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Rose Venerini (9 February 1656 – 7 May 1728)

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Rose Venerini
Rosa Venerini, M.P.V. (9 February
1656 7 May 1728) was a pioneer in
the education of women and girls in
17th-century Italy and the foundress
of the Religious Teachers Venerini
(Italian: Maestre Pie Venerini), a
Roman Catholic religious institute
of women, often simply called the
Venerini Sisters. She was canonized
by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 October
2006.
Early life
Venerini was born in 1656 in Viterbo, Italy, then a part of the Papal States. Her
father, Goffredo, originally from Castelleone di Suasa, Ancona, after having
completed his medical studies at Rome, moved to Viterbo where he practiced at the
major hospital of the city. He became noted for his work. From his marriage to
Marzia Zampichetti, of an ancient family of the city, four children were born:
Domenico, Maria Maddalena, Rosa and Orazio.
According to her first biographer, Father Girolamo Andreucci, S.J., Venerini made a
vow to consecrate her life to God at the age of seven. At age twenty, though, Rosa
had questions about her own future and chose to accept an offer of marriage; her
fiancé, however, died shortly after this.
In the autumn of that year, on the advice of her father, Venerini entered the
Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine, where her aunt was a member of the
monastery. She remained in the monastery for only a few months, however, because
the sudden death of her father forced her to return to care for her mother. Her

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brother, Domenico, then died at 27. A few months later, worn out by grief, her
mother also died. In the meantime, Rose's sister Maria Maddalena married. There
remained at home only Orazio and Rosa, by now 24 years old. Rosa began to gather
girls and women of the area in her own home to recite the rosary.
After Venerini's first contacts with the Dominican friars at the Sanctuary of Our
Lady of the Oak Tree, near Viterbo, she chose to follow the spirituality of St.
Ignatius of Loyola under the direction of the Jesuits, especially Father Ignatius
Martinelli, who became her spiritual director. Under his guidance, she saw the need
to dedicate herself to the instruction and Christian formation of young
On 30 August 1685, with the approval of the Bishop of Viterbo, Cardinal Giulio
Cesare Sacchetti, and the collaboration of two friends, Gerolama Coluzzelli and
Porzia Bacci, Rosa left her father's home to begin her first school. The first objective
of this foundress was to give poor girls a complete Christian formation and to
prepare them for life in society. Without great pretense, Rose opened the first public
school for girls in Italy.
Expansion
The initial stages were not easy. The three teachers had to face the resistance of
clergy who considered the teaching of the catechism as their private office. But the
harshest suspicion came from conformists who were scandalized by the boldness of
this woman of the upper middle class of Viterbo, who had taken to heart the
education of ignorant girls. With her characteristic strength, Rosa continued on the
path that she had undertaken. The same pastors recognized the moral improvement
that the work of education generated among the girls and their mothers.
The validity of this initiative was acknowledged and its fame went beyond the
confines of the diocese. Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo, Bishop of Montefiascone,
had the insight to understand the Viterbo project and he invited Venerini to come to
his diocese to give advice on the administration of schools in the diocese and to help
train teachers. From 1692 to 1694, she opened ten schools in Montefiascone and the

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Rose Venerini Rosa Venerini, M.P.V. (9 February 1656 – 7 May 1728) was a pioneer in the education of women and girls in 17th-century Italy and the foundress of the Religious Teachers Venerini (Italian: Maestre Pie Venerini), a Roman Catholic religious institute of women, often simply called the Venerini Sisters. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 October 2006. Early life Venerini was born in 1656 in Viterbo, Italy, then a part of the Papal States. Her father, Goffredo, originally from Castelleone di Suasa, Ancona, after having completed his medical studies at Rome, moved to Viterbo where he practiced at the major hospital of the city. He became noted for his work. From his marriage to Marzia Zampichetti, of an ancient family of the city, four children were born: Domenico, Maria Maddalena, Rosa and Orazio. According to her first biographer, Father Girolamo Andreucci, S.J., Venerini made a vow to consecrate her life to God at the age of seven. At age twenty, though, Rosa had questions about her own future and chose to accept an offer of marriage; her fiancé, however, died shortly after this. In the autumn of that year, on the advice of her father, Venerini entered the D ...
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