Our Founders

Carlo Tancredi Falletti and Giulia Colbert of Barolo, the Marquises of Barolo, shared a marriage rooted in faith, love and a deep sense of mission. Though different in temperament, they were united by the same Gospel values and ideals of life. From the day of their wedding on 18 August 1806, they dedicated themselves as a couple to uplifting the poor and serving the most vulnerable.

Their love for each other, strengthened by faith, grew purer and deeper with time. Although they were not blessed with children, they embraced this trial as part of God’s providential plan, living instead a spiritual fatherhood and motherhood that bore abundant fruit in the lives of countless people.

Giulia devoted herself especially to the plight of women prisoners. She visited them personally, offered them friendship, and helped them experience God’s love and mercy. Her tireless efforts to reform prison conditions led her to found several institutions, including the Penitent Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene (today the Daughters of Jesus the Good Shepherd), a Community that welcomed even former prisoners into religious life.

Carlo Tancredi, meanwhile, focused his energies on the education and formation of children and youth. Serving as Decurion and Mayor of Turin, he made courageous choices for the integral development of Society. His palace became a “Shelter Home,” the first kindergarten of Piedmont, for the children of poor workers. In 1834, together with Giulia, he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Ann, to ensure that their mission of serving children and the poor would continue in the Church.

Carlo Tancredi died on 4 September 1838 in Chiari, lovingly accompanied by Giulia, who carried forward their mission until her own death on 19 January 1864. Their life, built on the love of God and service of neighbour, still shines today through the Institutions they founded.

The cause of their canonization is underway, with the hope that Carlo Tancredi and Giulia will be proclaimed blessed together as a couple, becoming a radiant model of holiness for Christian families.