St. Rose Venerini

St. Rose Venerini (9 February 1656 – 7 May 1728) was born in Viterbo, Italy, the daughter of a physician. After the death of her fiancé she briefly entered a convent, but returned home and, gathering the women and girls of her neighborhood for prayer and instruction, discovered her vocation as an educator of the poor. In 1685, with the encouragement of Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo, she opened what is regarded as the first free public school for girls in Italy.

She went on to found some forty schools and to establish the Religious Teachers Venerini (the Maestre Pie Venerini), a congregation devoted to forming poor girls in the faith, literacy, and useful skills at a time when such education was rare. Her work drew papal notice and spread widely; her sisters would later follow Italian immigrants to the United States. She was beatified in 1952 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.