MAESTRE PIE DELL'ADDOLORATA. - The Institute arose in 1818 at Coriano, diocese of Rimini, where the gentlewoman Elisabetta Renzi gathered together some nuns expelled from the suppressed convents and employed them in teaching. Twelve years later, the work was approved by the diocesan Ordinary and, on 22 Aug. 1839, canonically erected. The decree of praise dates from 25 March 1902 and the approval of the Institute from 8 Dec. 1919.
The Institute had no vows and its constitutions were extremely simple. But as early as 1896 the desire began to be expressed to transform the pious association into a true religious Institute with public vows, however simple. After various vicissitudes, on 25 Oct. 1920 it was in fact transformed into a religious Institute, and on 26 June 1930 it was granted the faculty of pronouncing perpetual vows. The Constitutions, harmonized with the Code, were approved temporarily on 5 July 1935 and definitively on 14 Dec. 1942.
The special purpose of the Institute is the instruction and moral, religious, and civic education of girls, through schools, workshops, research centres, through the work of the protection of young women and assistance to the women's associations of Catholic Action. In 1948 the sisters numbered more than 492, distributed among 56 houses.