Donato Giannotti

The work of Donato Giannotti is inseparable from the foundation of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate (Congregazione delle Suore Ancelle dell'Immacolata). Sensitive to the distress of poor and orphaned children, Donato Giannotti first joined forces with his great friend, Saint Ludovico da Casoria. Together, they opened an orphanage for boys in Santa Maria Capua Vetere on January 1, 1869, the management of which was entrusted to the Grey Brothers of Charity (Frati Bigi), founded by Ludovico da Casoria. In 1872, Donato Giannotti rented a house in Santa Maria Capua Vetere to welcome poor and orphaned girls. This was the starting point of the "Pious Retreat of the Servants of Mary Immaculate" (Pio Ritiro delle Ancelle di Maria Immacolata). Under his spiritual direction, several young girls who had been taken in, upon reaching the age of majority, chose to consecrate themselves to God and live in community to care for the orphans. In 1879, Saint Ludovico da Casoria affiliated this nascent community with the Third Order of Saint Francis. The life of the Servants was then organized around three pillars: evangelical poverty, total consecration to the Virgin Mary, and selfless service to the orphans. In 1899, Virginia Arena, a young noblewoman from Caserta, joined the community. She became a precious help to the founder and would be the first superior general of the congregation under the name Sister Maria Salvatore. She is today recognized as the co-founder of the institute. The congregation gradually developed. In 1928, the sisters opened a house in Vitulazio, then a home for the elderly in Pietramelara in 1930. The constitutions of the congregation received the definitive diocesan approval of the Archbishop of Capua, Msgr. Salvatore Baccarini, in 1938, followed by pontifical approval in 1947 under the pontificate of Pius XII. From the end of the 20th century, the congregation opened itself to international missions, establishing itself in the Philippines in 1987 and in Brazil in 1995.

Donato Giannotti enjoyed an immense reputation for holiness during his lifetime, being described as a "worker of God" and a "father to the poor." His spiritual life was marked by continuous prayer, an absolute detachment from material goods, and, according to several testimonies, by mystical phenomena such as ecstasies and levitations. After his death, popular devotion continued to grow. In June 1996, Msgr. Luigi Diligenza, then Archbishop of Capua, officially opened the cause for the beatification and canonization of the Servant of God. The diocesan inquiry allowed for the collection of the priest's testimonies and writings, which were then transmitted to Rome to be examined by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Donato Giannotti, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable. The decree of venerability was solemnly read on February 26, 2012 (the anniversary of his death) in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Capua Vetere by Cardinal Angelo Amato, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in the presence of the Archbishop of Capua, Mgr. Bruno Schettino. For Donato Giannotti to be proclaimed Blessed, the Church must officially recognize a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of Donato Giannotti rests on an intimate union with God through contemplative prayer, which he considered the preeminent means of sanctification. He professed a radical detachment from the world, fond of repeating: "Chi ama il mondo non ha amore di Dio, che ci rende beati in eterno" ("He who loves the world does not have the love of God, which makes us blessed for eternity"). His spiritual and charitable legacy is today perpetuated by the Servant Sisters of the Immaculate. The Pietrasanta Institute of Santa Maria Capua Vetere remains the motherhouse of the congregation. It is in the chapel of this institute that the mortal remains of the venerable have rested since 1948. Each year, the educational community and the faithful celebrate "Don Donato Day" to honor his memory and his social commitment to the most destitute.