The Congregation was founded on 16 May 1821 by Princess Teresa Orsini Doria. She saw and was touched (moved) by the deteriorating state of the assistance given to the sick in the medical college hospital known as St. John’s Hospital in Lateran, Rome, Italy. Our Princess, with a pure and true spirit of love, compassion and charity dedicated herself to the service of the sick.
On May 16 1821, having obtained the consent of the Hospital Authority and with the Authorization of His Holiness Pope Pius VII, Princess Teresa joyously accompanied the first four “Dame di Carita” “(Ladies of Charity) to St. John’s Hospital Lateran, Rome. This is how the journey of the Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy began.
