Saint Rose Venerini

Life story

Rose was born on 9 February 1656 in Viterbo. Her father Goffredo was a physician and her mother was Marzia Zampichetti. She is said to have vowed at the age of seven to give her life to God. In autumn 1676, on her father's advice, she entered the Dominican monastery of Saint Catherine, but left after a few months when her father died suddenly.

From May 1684 she gathered local girls and women at her home to pray the rosary, and out of this she began a school for them. On 30 August 1685, with the approval of Cardinal Urbano Sacchetti and the help of two companions, Gerolama Coluzzelli and Porzia Bacci, she opened her first school; the Vatican biography calls it the first public school for girls in Italy. From 1692 to 1694, at the invitation of Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo, she opened ten schools in Montefiascone and the villages around Lake Bolsena.

She reached Rome in 1706, but her first attempt failed and she waited six years to regain the authorities' trust. On 8 December 1713 she opened a school in central Rome, at the foot of the Capitoline hill. On 24 October 1716 Pope Clement XI visited it with eight cardinals. She died in Rome on 7 May 1728, having opened more than forty schools, and was buried in the church of the Gesù. She was beatified in 1952 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 October 2006.

Works and witness

• Opened her first school for girls in Viterbo on 30 August 1685
• Opened ten schools around Montefiascone in 1692-1694 at Cardinal Barbarigo's invitation
• Opened a school in central Rome on 8 December 1713, visited by Clement XI in 1716
• Opened more than forty schools in her lifetime
• Died on 7 May 1728; canonized on 15 October 2006

Saints from the same country

Saint Agnes, Saint Lawrence, Saint Cecilia, Saint Sebastian

References

• Vatican, 'Rosa Venerini (1656-1728) - Biography' (canonization, 15 Oct 2006)
• Vatican, Benedict XVI, homily of 15 October 2006 (canonization)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.