Poor Daughters of the Stigmata of Saint Francis

POOR DAUGHTERS OF THE STIGMATA OF SAINT FRANCIS. - Founded in Florence in 1848 by Anna Lapini dei Fiorelli.

Purpose: the free Christian and religious instruction of poor and abandoned girls. The Institute was aggregated as a Third Order to the Franciscan Order, and the minister general of the latter became protector and ex-officio counsellor of the superior of the Stigmatic Sisters. Having spread to other regions, the Institute received the decree of praise on 23 July 1855 and definitive approval on 19 Sept. 1888. At present it has 120 houses and 1254 sisters.

Giulio Mandelli

POVERE FIGLIE DI MARIA S.ma INCORONATA. - Founded in Mantua in 1897 by the countess De Blasi dei Marchesi di Torrearsa.

She had begun the work in 1895 by distributing a soup to some poor needy old people, to whom orphaned and abandoned girls were soon added. The work began to grow, and the countess acquired a first house, which she named "Povera Casa di S. Giuseppe" for abandoned infancy and old age. Approved by the diocesan bishop in 1900, the Institute obtained the approval of the Holy See on 30 Apr. 1940. Since 1926, in the larger houses, daytime adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament is practised. The Congregation, spread through many parts of Italy, currently numbers 155 sisters with 18 houses.

Giulio Mandelli