Who we are
Dimesse Sisters
Daughters of Mary Immaculate
Who we are
At first they called them “Madonne”, and with this title they intended to refer to the fact that the first Dimesse came from wealthy families of Vicenza society. Madonna Deianira Valmarana was the first to follow the spiritual indications of Father Antonio Pagani, a Franciscan of the Minors who worked in Vicenza in the second half of the sixteenth century. Father Antonio Pagani had met Deianira Valmarana in a particularly difficult moment in his life, Since, a 26 years, she had lost her baby and then become a widow. He had chosen, Therefore, of being part of the Franciscan Third Order and had moved to the Tower of San Marcello to live with other Tertiaries. It was entrusted to Father Pagani, by his Superiors, the leader of this group of women, therefore his existence crosses that of Deianira. And in the commitment to guide them to renew their spiritual life, the Franciscan invites some Tertiaries to no longer rely on practices of penance but on meditation on the Word so that Christ's gift of love could guide their spirituality. Il 25 August 1579, Deianira Valmarana leaves the Tertiaries and moves to live in a new house purchased with family assets; her cousin Angela Valmarana and Elisabetta Franceschini follow her in this choice, others of two women from wealthy families who become owners of two other houses that are connected, via internal courtyard, with that of Deianira. A gimmick, This, suggested by Father Pagani which will prove decisive when the application of the Tridentine Decrees forces the nuns who lived community life into seclusion. In the epistolary communication that Father Pagani will entertain with the first Dimesse, he will address them with the nickname "Madonna", who knows if to remember, more than the nobility of origin, the dignity of daughters of God and brides of Christ so that this awareness could increasingly guide their path.
The name "Dimesse", Then, which has become that of our Religious Family always finds its meaning in the time in which we were founded; he indicated, precisely, the choice to leave the life of time - resigned from the world - that of entertainment, some chatter, of the distractions of the noble condition, to dedicate oneself to prayer, to meditation, to the interiority that leads to communion with God. Today, for us Dimesse nuns, the name also suggests another commitment: that of living humility, virtue so dear to Father Antonio Pagani and proposed to his spiritual daughters as a path of conformation to Christ who stripped himself of his divine life to become "of earth" - humilis - like us and show us the merciful face of the Father.
Another name has accompanied us since the beginning: before it was “Company of the Madonna”, today it is "Daughters of Mary Immaculate": Father Antonio Pagani showed us Mary as the light for our journey. Looking at her, became a disciple of his son, we too try to let ourselves be changed by the Word, welcomed in the daily meeting of the Eucharistic celebration, to serve our brothers freely as Christ the Lord asks of us.
In educational commitment, in sharing everyday life, in the missionary gift to young churches, we Dimesse nuns, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, try to safeguard - from a distance more than 400 years – the Charism that the Lord has entrusted to us in the person of Father Antonio Pagani, so that the thirst for spiritual life can become increasingly stronger and the hearts of many believers are reinvigorated by listening to the Word and find joy and hope in communion with God.
