FIGLIE DI SANTA MARIA DELLA PROV-VIDENZA (Como). - D. Luigi Guanella, having become parish priest of Pianello Lario in 1881, found there an orphanage for girls begun by his predecessor, with the assistance of several pious Figlie di Maria Immacolata, headed by Marcellina Bosatta. He took special care of it and reorganized it disciplinarily and economically, and called that group of Figlie di Maria who wished to continue caring for it «F. di S. M. della P.», giving them suitable regulations, from which the constitutions of the Institute subsequently developed, and, in 1885, a special religious habit.
Thus organized, the Institute grew, crossed the boundaries of the diocese, and everywhere produced consoling results, so that the Holy See granted it the decree of praise in 1901 and that of approval of the Institute and provisional approval of the constitutions on 27 Sept. 1908. Their definitive approval came on 19 May 1917. On 18 Oct. 1929 the S. Congregation of Religious approved the amendments to the constitutions, in order to bring them into conformity with the Code.
