Foundress

Saint Magdalene started the institute for the daughters of Charity in the year 1808 and in 1831 the sons of Charity were born at the foot of the cross”. A few religious brothers, helped by some laymen, for a long time and amidst many difficulties kept alive the divine gift that was entrusted to Magdalene.

The confident abandonment of these our first brothers to God and their lives deprived of all means and of human securities, brought our Institute to experience like Christ that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it cannot bear fruit.
Today that seed after 176 years of struggle has produced and is producing fruit in Italy, Brazil, Philippines, India, and Tanzania

St. Magdalene of Canossa Born in Verona, Italy, on March 1, 1774 of a noble family. She was the third of six children. Magdalene founded the Institute of the Daughters of Charity (Canossian Sisters) in Verona on 1808 and the Sons of Charity (Canossian Fathers) in Venice on 1831, through the instrumentality of two laymen from Bergamo, Carsana and Belloni, who offered her their services. John Paul II, on October 2, 1988, proclaimed her a Saint. She was a woman who believed in the love of Jesus sent by the Holy Spirit among those most in need. she served them with a mother's heart and an apostle's zeal.