Magdalene of Canossa (1774-1835), our Foundress, received from the Spirit the gift of penetrating deeply into the riches of God’s love in its purest and most sublime expression: Jesus Crucified. The understanding of this “greatest love” formed within her the heart of a mother and the ardour of an apostle. She felt a strong desire to be with people, especially those who were poor. She wanted to “welcome, defend and protect them” helping them “to know and love Jesus Christ, as He is not loved because He is not known.”

Magdalene of Canossa began her Works of Charity with a few companions on May 8, 1808 in Verona, Italy. She obtained pontifical approval for the Institute of the Daughters of Charity, which was already established in Venice, Milan, Bergamo and Trent on December 23, 1828. She was beatified in Rome on December 8, 1941. 

On October 2, 1988 Pope John Paul II proclaimed Magdalene “Saint”, a prophet of Charity. Magdalene, with her life, has written a significant page in the history of humanity, a page that speaks of her personal journey in the Spirit, and above all of the Greatest Love of Christ in a broken world.

The Spirit of the Lord Jesus unites Canossian Daughters of Charity to the mission of the Church, making us mothers and sisters to the whole of humanity. We foster in ourselves the passion which moved Magdalene, a passion which expresses itself in boundless dedication, and we share her sentiment: ”… I longed to be reduced to dust if, in that way, I could have been scattered to all parts of the world so that God would be known and loved.” (Memoirs, RL No. 9)