POOR DAUGHTERS OF THE STIGMATA OF ST FRANCIS. – Founded in Florence in 1848 by Anna Lapini dei Fiorelli.
Aim: 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 Order’s Minister General became ex officio protector and advisor to the superior of the Stigmatine Sisters. Spread to other regions, the Institute received the decree of praise on 23 July 1855 and final approval on 19 September 1888. It now has 120 houses and 1,254 sisters.
BIBL.: S. Congr. dei Religiosi, F. 7.