Biography
Giuditta Vannini
About Giuditta Vannini
Giuditta Vannini was born in Rome on 7 July 1859. She lost both parents as a child and grew up among the Daughters of Charity. She trained as a teacher and sought religious life, but poor health prevented her from remaining in their novitiate. Her path toward service took a different form when she met the Camillian priest Luigi Tezza in 1891.
Together they began a women’s community devoted to caring for the sick. In 1892 Giuditta took the religious name Maria Giuseppina, and the new sisters adopted the Camillian commitment to serve ill people even when doing so carried danger. She guided the Daughters of Saint Camillus as their first superior general. Her work joined hands-on care to the formation of sisters who could sustain it in new communities.
The congregation spread beyond Rome during her lifetime. Vannini died on 23 February 1911. John Paul II beatified her in 1994, and Francis canonized her in 2019. Her liturgical memorial falls on 23 February, linking the date of her death to the continuing work of care she helped organize.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.