Rosmini, who was ordained a Catholic priest in 1821, dedicated his life to submitting to the Divine Providence in undertaking any work he felt was presented which was a part of it.
As part of this, he thought to form a religious community of men dedicated to this vision, which came to be called the Institute of Charity.
They set up a house in Domodossola, which they called Calvario (Calvary), from which Löwenbruck would travel through the Ossola valleys, preaching and teaching the people of the towns there.
[2] One thing which Löwenbruck found from his time among the people of that valley was a strong desire among many of its young women to offer themselves completely to the service of God.
In order to channel and direct this desire, he conceived of a plan to establish a religious institute to give them an outlet for their calling.
Then he remembered that in his homeland of Lorraine he had known a flourishing group of Religious Sisters, called the Congregation of Divine Providence, founded by the Abbé Jean-Martin Moye in 1762, who were dedicated to the poor, especially through the education of their children.
The journey lasted more than two weeks, as the women had to cross the Simplon Pass in the dead of winter, often walking barefoot for miles.
Despite its wretched conditions, having no doors or windows, Löwensbruck accepted it and recruited another four women to start community life there.
[2] The four women arrived in Locarno in March 1832 by ferry in the middle of a driving rain, but soon set up a routine of life similar to that of the Brothers of Charity, arising at 4:30 A.M. for prayers, followed by long days of work preparing the house to form their own novitiate, and of study in the rudiments of their faith, given to them by a local priest.
These women had not been able to receive a religious habit and begin a canonical novitiate during their stay in France out of concern of stirring up problems with the French government authorities.
He adapted the Rule written by a foundress with whom he worked, St. Maddalena di Canossa, to suit it to its new conditions, and thenceforward had to assume entire responsibility for the Sisters of Providence.
The Institute is mainly contemplative; but, when necessary, they undertake any charitable work suitable to women, especially the teaching of girls and young children, visiting the sick, and instructing in Christian doctrine.
In a custom begun in 1837, all the Sisters return to their central house every summer for a retreat and to hold a chapter for the election of officers.
By the time of the death of the first Mother Superior, one of the young women to have gone to France, in 1879, the Institute numbered 500 living Sisters in 50 different communities around Europe.