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It can be said that we, The Rosminian Sisters of Providence, were born of a “rescue”. And we explain why. Our existence, before being history, lives a year of prehistory, which we want to tell from a bird’s eye view.

So Rosmini’s first companion, Don Giovanni Battista Loewenbruck, a very zealous priest, spiritually follows some young people from Ossola, cultivating their inclination to want to consecrate themselves to God. He knocked unnecessarily on the door of various convents in the area, so he came into contact with Abbot Feys, superior of the Daughters of Providence of Portieux, an institute in the process of refoundation after the cyclone of the French revolution. The agreement provides for the opening of a novitiate in Italy, for which a large group of girls is already ready. To this end, he sent 4 postulants to France to the Mother House, so that they might absorb its spirit.

In reality, things will be different. From France came a superior and the novice teacher, on loan for a year, with the order to keep the new institution only at baptism.

In the meantime , Fr Giovanni forwarded the legal procedures for the opening of the novitiate to the civil authorities and to the Bishop of Como, on whose diocese Locarno then depended, despite being in Swiss territory.

Here the headquarters is already ready: a disused hospital rented, without glass on the windows, without furnishings and still to be readapted. Nevertheless, faith and love help about twenty young people to overcome hardships and make serene a life that can be defined as madness. When the French nuns returned to their homeland, everything seemed to collapse.

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At this point the intervention of Providence makes it possible to save the newborn institute, handing it over to the caring guidance of Antonio Rosmini. The latter, helped by the wise superior, Sister M. Giovanna Antonietti, gives consistency and stability to the Sisters of Providence, which the people will later call Rosminian. The fame of the “Rosminian Teachers” was so extensive, that many personalities of civil society considered themselves honored to have them as collaborators in their foundations.

In the ‘800 they have a rapid spread in Italy and also in England since 1843. Here we must remember the work of Sr. Maria Agnese Amherst, her solid virtues and the veneration she left over time. From the central house of Loughborough were born small establishments that settled in many places on the island invited by the Bishops

From the second half of the ‘900 their work crosses the European borders, expanding in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Everywhere they carry the spirit of the Founder, characterized by trust in Providence and universal charity.

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Asilo di Biella piano
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Orfanotrofio Biella Losana
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Padre Bertetti secondo successore di Rosmini nel 1860