About Foundress

St.Josephine Vannini

Every time you offer, some one a helping hand every time you show, a friend that you care and understand, every time you have, a kind and gentle word to give you help some one finds beauty in this precious life we live.

This is the life of our foundress Saint.Josephine Vannini. She was born in Rome on 7th July 1859 and at the age of seven lost her beloved parents. The young Judith as she was known grew up in an orphanage till sixteen. At this tender age she nourished the desire to commit her life to God and for the service to the humanity. To accomplish this goal in her life she decided to join the congregation of the Sisters of Chariry at the age of 16. But it was not the plan of God; therefore she had to leave the congregation because of her ill health.

Young Judith was very certain about her vocation to be a religious. In a retreat organized for young women in 1891, she opened her heart desire to Fr.Luigi Tezza the retreat preacher of the order of St. Camillus. In fact Fr. Tezza was a man of God who was appointed by their general council to start a congregation for women according to the spirit of St. Camillus, thus the congregation of the Daughters of St. Camillus came to existence in the garden of the church on 2nd February 1892. She instructed her daughters to excel in charity through their selfless service to the sick in the hospitals and in the nursing homes.

Mother Vannini died at the age of 52 on 27th February 1911 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 16th October 1994 and she was canonised by Pope Francis on 13th October,2019 Although several years have passed since her death, her memory still lingers through the work in Hospitals, Nursing School and Colleges, Dispensaries, Care and Support center for AIDS patients, Leprosy sanatorium, Old age homes, School for the Mentally Challenged . etc. The tiny plant which was planted, watered and nursed by our foundress today has spread far and wide.