Los Talleres de Santa Rita, una iniciativa social de carácter agustiniano

Abstract

Of the three aspects related to the popular "Santa de imposibles", devotion, cult and charity, in the present work a succinct history is offered about the social assistance to the poor and needy carried out by the Asociación Talleres de Santa Rita, founded in Madrid at the beginning of the 20th century.The animator and organizer of this social work was the Augustinian Salvador Font, who provided the working method and the Regulation for its approval by the Bishop of Madrid-Alcalá (1902), giving legal form to the Santa Rita Workshops.After the blessing and conformity of the Workshops by León XIII (1903) and Saint Pius X (1907), fame, praise and the expansion of the new social institution arrived, with roots in several cities in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and the  Philippines, and its vast humanitarian social work through the making of clothes and dresses by a group of women, pioneers in social aid, which they later distribute among the poor and needy.