The following material is directly quoted from an article found at The Marian Library:
Servite Nun Originated First Saturday Communion of Reparation
We all know that from time immemorial Christian tradition had consecrated every Saturday to Our Lady. At Fatima, however, it was the First Saturday of each month which she herself particularly singled out for reparation to her Immaculate Heart. Were these words of Our Lady's "Great Promise" at Fatima the origin of the First Saturday Communion of Reparation? No. Both St. Pius X and Benedict XV had previously indulged the practice. Who, then, was the founder of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the First Saturday? As far as our studies have been able to determine, the founder was a Servite nun. And here is the story.
Apparition of Our Lady
In the latter half of the nineteenth century there lived at Rovigo, Italy, a very holy family named Ronconi. There were seven sons in the family, all of whom died a saintly death at a very early age. The last to die – he was nineteen – received an apparition from Our Blessed Lady just before his death. Among other things Our Lady told the dying youth that she wanted his father to become a Servite tertiary and that he could do so by writing to the Servants of Mary at Vicenza. Mr. Ronconi was so enthusiastic about Our Lady's request that he not only became a Tertiary himself, but also eventually succeeded in having the Servite Order canonically erected in the Parish of St. Michael at Rovigo. The date of the Canonical Erection was March 24, 1890.
The new Servite Tertiaries at Rovigo purchased a large oleograph of Murillo's Sorrowful Mother and mounted it over one of the side altars in St. Michael's church. It was before this image that the monthly meetings of the Tertiaries took place.
Second Marian Phenomenon
Early in the morning of May 1, 1895, word went around Rovigo that "the Sorrowful Mother of St. Michael's is moving her eyes!" Before long the whole church was jammed with people and thousands outside fought to get in. The rumor was true. Everyone saw the eyes of the image move, look up to heaven, then look down as if in great sorrow. Later it was discovered that three school girls, who used to go into the church each morning on their way to school to greet Our Blessed Mother, had witnessed the phenomenon for three days running. They had told their parents, but no one had believed their story.
Mary English Inspired
Among the people who ran to the church at Rovigo that May 1 morning was thirty-year-old Miss Mary English (Inglese), a most pure soul, all on fire for the Madonna, and a Servite Tertiary for the past four years. The look of Our Beloved Mother, so desolate and appealing, was an interior revelation to Miss English. She knew immediately that Our Lady was asking for reparation and love. At the same time the whole practice of Marian Reparation seemed revealed to her in a flash.
Begins Communions of Reparation
For the next four years Mary English prayed constantly, asking to know more distinctly exactly what Our Lady wanted her to do. Then in February 1889, moved by an irresistible interior revelation, she instituted among her friends the pious practice of "Communion in Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary." In the same month she published a pamphlet – How Good Is Mary! – which explained her plan and included prayers of Reparation. The bishop of the diocese not only approved of the practice, but also recommended it most warmly to his people. In a short time seven hundred units of the Sodality of Our Lady, in Italy and elsewhere, had adopted it officially. The plan at that time was to have members take turns in uninterrupted daily Communions and Hours of Adoration in Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
St. Pius X Approves
Miss English was in very bad health. In 1904 she composed a series of prayers for each mystery of the rosary, as well as prayers for the opening and closing of the Holy Hour of Reparation to Mary. She brought these writings to Rome and St. Pius X indulged them immediately. In 1905 the same Pontiff, in a private audience, warmly encouraged Mary English in her apostolate of Communion in Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Our Lady Appears Again
It was about this time that Our Blessed Lady appeared to Mary English at Rovigo. No words were spoken during the Apparition, but Our Lady showed the girl a nun's habit. By interior inspiration Mary English knew immediately that this was the religious habit which Our Lady wanted her to wear. So she went to the bishop and asked his permission to start a new Religious Congregation to take over this work of Marian Reparation. The bishop, Pius Thomas Boggiani, who later became a cardinal, answered: "No. There is no need to found a new Congregation. Recently I brought the Servite Sisters to this diocese and their devotion to the Sorrows of Our Lady makes them the ideal group for your Marian Reparation. I desire that you confide it to them." The Servite Sisters to whom he referred were those founded at Vidor in 1890 by Sister Mary Elisa Andreoli, who died a most saintly death in 1935.
Joins Servite Nuns
Naturally Mary English was greatly disturbed by this answer of the bishop, since she had interpreted the Apparition of Our Lady as meaning that an entirely new congregation was to be founded. However, in obedience to the bishop, she went to visit the Servite Sisters. Imagine her surprise upon seeing the nuns dressed in the very same habit which Our Lady had shown to her in the Apparition! Immediately she asked to be admitted to the community and on December 29, 1911, was clothed with the Servite Habit and given the name of Sister Mary Dolores.
Institutes First Saturday Reparation
Mother Foundress Andreoli and Sister Dolores then set about revising the Rule of their Congregation so as to make Marian Reparation its chief work. Framework of the new Rule was that each day (from 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.) be a series of uninterrupted hours of Reparation before Our Lady's altar, and that the First Saturday of each month be the most solemn day of Reparation. On each first Saturday the community would engage in special penances and prayers and would renew its Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Also, its apostolate among the school children and then adult laity would concentrate on the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturday of each month. The name of the Congregation was then changed from "Servants of Mary" to "Servants of Mary of Reparation," Congregatio Servarum Mariae a Reparatione.
"The Marian League of Reparation"
The miraculous picture of Our Lady was then moved from St. Michael's Church to the novitiate of the Sisters and the new program of continuous reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary began. The Congregation has since opened many new convents, and in each of them you found – at any hour of the day – at least two nuns kneeling in reparation before the image of Our Lady. In 1912 the Sisters began publishing a new monthly magazine entitled The Marian League of Reparation. Chiefly through this magazine they were able to spread throughout Continental Europe their apostolate of the First Saturday Communion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Pioneer of Marian Reparation
Sister Mary Dolores died on December 29, 1928. The question of her possible canonization is being studied in the diocesan curia. She was the first, as far as this writer knows, to popularize the devotion of receiving Holy Communion on the First Saturday of each month in Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She also instituted the practice of continuous Holy Hours of Reparation before the altar of Our Lady. "The work of Marian Reparation instituted by Sister Dolores," wrote Cardinal Boggiani, "is something which Heaven desires. Reparation is necessary in these most sorrowful times. Only the intercession of our Holy Mother can bring sinful society back to the feet of Jesus."
From our sources in the Marian Library: Queen of the Missions, October 1954