The Congregation

Giovannina Franchi was born in 1807, but she could easily be seen as a modern woman: busy, enthusiastic, and up to date on everything. Just like her fellow sisters: the Nursing Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, belonging to the Congregation she founded.

Raised in a respectable bourgeois family in Como, Giovannina’s life took a turn after the premature death of her fiancé. She began to nurture within herself a life project that was revolutionary for her time—combining the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, which she had absorbed during her education at the Monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary, with a deep sense of practicality, marked by charity and assistance to the most vulnerable.

In 1853, Giovannina purchased a house in Via Vitani, not far from her elegant family home, but in the rundown district of Cortesella, filled with dilapidated buildings, taverns, brothels, and slaughterhouses. In the Pia Casa, where she moved with some fellow sisters, Giovannina chose to glorify God through service to the sick.

Year after year, the young community increasingly took on the form of a true religious Congregation. Their Rule of Life was inspired by the teachings of St. Francis de Sales: home visits to the sick and poor, a simple and familial structure, and a balanced rhythm of work, rest, and prayer. Contemplation was united with action, as their vocation was not withdrawal from public life but a daily, joyful commitment to those in need. The sisters cared for the sick with gentleness and discretion, tending to both their physical health and the wellbeing of their souls.

Jesus Christ is present in the sick, who are to be revered, loved, and served—by doing so, one serves and glorifies God. No one was excluded: all those who suffered, including the poorest, those afflicted by diseases caused by vice, prostitutes, and former prisoners, were cared for in their homes, as St. Francis de Sales taught, or welcomed into the Pia Casa, where Mass had been celebrated since 1853 and the Blessed Sacrament preserved since 1862.

In 1872, Mother Giovannina Franchi contracted smallpox and passed away. She was declared Blessed in 2014. Throughout her life, Blessed Giovannina Franchi focused more on action than on telling her own story. We've shared it here, so that her legacy may become a precious seed to grow in our hearts.

Today, the Nursing Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows strive to keep alive the charism of Blessed Giovannina, their founder, ensuring that it remains ever new, relevant, and responsive to the diverse needs of the sick. Currently, the Congregation is composed of Sisters, led by Mother Emanuela. They are distributed among the Valduce Hospital, the Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center in Costa Masnaga (LC), the Luganese Clinic in Lugano, and the mission in González Catán, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Moncucco Clinic in Lugano was established in 1900 in response to the desire of the local citizens for a religious institution to offer comfort and care to the sick, at a time when healthcare and social structures were lacking. From its foundation, the Moncucco Clinic has been both a private and community-focused institution, offering a real alternative to public hospitals. Until 2015, it was owned by the Congregation of the Nursing Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows for over a century. Though it is no longer owned by them, the Sisters' commitment to assisting the sick continues.

The mission in González Catán is located in one of the poorest areas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Until the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sisters operated a large outpatient clinic providing laboratory services, radiology, and medical care across a wide range of specialties—from pediatrics to geriatrics, ophthalmology to general medicine. Due to the pandemic, the clinic was forced to close. Since then, the Sisters have returned to the original charism of their founder, Blessed Giovannina Franchi: home care for the poor and the sick is now their main activity. But it is not the only one. The Sisters collaborate with the parish, manage a medicine bank that provides drugs to those in need, and run a food bank that supports as many as 36 families.