Dorotheanisses

Dorotheanisses is the name of the members of a society formed for the care of neglected girls. In order to protect such girls against immoral influences and to get them used to work, a society of Christian young ladies and women was formed at Rome in 1830. St. Dorothea was chosen as the patroness of the society, and the rules and regulations of the same were printed at Rome in 1836. Pope Gregory XVI sanctioned, in 1841, the movement, which soon made rapid progress in Lombardy and Venice. As the sisters had not only to take care of these neglected girls, but also to educate them, pope Pius IX confirmed them in 1860 as the Teaching-sisters of St. Dorothea. See Kaulen, in Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchen-Lexikon, s.v. (B.P.)