PICCOLA OPERA DELLA DIVINA PROVVIDENZA. — Religious congregation, founded at Tortona by d. Luigi Orione. Approved by the bishop in 1903, it received the decree of praise from the Holy See in 1944. Its special purpose is to serve the Church, the pope, and the poor.
Entirely and exclusively consecrated to the welfare of the humble and the disinherited, it carries out its apostolate of charity in shelters, hospitals, nurseries, orphanages, workshops, vocational schools, agricultural colonies, workers’ welfare institutions, etc. Its expansion was very rapid, and today the Congregation numbers hundreds of houses scattered throughout every region. In its homeland, in the immediate postwar period, it multiplied its initiatives in favor of small disabled children and street children, creating assistance centers in the areas most in need. Characteristic foundations of the P. O. della D. P. are above all the houses called « Piccolo Cottolengo di d. Orione », an appellation by which the people themselves wished to baptize the first charitable institutions opened by the Servant of God beginning in 1915, for the handicapped, the mentally deficient, and those afflicted by the most acute forms of physical and moral illness. 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 Divine Providence: currently more than 800 priests, with a thousand seminarians. 2) The Hermits, established in 1897, among whom the group of blind men who live in prayer and work at the hermitage of S. Alberto di Butrio deserves mention. 3) The Lay Coadjutors, who wear civilian clothing but follow 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 have boarding schools, nurseries, workshops, and educational institutions. 5) The Sacramentine Blind Sisters, who wear a special habit and live by prayer in their convent at Tortona.