“The Don Guanella and Divine Providence communities trace their origins in the Philadelphia area to St. Luigi Guanella (also known as “Don,” or “Father,” Guanella), a 19th-century Italian priest who ministered to children with physical and intellectual disabilities.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia invited Don Guanella’s religious orders — the sisters of the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence and the priests and brothers of the Servants of Charity — to establish facilities in the region.

The expansion of the mission of care over the years, along with more recent state initiatives to downsize large institutional care settings, has shaped the current structure of the communities.”