St. Angela Merici

St. Angela Merici was born on 21 March 1474 at Desenzano on Lake Garda in northern Italy and was orphaned young. Becoming a member of the Franciscan Third Order, she lived a life of prayer and penance, and was moved by the ignorance and neglect of the poor girls of her time, who lacked all means of learning their faith or bettering their lives. She resolved to remedy this by devoting herself to the Christian education of girls.

At Brescia in 1535 she gathered a group of like-minded young women and founded the Company of St. Ursula, named for the martyr St. Ursula, the patroness of learning; this was the origin of the Ursulines, honored as the first teaching order of women in the Church. Angela's vision was original for her age, for at first her companions did not live in a cloister or wear a habit, but remained in their own homes and families, consecrated to God and to the instruction of the young in the world. She died at Brescia on 27 January 1540 and was canonized in 1807. Her memory is kept on 27 January.