MAESTRE PIE FIGLIE DI MARIA S.ma. — On the vigil of Corpus Christi in 1829 (19 June), Caterina Molinari (later Sister Maria Vittoria Crocifissa) withdrew, together with three other companions, to the former Dominican convent of Sestri Levante and initiated the Institute of the M. P. of the Presentation of Maria S.ma. Nine years later, the diocesan Ordinary approved its constitutions.
The sisters are engaged in teaching girls. At first they made only annual vows, but in the new Constitutions the vows became perpetual.
In 1948 there were 250 sisters, distributed among 20 houses.
BIBL.: Arch. della S. Congr. dei Religiosi, L. 9. Agostino Pugliese