St. Rose Venerini
Feast: May 7
Born in Viterbo, Italy, Rose entered a convent after her fiance died, but soon returned home to care for her widowed mother. She chose to be a teacher rather than a contemplative, and opened a free school for girls in 1685. In 1692, the bishop of an Italian diocese asked her to train teachers and administer the schools there. She and St. Lucy Filippini became friends, and Rose began setting up schools around Italy. Despite opposition, including arson and assaults on some of her teachers, the order she founded was officially recognized as a congregation, the Venerini Sisters, after her death.
