DAUGHTERS OF ST. JOSEPH (Gerona). — In early 1875 two young women from modest families, Maria Comas and Maria Gri, desirous of living a life of retreat and recollection, took up residence in a house at Calella de la Costa, in the diocese of Gerona, where they were soon joined by other young women, and together they began to lead a life of work and prayer.
Soon afterward they came into contact with the Jesuit Fr. Francesco Butina, who took them under his spiritual direction, prescribed an initial rule for them, and formed them into a genuine religious congregation, which was canonically erected on 1 August 1876 and approved by the diocesan ordinary along with its constitutions on 5 January 1879.
The Institute received a decree of praise on 21 September 1900 and definitive approval on 14 November 1902. The constitutions were definitively approved on 17 May 1935.
The specific purpose of the Institute is the care of the sick and poor in hospitals, hospices, and in their homes, and the Christian education and instruction of poor girls. In 1948 the Institute had 51 houses with 870 sisters.