DAME DI NAZARETH. – A female religious institute founded at Montlégan in 1821 by the Countess B. A. de la Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville for the religious education and instruction of youth, which took definitive form and consistency through the work of Elisa Rollat. Approved in 1835 by the Bishop of Châlons, it was definitively confirmed by the Holy See in 1896.
At present it has 51 houses with 350 religious.
BIBL.: Archivio della S. Congr. dei Religiosi; Anon., Notizie de la Società religiose des Dames de Nazareth, Anas 1861; M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche, II, 3rd ed., Paderborn 1933, p. 518. Giulio Mandelli