Servants of Charity

The Servants of Charity (Latin Congregatio Servorum a Charitate, Italian I Servi della Carità) or 'Opera Don Guanella', is a male Catholic religious institute. Members of this clerical congregation, known popularly as 'Guanelliani' (or Guanellians, in English) add the abbreviation SdC (or SC in English) after their names.

History

The institute was founded in Como on March 24, 1908 by Italian priest Luigi Guanella, (1842 - 1915), a friend of David Albertario and Giuseppe Toniolo. He was sensitive to issues of social outcasts and the handicapped. This gave birth to a religious community to provide the needs of the poor. Their motto reads "In Omnibus Charitas" (In all things Love).

The congregation obtained the recognition of ecclesiastical institution of pontifical right with decree of praise, 1912 and was again approved in 1928.

There is also the female branch of Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence.

Activities and dissemination

These religious operate day and evening schools for workers, institutes for the education of youth and speakers. They also run facilities worldwide for the care of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

As of December 31, 2005, the congregation had 76 houses and 494 religious, 319 of them priests.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Statistical data reported by Pontifical Yearbook for the year 2007, Vatican Publishing House, 2007, pp. 1486-1487

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External links

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