Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa

Bartolomea Capitanio was born in Lovere into a family of modest means. Her mother decided to send her to the boarding school of the Poor Clares at the age of 11 where she acquired a deep piety. She finished her education with the Poor Clares when she was about 18. Soon she felt called and approached Fr. Angelo Bosio, her spiritual teacher for help. The approval of the Bishop of Brescia, Gabrio Nava allowed Fr. Angelo Bosio and the parish priest, Father Rusticiano Barboglio to buy a house. This came to be known as the "Conventino" (small convent) from where the congregation's work began. Together they consecrated themselves to God in a simple ceremony on 21 November 1832 in the presence of Fr. Rusticiano and Fr. Angelo Bosio at the altar of the parish church of St. George in Casa Gaia. Thus began the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere. ==Maria Bambina==

The wax image of Maria Bambina was modeled in 1735 by Sr. Isabella Chiara Formari, a Sister of the Poor Clares in Todi, Perugia. However devotion to the Divina Infantita pre-dates this. Over the main entrance of the Milan cathedral are the words in bronze letters: Mariae Nascenti, meaning to the Infant Mary. Bishop Alberico Simonetta brought the waxen image of Maria Bambina to Milan on his return to his native town in 1738. In 1739 the image was entrusted to the Capuchin Sisters. In 1842 the image of the Infant Mary was donated to the sanctuario attached to the Sisters of Charity Generalate in Milan by the Franciscan Sisters of Todi. The image of the Maria Bambina was exposed for veneration only on 8 September, the Feast of Mary's Nativity. The Milanese began to call the sisters who staffed the Hospital of Ciceri the "Sisters of Maria Bambina". Beginning in 1884, various miracles were attributed to the image. It became the custom to offer newly married couples a wedding gift of a small wax image of Maria Bambina. The devotion to Maria Bambina spread from the Milan area to the whole of Italy. ==Expansion==

In Italy, where the Institute began in 1832, most of the communities founded were first in the Lombardo-Veneto region. Sisters were soon sent far outside Lovere and its neighbourhood, to care for orphans and girls: these were left to themselves in the wake of cholera and war, that marked the nineteenth century. The Community went to India in March 1860, where there developed 197 houses in eight provinces. In 1864 the sisters in India extended their work into what is now Bangladesh, where there are 18 communities. The sisters established the first of 31 communities in Myanmar in 1916. ==Pope John Paul I==

In 1978, a group of four sisters — Elena Maggi, Vincenza Taffarel, Cecilia Tomaselli and Margherita Marin — took care of Pope John Paul I in the pontifical apartment at the Vatican throughout his duration as pope. ==References==