SMALL WORK OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. – Religious congregation founded at Tortona by Fr. Luigi Orione. Approved by the bishop in 1903, it received from the Holy See the decree of praise in 1944. Its special aim is to serve the Church, the Pope, and the poor.
Entirely and solely dedicated to the good of the humble and the destitute, it carries out its apostolate of charity in shelters, hospitals, day-nurseries, orphanages, craft workshops, vocational schools, agricultural colonies, workers’ aid societies, etc. Its expansion was very rapid, and today the Congregation counts hundreds of houses scattered throughout the world. In the homeland, immediately after the war, it multiplied its initiatives for the benefit of crippled children and street urchins, creating assistance centres in the most needy areas. Characteristic foundations of the P. O. della D. P. are above all the houses called “Piccolo Cottolengo di d. Orione,” a name by which the people themselves loved to christen the first charitable institutions opened by the Servant of God starting in 1915 for the handicapped, the mentally deficient, and those afflicted by the most acute forms of physical and moral ills. The Institute has numerous houses in Italy and some in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
The entire complex of the P. O. consists of five religious families: 1) the Sons of the Divine Providence: currently over 800 priests with about a thousand clerical students. 2) The Hermits, instituted in 1897, among whom is to be noted the group of blind men who live in prayer and work at the hermitage of S. Alberto di Butrio. 3) The lay coadjutors, who dress in secular clothing but observe the common rule. 4) The Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, founded in 1915, devoted to kitchen and wardrobe service in many houses of the P. O. della D. P. They also run boarding schools, day-nurseries, workshops, and educational institutes. 5) The Blind Sacramentine Sisters, who wear a special habit and live in prayer in their convent at Tortona.