Maria di Rosa (1813-55) devoted her life entirely to good works and founded a congregation, the Handmaids of Charity, which still follows her example in Italy.
According to the constitution, a Handmaid is “the property of Charity. She surrenders every kind of jurisdiction and dominion over herself so that youth, health, comforts, strength, blood and life, in a word, her very essence, is laid at the service of this virtue”.
“I can’t go to bed with a quiet conscience,” their founder once said, “if during the day I’ve missed any chance, however slight, of preventing wrongdoing, or of helping to bring about some good.”
