OUR CONGREGATION
Our Congregation was founded on August 12, 1834 in Genoa, by Saint Paula Frassinetti, which she named Daughters of Holy Faith. Soon after, the house where Paula and her first companions lived became a school for poor girls.
Later, in 1835, the horizon of the mission was extended in her desire to give greater service. Paula Frassinetti took on the work of Saint Dorothy, founded by Don Luca Passi. His idea was to make the Parish an animation centre, and with the help of young women who had a better Christian formation bring together the girls, seeking them out in their living and working environment. In this way establish a bond of friendship with them and help them to grow as persons and as Christians. The importance of this new apostolic characteristic led Paola to change the name of the Institute which was from then on called The Sisters of Saint Dorothy.
After a great expansion in Genoa, the Congregation reached Rome in 1841, where the Sisters soon dedicated themselves to education in Patronages and Schools and to spread the Work of Saint Dorothy in various parishes.
In January 1866, this growing apostolic dynamism crossed the borders of Italy and reached Brazil, and in June of the same year Paula sent a group of Sisters to Portugal.
In 1919, after the Portuguese Sisters were expelled from Portugal as a result of the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic, our Congregation spread even wider as new foundations took root in Spain, Belgium, England, Malta and the United States of America.
In 1934, after a century from its Foundation, the Congregation reached the African Continent, namely in Angola.
This is how the Congregation continued to grow, both in extension and in depth.
The post-conciliar era was a time of intense listening to the signs of the times, of reflection and adaptation to the new realities of the world and of the Church, which led to the drafting and approval of the new Constitutions during our General Chapter in 1979.
Our participation in the mission of Jesus Christ is embodied in the service for the integral growth of the person: we evangelize through education (cf. Const. 5).
This is the service we are committed to in 13 countries throughout the four continents where we are present: (Angola, Albania, Brazil, Cameroon, The Philippines, Italy, Malta, Mozambique, Peru, Portugal, Spain, United States of America and Switzerland)
In our Constitution, education takes on a significance and a dimension that goes beyond any expression of mission. Education for us means disposing ourselves to be permeated by the teachings of the Gospel, leading those we educate to discover that they are loved by God, to believe in this love and to grow as persons to the fullness of maturity in Christ (cf. Const. 26).
We give preference to youth and the poorest.
Promoting justice and universal brotherhood is a decisive option for the care of our common Home and for the service to transform the world into the great family of God (cf. Const.27)
Our educational charism is expressed within various Institutions, Services and Projects such as Educational Institutions ranging from Kindergarten to University Lecturing, Social Services and Institutions, pastoral animation at community level in popular environments, parishes, dioceses, youth animation, catechesis, and Spiritual Exercises.
Our Spirituality, which includes all our Dorothean Family, Laity and Sisters, is the bond that binds us together and guides us in our decisions and our mission. It is the bond that gives shape to our life at the service of the Kingdom.
The strong personality of Paula Frassinetti is clearly shown through her fundamental options, which from the beginning of the Congregation are significantly portrayed:
– Poverty – the foundation takes place on the feast of St. Clare of Assisi;
– Greater Service – through apostolic zeal she changes the original name of the Institute;
– Solid and demanding apostolic spirituality – she assumes the Ignatian tradition.
The interior structure of a Sister of Saint Dorothy, formed at the school of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, requires the most perfect self-denial and an ever-growing generosity which can only be attained through constant familiarity with God. (Const. 7)
Soul, spirit and heart of Ignatius!! (June 6, 1867 – Paula Frassinetti)
Insertion into the reality, attention to the priorities of the local Church, the decision to go where there are greater hopes of rendering greater service to mankind, express audacity of faith and an all consuming love for the Kingdom which animated Paula Frassinetti, and which must continue to distinguish our common determination to give our life “to the end”. (const.28)
…to an understanding person, a few words are sufficient, therefore, I just remind you to keep your eyes fixed on the compass to avoid a wreck on the rocks; the Dorothean’s compass is the Will of God, therefore fix your attention there, without gazing at anything else
(Paula Frassinetti – Rome, 1880)
Joy and serenity, sincere friendship, self-forgetfulness and a refined way of dealing with one another are all expressions of fraternal communion marked by simplicity. Simplicity, which characterizes our family spirit, renders our community open and ready to welcome all. (const.32)
[119] * They will love and wish for with all their heart that beautiful simplicity, so pleasing to Jesus Christ, a simplicity that avoids all pretence and dissimulation, that keeps away all the vain seeking of self-love, that always follows the easiest and most common way , that makes one deal with her neighbour without any pretence, without affectation and without artificial ways, but with a modest ease, with a sincere and cordial affection; a simplicity, finally, which looks only at God, without seeking oneself and one’s interests, that looks only for what is pleasing to Him and is in conformity with his divine approval. (Paula frassinetti 1851)
The constant personal and communitarian conversion to the Gospel is the road which will lead us to free ourselves from all kinds of securities, and it is an indispensable condition to be and to appear truly poor. (Const.19)
Let all love poverty as a mother and look upon as precious the occasions when they can feel its pangs because of some privation that we consider necessary… (Paula Frassinetti – Cost. 1851, 453)
Poverty, as a solid wall… must be kept dear and well observed… (Paula Frassinetti – Cost. 1851, 452)
As members of the family of Paula, we live in simplicity our love for Jesus Christ which constitutes the strength of our unity. (Const 10)
Education for us means disposing ourselves to be permeated by the teachings of the Gospel; leading those we educate to discover that they are loved by God, to believe in this love and to grow as a person to the fullness of maturity in Christ. (Const. 26)
To seek always and in all things the greater glory of God and the good of others
D. Bosco, tendo vindo a S. Onofrio visitar Paula, disse-nos a todas: “A vossa Madre Geral é um verdadeiro girassol”, aludindo à sua mente sempre voltada para o céu.
Pelo decorrer dos acontecimentos conheceremos a vontade de Deus, única pérola que procuramos. (C. 57, 1)
The Dorothean educative mission and spirituality are increasingly shared in a variety of ways by many lay people who come in contact with our life-mission. Together, we form one large Dorothean Family.
From the very beginning of the Congregation, the Laity were an integral part of our charismatic identity. Together with the Sisters, in different and complimentary ways, the laity participate in the mission of Jesus Christ at the service of the integral growth of the person, evangelizing through education. Together with them and sharing the same mission, we are a concrete response in the different realities and various expressions of mission.
