PIA UNION OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH. – A religious congregation with simple vows founded in 1880 by Sister Rita Amata of Jesus in Portugal and later transferred to Brazil due to anti-clerical laws.
Approved on June 9, 1902, it received its revised and approved Constitutions from the Sacred Congregation of Religious on March 10, 1931. The special purpose of the Institute is the teaching of catechism, the education and instruction of poor and abandoned young women, the shelter of poor girls, the care of the sick in hospitals and at home, and the redemption of fallen women. Currently, it has 21 houses with 120 sisters.
BIBL.: Arch. S. Congr. dei Religiosi, G. 29.