoměřice), 1 in Poland (Przasnysz), 1 in Chile (Santiago), 1 in Argentina (Buenos Aires), 1 in Guatemala. In 1927 the new unified text of their constitutions was approved. Some monasteries depend on the General of the Capuchins; most on the local bishop.