FRATI BIGI DELLA CARITÀ. – Institute founded in Naples in 1859 by the Venerable Father Lodovico da Casoria. The first religious were laymen; they had no vows and were bound to the founder by a spirit of charity, poverty, and obedience. Only later was the need felt to have priests, which induced the founder to modify the previous provisions; thus the Congregation came to consist of priests and laymen, devoted to the instruction and education of the children of the people.
Approved by the Holy See in 1896, it now has 10 houses with 81 religious.
BIBL.: A. Capecciatro, Vita del p. Lodovico da Casoria, Naples 1887; L. Fabiani, Vita del ven. Lodovico da Casoria, 4th ed., there 1931.
Giacomo Cicia