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.