But as in the case of the Pia Casa di Carità,, the little community of Sisters had very trying
beginnings: adaptation and adjustments were required when the original plans did not work
out. There was need for a school at the new parish and the language barrier could not be
overcome quickly enough so that our Sisters could provide the kind of assistance the pastor
desired. Yet Italian immigrants kept pouring into that part of the city. If their gifts were not
suited to the work they had been brought here to do, there was work suited to their gifts.
Their love and generosity, coupled with initiative and enterprise, led them to establish
nurseries and settlement houses in which the newly arrived Italians could continue to use
their language and customs while adapting to their new cultural surroundings. Though
finances were a burden, there were those who provided generous support and gradually the
new venture took root in a new country.