MICHELOTTI, ANNA. - Foundress of the Congregation of the Little Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the poor sick, b. at Annecy on 25 Aug. 1843, d. at Turin on 1 Feb. 1888.
Although the family, which had known comfort, had fallen into extreme poverty, Anna, while still twelve years old, began to visit the sick with her mother, to assist them and care for them with all diligence and solicitude. This office of charity marked the orientation of her life; she felt indeed that she was called to consecrate herself entirely to the poor and most abandoned sick, who often cursed society and sometimes even God. The ideal was realized in an even more stable and broader way at Turin, where she went in 1871 and founded the new Institute of the Little Servants, taking the name Giovanna Francesca della Visitazione. The first clothing ceremonies took place in 1874, the first vows on 2 Oct. 1875. There was no lack of poverty and hardship, tribulations and adversities; but neither were there lacking fine vocations, which she not only cultivated and instructed with diligence, but also vividly impressed with her spirit, which aimed at conforming itself to the virtues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Still in her lifetime, she saw the Institute spread through various dioceses, accompanied everywhere by abundant graces of conversions. The cause of beatification was introduced on 6 Dec. 1942.
Bibliography
Celestino Testore