Brigida Maria Postorino

On November 6, 1898, Brigida Maria Postorino reached a decisive milestone. With eight companions from the Pious Union, she left her family to found the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Immacolata, whose members are commonly called "Immacolatine"). Settled in a common house in Catona, which became the motherhouse of the new congregation, the sisters made an act of fidelity to the Virgin Mary that same day, in the presence of Msgr. Cristoforo Assumma, Vicar General of the Archdiocese. Supported by the Archbishop of Reggio Calabria, Cardinal Gennaro Portanova, the young community received its diocesan approval on April 26, 1901. The institute developed rapidly: between 1898 and 1908, ten religious houses were opened for the education of the youth and assistance to the most destitute. However, on December 28, 1908, a terrible earthquake devastated the provinces of Messina and Reggio Calabria. This catastrophe destroyed all ten houses of the institute and claimed the lives of twenty-four sisters and novices. Brigida Maria also lost her parents in this tragedy. Despite this immense trial, she refused to be defeated. On January 27, 1909, she was received in a private audience by Pope Saint Pius X, who provided her with personal financial support and promised her the recognition of her work. On July 30, 1909, the Sovereign Pontiff granted the institute the decree of praise (Decretum laudis), placing it under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See. Under the pontificate of Benedict XV, the congregation obtained definitive pontifical recognition. The destroyed houses were rebuilt and new foundations were established, notably in Rome in 1925 on the occasion of the Holy Year. Brigida Maria drafted the Constitutions of the institute, which would be officially approved by Pope Pius XII in 1957. Appointed Superior General for life, she nevertheless chose to cede the government of the institute in 1936 due to her declining health, leaving the position to Sister Ermelinda Interlandi. Although Pope Pius XI had encouraged her in writing to retain her office, she retired. In 1942, faced with an internal crisis, she accepted to be re-elected Superior General, before definitively leaving her duties in 1943 to retire to the house in Frascati, near Rome.

The life of Brigida Maria Postorino is marked by a profound union with the sufferings of Christ. In November 1921, she offered herself to Jesus as a victim of love, entrusting to Him her physical and interior pains. Her fragile health was for her a constant occasion for spiritual offering. In 1934, she underwent a surgical operation which she chose to face without anesthesia in order to experience, in her own words, "a little of the pains of Jesus." She spent the last years of her life in silence, prayer, and self-effacement within the community of Frascati. There, she followed with joy the missionary expansion of her institute abroad, notably in Argentina, Brazil, and Africa. She passed away peacefully on March 30, 1960, in Frascati, at the age of 94.

The canonization process for Brigida Maria Postorino officially opened on March 30, 1985, in Frascati, on the 25th anniversary of her death, conferring upon her the title of Servant of God. The diocesan inquiry was closed on March 30, 1987. On May 5, 2015, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, officially declaring her Venerable.

The spirituality of Brigida Maria Postorino rests entirely on the motto she gave to her institute: "All in God" (Tutto in Dio). She conceived of religious life as a perfect harmony between contemplation and charitable action, writing in her Constitutions: "One must give Christ both the heart and the arm, and whoever would wish to give one without the other would miss the goal of the Institute. Let prayer and the interior life be the heart; let the exterior occupations, the offices of charity and mercy to be exercised daily toward the youth, be the arm." Today, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate continue this dual mission of education and assistance to the poor and marginalized. The institute is present in Italy, but has also expanded internationally: in Argentina, Brazil, the United States (New York), and Africa (Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo). In 1977, the association of the Friends of Mary Immaculate (A.M.I.) was created to associate the laity with their work. The institute counts another recognized figure of holiness: the Venerable Maria Francesca Giannetto (1902-1930), who entered the congregation in 1922 and was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in 2020.