The European economic and social historiography continues to investigate religious congregations demonstrating great interest in Northern Italy too, an extremely dynamic context since the midnineteenth century. Furthermore, even considering the overall Italian landscape, the importance of the relationship ‘Church-economy’ has long been recognized, especially with reference to local financial history, which is intertwined with the history of social Catholicism, including to full extent the male and female religious institutes. In this perspective, several contributions presented in different important European conferences in the last years are included in this book, demonstrating the interdisciplinary and international relevance of the topic. A major event was the conference «For the needy youth that we care. Teresa Verzeri and the religious congregations in modern Europe» (November 11, 2014) held in Brescia by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. In this occasion, with the participation of Giancarlo Rocca and Jan De Maeyer (director of the Kadok in Leuven), the magnificent biography of Teresa Verzeri, founder of The Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, written by Goffredo Zanchi was presented.