FIGLI DI MARIA IMMACOLATA. - Institute founded in Brescia in 1849 by the Venerable Lodovico Pavoni. In 1819 he had already opened an institute for young artisans, to receive poor and needy youths free of charge, educating them in virtue and instructing them in the sciences and arts. To perpetuate this work he founded the religious Congregation of the F. di M. I., composed of priests (for the spiritual and material direction
of the institutes) and coadjutor brothers (engaged in assisting and teaching the arts and sciences to the young), all with the same rights and duties. The Congregation was approved in 1892.
The work spread, but in 1866 it was suppressed by the Italian government. The survivors took refuge in Trentino and from there began their expansion anew. Today the Congregation has 250 members. The general house is in Brescia, where the novitiate is also located. It has establishments in Milan, Monza, Pavia, Trento, Genoa, and Rome. In 1941 it opened its first house in Brazil, where it currently has three. The pupils remain in the Institute until the age of eighteen, applying themselves to the technical branch they prefer. For the apostolate of the good press, it has the publishing house «Ancora» in Milan.