VANNINI, GIUSEPPINA. - Foundress of the Figlie di s. Camillo, b. in Roma on 7 July 1859, d. there on 23 Feb. 1911.
Orphaned at a very early age, she was received at the age of six into the Torlonia orphanage at S. Onofrio, where she remained until she was twenty-one. After various unsuccessful attempts to embrace religious life, she finally met the Camillian Fr. Luigi Tezza, who suggested to her the idea of founding a new Congregation that would follow the Rule of s. Camillo de Lellis and imitate his activity in the relief of the sick, assisting them in hospitals, clinics, and at home. V. idea, beginning the new Institute on 2 Feb. 1892. After a period of extreme poverty spent among the sick, as the number of her companions had grown, she asked Leone XIII in 1893 for official recognition of her Congregation; but, having failed to obtain it, because at that time no new congregations were desired in Roma, she privately pronounced her vows and, being benevolently received at Cremona by Mons. Bonomelli, opened her house there, while in Roma some of her companions undertook care in a clinic, extending their activity also to disabled children. Meanwhile, the institution also spread outside Italy, into Francia, Belgio, Germania, and Argentina, and in 1909 became a regular Congregation with simple vows. V., who was preparing to visit the houses in America, was struck a few days before her departure by a grave illness that brought her to the grave.