FRASINETTI, Paola, Blessed. - Foundress of the Institute of St Dorothy, b. in Genoa on 3 March 1809, d. in Rome on 11 June 1882. After a fervent youth she collaborated at Quinto (Genoa) with her brother Giuseppe, parish priest, when, though feeling the religious vocation but unable to enter a convent for various reasons, she decided to found, with the young girls who had joined her, an institute dedicated to the education of youth (v. SUORE. DOROTEA DELLA BEATA F). After overcoming difficult beginnings, she made her profession in Genoa in 1846, but from 1847 she had already settled in Rome (S. Onofrio), from where she governed the Congregation until her death, infusing it with an elevated spirit, opening conservatories and colleges for girls of every condition in Italy, in Portugal, which she visited, and in Brazil, and facing the persecutions caused by the times hostile to religious congregations with manly spirit and complete abandonment to Providence and the will of God.
Extracts from her writings were published as: Uno per giorno. Profili spirituali (Naples 1907); Pagliuzze sparse ossia norme di buon governo (ibid. 1907); Dalle lettere della B.P.F. (Rome 1948), which show her to have been born for government and the educational mission although she had not attended schools: judicious and sure, affectionate and strong.
The process was begun in 1891; beatification took place on 8 June 1930. Her body rests incorrupt in the motherhouse of S. Onofrio.