DAUGHTERS OF THE PUREST HEART OF MARY (Warsaw). — The Congregation was founded in Wilno in 1884 by the Capuchin Fr. Onorato Kuzminski, who had initiated other institutes in Poland with the structure of the present-day secular institutes, approved by the constitution Provida mater Ecclesia of Pius XII on 2 February 1947.
In 1864 Poland had suppressed all Catholic schools, but here and there associations of women had arisen which, secretly, continued Catholic teaching. One of these found in Fr. Onorato and later in Countess Pelagia Potocha the secure support that enabled it to flourish and overcome all difficulties. The association, observing a religious life without a habit and with only private vows, aimed at the education of young women. Once the persecutions in Poland had ended, the Institute was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on 21 June 1899 as an association, but on 13 April 1907 the Holy See granted the decree of praise and revised its statutes, bringing them into line with those of the so-called purely religious congregations. Before the war the Institute had about 300 sisters in 20 houses.