The sisters in Italy belong to the Latin European Province (LEP).
The Houses with their Schools and Boarding Schools, which were part of the Italian Province, were founded on the idea of lay people sensitive to the educational needs of girls and were then entrusted to the CJ Sisters who, following in the footsteps of Mary Ward, carried out the educational work for the formation of girls with generosity, fidelity, competence and commitment.
In Rovereto, the Lady Agnese Wangher Fait founded the School and Boarding School, which were entrusted to the Sisters of the I.B.V.Maria in 1782; in Lodi, the Boarding School founded and directed by Baroness Maria Hadfield Cosway, was entrusted to the I.B.V.M. Sisters in 1812; in Vicenza in 1837 the School was opened and entrusted to the I.B.V.M. Sisters according to the wishes of Francis I, Emperor of Austria. In Merate in 1889 the Sisters opened the School and Boarding School at the invitation of Bishop Federico Colombo.
From 2000 Rovereto and Merate handed over their Schools to the Dioceses, while in 2018 the Vicenza School was handed over to the ” Mary Ward Foundation ” a non-profit parents’ foundation.
The current Communities of Merate, Vicenza and Rovereto, which have been joined by the Community of the Romanian CJ Sisters in Aosta, as of 1 January 2021 are part of the Latin European Province (LEP), which brings together the two former Romanian and Italian CJ Provinces.
Their Sisters currently work together with the three former schools: in spiritual formation and teaching religion; with the parishes: in catechesis, for communion to the sick; they are engaged in pastoral and spiritual accompaniment and in social voluntary work.
Rome holds a special place in the story of the Congregatio Jesu
Mary Ward herself lived in Rome three times during her lifetime: 1621–1626, 1629–1630, and 1632–1637. Her stays in Rome were marked by deep faith, courage and determination as she sought recognition for her vision of a new way of religious life for women — active, apostolic, and rooted in the Ignatian spirit.
After her time, many of Mary Ward’s first companions also lived in Rome, except for Mary Poyntz, who resided in Augsburg between 1662 and 1667. Their presence continued the prayerful perseverance that shaped the early foundations of the congregation.
After the confirmation of the 81 Rules in 1703, the then Superior General Anna Barbara Babthorpe closed the foundation in Rome which, since Mary Ward’s time, had been situated near Santa Maria Maggiore. It was only in September 1897 that the “English Ladies” returned to Rome and opened a house on Via Nazionale and began teaching foreign languages and later opened a Primary School and a Kindergarten.
The house in Via Nomentana was founded in 1911. Until 1919 the foundation was a filiation of the English local house. In 1919 Via Nomentana house was established as a local house under the Munich-Nymphenburg Generalate.
In 1929 the General Chapter of the Nymphenburg Generalate was held and Giovanna Damascena Stegmüller, who had been superior of the Roman House, was elected as General Superior. The same general Chapter moved the seat of the Generalate from Munich to Rome in fulfilment of one of Mary Ward’s wishes, to have the centre of her Institute in Rome. At the 1953 General Chapter (Union chapter) the Generalates of Mainz and St Pölten were united with Rome-Nymphenburg, with M. Edelburga Sölzbacher as the first Superior General, and the house on Via Nomentana became the seat of the Generalate of the Roman branch of Mary Ward’s Institute.
At present the members of the General Leadership Team live in this Generalate house together with a small community of sisters serving the CJ. The house is also used for international meetings and to host sisters who participate in on-going formation programmes.
