Paula Frassinetti is an Italian saint in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy (aka, Congregazione Suore di S. Dorotea della Frassinetti). Her feast day is June 11.

Life

Paula Frassinetti was born March 3, 1809, in Genoa, Italy to Giovanni Battista Frassinetti, a cloth merchant, and his wife Angela. The third of five children, her four brothers all became priests. When she was nine years old, her mother died and an aunt came to help with the household. Three years later her aunt died, and at the age of twelve, Frassinetti assumed the responsibility. At the age of nineteen, Frassinetti went to stay with her brother Giuseppe, a priest at the seaside village of Quinto in Liguria. In 1834 she and six other women formed a small community called the "Daughters of Holy Faith". Giuseppe and members of the parish started a small school in a church that had been dedicated to Clare of Assisi. The sisters taught in the school. They went to Genoa to help during a breakout of cholera. In 1835 Luca Passi, of Bergamo, a friend of her brother Giuseppe, asked Frassinetti if she would assume the Pious Work of Saint Dorothy, a project he had founded to serve the poorest and most needy youth. Thereafter the Daughters of Holy Faith became known as the Sisters of Saint Dorothy. On May 19, 1841, Frassinetti established a house in Rome. The work of the institute expanded beyond Liguria and Rome, to other parts of Italy as new houses, boarding schools, and orphanages were established.Joseph S.J., P.J. "St. Paula Frassinetti", Vatican Radio
/ref> Later the sisters established a presence in Malta, Portugal, and Brazil. In the United Kingdom the sisters run an International Student's Residence and are involved in Parish Ministry.
/ref> She died on June 11, 1882, after a bout with pneumonia following several strokes. Her body was reported to be found to be

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

in 1906.

Veneration

Frassinetti was beatified by Pope Pius XI on June 8, 1930, and canonized on March 11, 1984, by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Legacy

There are about 1,200 sisters active in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Quotes

* ''"Work in full simplicity"'' * ''"We're in God's hands, and we are so very well"'' * ''"Our mission is to educate thru heart and love''"Paula Frassinetti - Letters to the Congregations!, Paulinas Editions, 1997

References

External links