MAESTRE PIE FILIPPINI. – In 1692 Cardinal M. A. Barbarigo, bishop of Montefiascone, summoned from nearby Viterbo the Ven. Venerini (v.) to establish in his city a school modelled on that which she had founded in Viterbo. In a short time Venerini opened no fewer than 10 schools in various towns of the diocese, and also concerned herself with the training of teachers to continue the work. At Montefiascone she met St. Lucia Filippini (v.), a young boarder at the monastery of S. Chiara, whom Barbarigo placed in charge of the schools opened by Venerini, who returned to Viterbo after two years.
The direction of these schools always remained in the hands of Cardinal Barbarigo, as an institution belonging to his diocese. The cardinal never permitted foundations to be accepted outside his territory. He himself drew up their rules and prescribed their habit. Thus this Institute, although it had a physiognomy identical to that of the Maestre Pie of Viterbo, was from the beginning a distinct institution, so much so that the teachers were called Maestre Pie of Cardinal Barbarigo, or Maestre Pie Operaie, because they were under the educational and spiritual guidance of the Pii Operai. The present name dates from the early years of the last century.
After Barbarigo’s death, the Institute was able to cross the boundaries of the diocese, and schools were opened in various towns of the Papal States, in Tuscany, and in the Kingdom of Naples, with a vigorous flowering of spiritual life among young women.
In 1707 the apostolic almoner, Msgr. A. Bonaventura, established a school for the Maestre Pie of Montefiascone in Rome, near S. Lorenzo ai Monti, which was followed by ten others. In a short time the apostolic almoner became the superior of the schools and of the Maestre Pie, while the houses at Montefiascone continued to remain under the guidance of the bishop. By a brief of Leo XII dated 3 March 1828, the houses existing outside Rome were placed under their respective Ordinaries, while the Maestre Pie of Rome remained under the government of the secret almoner; but Leo XIII, on 21 March 1896, united the M. P. F. under a single superior general residing in Rome, dependent upon the apostolic almoner. Those of the diocese of Montefiascone did not accept this merger and continued to remain independent; by episcopal decree of 20 July 1926 they were recognized as a diocesan Congregation, while remaining in intimate spiritual communion with the rest of the Institute, which today numbers more than 1,000 teachers in 100 houses and is distributed across two provinces: Italy and the United States, in the State of New Jersey.