Foundation The Sisters of Providence came into being through the work of the
Blessed Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, a native of the
County of Tyrol, and the
Abbé Jean-Baptiste Löwenstein, a native of the region of
Lorraine in France. Rosmini, who was
ordained a
Catholic priest in 1821, dedicated his life to submitting to the
Divine Providence in undertaking any work he felt was presented which was a part of it. As part of this, he thought to form a religious community of men dedicated to this vision, which came to be called the
Institute of Charity. He met Löwenbruck in June 1827, and was impressed by his desire to form a community of priests to
evangelize the isolated communities of the mountains of that region. They set up a house in
Domodossola, which they called
Calvario (
Calvary), from which Löwenbruck would travel through the
Ossola valleys, preaching and teaching the people of the towns there. In the course of his missionary travels, Löwenbruck encountered a large population of
Walsers living in the Valley of
Formazza, who spoke
Walser German, a markedly different dialect from their neighbors, as a consequence of which they were unable to communicate easily with the local clergy for their spiritual needs. Due to his background, the French priest was able to, for which he was warmly welcomed by the people of the region. He then spent several months in providing them with the
sacraments of the Church and educating them in their Catholic faith. One thing which Löwenbruck found from his time among the people of that valley was a strong desire among many of its young women to offer themselves completely to the service of God. What they lacked was any means of education. In order to channel and direct this desire, he conceived of a plan to establish a religious institute to give them an outlet for their calling. He initially contacted some established religious institutes in that region. None would offer assistance in this project, however. Then he remembered that in his homeland of Lorraine he had known a flourishing group of Religious Sisters, called the
Congregation of Divine Providence, founded by the Abbé Jean-Martin Moye in 1762, who were dedicated to the poor, especially through the education of their children. Wishing to find a place for all these young women as soon as possible, Loewenbruck turned to these French Sisters. In 1830 Löwenbruck began corresponding with the
Superior General of the congregation, the Abbé E. Feys, the
pastor of the town of
Portieux, where their
motherhouse was located, requesting that some members of that congregation go to the Tyrol to initiate the work he envisioned. Feys initially demurred, suggesting that Löwenbruck set up his own structure locally. This, however, was beyond his authority and which went against his tendency to act out of obedience rather than initiating a work. In November 1831, though, perhaps fearing another suppression of religious communities in France, Feys wrote to Löwenbruck to suggest that he send some Piedmontese girls to France to begin formation in the
consecrated life from the established congregation. Löwenbruck responded enthusiastically, organizing a group of four girls to head to Portieux, who set out on 26 November. The journey lasted more than two weeks, as the women had to cross the
Simplon Pass in the dead of winter, often walking barefoot for miles. Nevertheless, they arrived at the motherhouse and began training as
postulants for the proposed community. After several months, Feys sent Löwenbruck glowing appraisals of these candidates.
First days During 1832, while the Italian women were undergoing their formation in France, Löwenbruck set about securing a home for the new institute. In the course of the preaching tour, a local priest in
Locarno, in
Canton Ticino, suggested to him the availability of an abandoned hospital there, known as San Carlo, which he recommended that the local authorities transfer to him. Despite its wretched conditions, having no doors or windows, Löwensbruck accepted it and recruited another four women to start community life there. The four women arrived in Locarno in March 1832 by ferry in the middle of a driving rain, but soon set up a routine of life similar to that of the Brothers of Charity, arising at 4:30 A.M. for prayers, followed by long days of work preparing the house to form their own novitiate, and of study in the rudiments of their faith, given to them by a local priest. They survived on donations collected by Löwenbruck in the course of his preaching tours. These were never sufficient to provide an adequate living, however, and they suffered from hunger and cold for months. On that 3 July 13 new candidates joined them, soon followed by the four women returning from France. They were accompanied by two French Sisters, not four as Löwenbruck as expected. These women had not been able to receive a
religious habit and begin a
canonical novitiate during their stay in France out of concern of stirring up problems with the French government authorities. Thus, as soon as the group crossed the border, they did so, receiving habits and
religious names. The Sisters then joined the community already organized at Locarno in Ticino, designed to be a novitiate as well as a school for the poor. The novitiate was formally opened on 31 July. Löwenbruck provided no funds, however, and though they opened a school, being but minimally educated they could get no salaries from the government as recognized teachers. Further complications was the isolation of the French Sisters, one of whom was still unable to speak Italian, and their consequent difficulty in preparing their Italian charges. Added to this was Löwenbruck's incompetence as a Director of the Sisters, making one mistake on his own after another, ignoring the advice of Rosmini. His mishandling of various matters even came to the attention of the local bishop. Rosmini tried to lead his disciple gently in taking these problems in hand, sending various priests to support him. Finally the French Sister Superior wrote to Rosmini to take action over the confusion of the house. By December 1832, even Löwenbruck acknowledged his inabilities and begged the founder of his own institute to assume responsibility. This bad management finally induced Rosmini to intervene. He adapted the Rule written by a foundress with whom he worked, St.
Maddalena di Canossa, to suit it to its new conditions, and thenceforward had to assume entire responsibility for the Sisters of Providence. He secured training programs for all the Sisters involved in education, so that, by the end of 1833, all teaching Sisters of the Institute were recognized by the local government. Thus they were from the first a distinct but integral part of the Institute of Charity, the "Rosminiane", as the Italians soon began to call them. ==Way of life==