The Congregation of Pious Workers Rural Catechists or Ardorini Missionaries (in Latin Congregatio Piorum Operariorum Catechistarum Ruralium) are a Roman Catholic religious order.
The congregation was approved on 1 April 1621 by Pope Gregory XV, who changed its title to "Pious Workers" (the religious, in addition to catechesis, dedicated themselves to works of charity and had added to their purposes the preaching of the popular missions in the countryside).
The Pious Workers risked extinction during the plague epidemic of 1656, during which they worked hard to assist the infected and many caught the disease in turn; the congregation revived thanks to Pietro Gisolfo.
[5] With the Napoleonic suppressions and the Savoy subversive laws, the congregation saw a considerable reduction in the number of its members, so much so that in 1943 only one Pio Operaio, Pasquale Ossorio, residing in San Nicola alla Carità, remained alive.
With the decree of union the Holy See appointed superior general of the new congregation Pasquale Ossorio; the ancient constitutions of the Pious Workers were abolished and replaced with those elaborated by Mauro in 1931.