DAUGHTERS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (Los Angeles). — Institute founded in July 1848 by Fr. Giocchino Masmita y Puig in Olot, Diocese of Gerona (Spain); in 1871, at the invitation of Msgr. Amat Taddeo, Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, some sisters went to work in that diocese. Subsequently, vocations and houses increased in several American dioceses.
The diversity of language, the distance from the central government, and other causes led to repeated attempts at separation, which the S. Congregation of Religious granted on 11 March 1924, establishing the houses in America of the F. del C. I. di M. as an independent Congregation of pontifical right.
The constitutions received from the founder, already modified by the local bishops, were revised and approved by the Holy See on 16 February 1916. In 1947, the sisters numbered 250, with 20 houses.