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The congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne was founded by Mother Rosa Gattorno in Piacenza, Italy on December 8, 1866, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with a mandate to work with the poor and sick.

Rosa Gattorno was born in Genova on October 14, 1831, and grew up in a Catholic family. Mother Rosa Gattorno has been a fiancée, a spouse, and a widowed mother of three children. This variety of experiences has enriched the personality of the foundress with an extraordinary sense of humanity. To her Sisters, rather than a superior, she has always been a mother. Mother Rosa Gattorno died on May 6, 1900, in Rome, and was declared “Blessed” by His Holiness John Paul II on April 9, 2000.

She took the habit of the Institute on 26 July 1867, and on 8 April 1870 she and twelve sisters made their solemn profession, during which she took the name Anna Rosa. The Institute received official approval in 1879, and its rule was approved in 1892. By her death there were 368 houses in Italy, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Eritrea; they had built hostels, schools and kindergartens, had 3500 sisters, and worked in a ministry to the deaf and mute. Today they are associated with the Movement of Hope, the Contemplative Order of the Daughters of Saint Anne, and the Sons of Saint Anne.

Today, there are about 1,400 sisters in the order. The mother house, Casa Generalizia, is in Rome and Mother Maria Luisa is the Mother Superior.
The sisters are currently working on almost every continent:

• Africa: Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya
• Asia: India, Israel, Palestine, Philippines. Inodnesia
• Australia
• Europe: Italy
• North America: Guatemala, Mexico, United States
• South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru