Sisters of St. Joseph Cottolengo

Our founder started his work for the poor after witnessing the death of a poor woman who had been refused admission in all the hospitals in the city of Turin (Italy). It was September the 2nd 1827.

After that tremendous experience he prayed and he vowed that such terrible things would not happen again because he would open a house for whoever was sick, poor or abandoned.

He started in a very humble way, renting few rooms near the parish where he was serving as a canon. He accepted all kind of people in need, provided they were poor and neglected. It was January the 17th 1828.

At the beginning, he was supported by a group of good women, mainly his penitents, who were offering some of their time for the new service as volunteers: they were called the “Ladies of Charity”.

Unfortunately the nature of the volunteer job is that it is done only when somebody has time, and so the “Ladies” were not able to cover all the needs of the sick 24 hours a day. That is why in 1832 Cottolengo asked some of the “Ladies” to take the courageous step of becoming religious sisters in a new congregation he wanted to start.

That is the beginning of the Congregation of the Cottolengo Sisters, who are women totally consecrated to God in the service of the poor: they are mothers and sisters of the poor, the needy and the sick, and they honour themselves in serving the poor up to the sacrifice of their lives.

After some time, Cottolengo realized that the ideal of serving the needy up to the sacrifice of our own lives is very lofty and nobody has the strength of being faithful to such a call without the help of God.

That is why he founded 6 monasteries for Sisters of Contemplative life during his life: a contemplative monastery is today present also in Tuuru, here in Kenya.

In fact, at the beginning of the 20th Century, the Cottolengo Sisters became missionaries and they joined the Consolata Fathers in the first evangelization of many parts of Kenya.

Now they serve in hospitals, schools, parishes, houses for disabled and for the elderly and they are engaged in different services towards new forms of poverty (such as drug addiction, single mothers with social problems, abandoned children) in different Countries. 

They are present in Italy, Switzerland, USA, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Even today they wish to be faithful witnesses of the love of God, Provident Father, for the needy and for the neglected.

Bro Beppe