FIGLIE POVERE DI SAN GIUSEPPE CA-LASANZIO (Firenze). — On 24 June 1889, the archbishop of Siena, Mons. Zini, a Piarist, clothed the first five poor Calasanzian women religious, entrusting them with the task of educating poor girls; the cardinal archbishop of Florence officially approved them.
They received the decree of praise in 1910; the following year the Institute was approved, and the constitutions only on an experimental basis; these were definitively approved on 28 February 1920.
Their specific purpose is the Christian education and instruction of girls, especially those who are poor, according to the Calasanzian spirit and method.
In 1946 they had 30 houses with 180 sisters.
BIBL.: Archives of the S. Congregation of Religious, F. 14.