The Canossian Daughters of Charity is the name of our Institute which takes after our Foundress's Family name. Saint Magdalene of Canossa is our Mother Foundress and she was officially proclaimed a Saint on the 2nd of October 1988 by Pope John II in Rome.
We the Canossian Sisters were born in 1808 in Verona, Italy, the birthplace of our Foundress, and we are a Pontifical International Missionary Institute. At present we are 4,500 sisters and are in the 5 Continents and scattered around the world.
We serve the people in many ways according to the signs of the time as our Foundress said: “We have to walk with the times.” In particular there are three Apostolic Options that our Foundress wished to be perennial and continuous:
- Catechesis at all levels especially to the poor.
- The schools (our Foundress wished the Sisters to be educators of faith).
- Visits to hospitals or at home, visit the elderly and the sick particularly the dying.
Our Spirituality is according to Magdalene “The imitation of Christ Crucified that breathes nothing but charity” and as she puts it to “Look and act according to your exemplar” And the Devotion to Our Lady Mother of Sorrows. Our Foundress wanted her daughters to have a real union of heart.
In order to foster this communion of heart, Community life is important for us. We not only work and pray together, but we rejoice together, we share all we have and all that we are. Love and faith are sustained by prayer, but above all by the daily participation in the Eucharist.
Since 1988 we are present in the Archdiocese of Vancouver by helping with pastoral work, teaching and hospital visitation the Chinese Community and the new Chinese immigrants at St. Francis Xavier Church.
For more information, contact:
Canossian Sisters
(604) 274-4218
Canossa Convent
6071 Christina Road Richmond, BC V7C 2P7