May 7: Saint Rosa Venerini
Serving Women: Emancipation through education
She understood the difficulties and marginalization to which women of her time were subjected and spared no energy to educate them and teach them the truths of faith. She was convinced that to welcome the Gospel it was necessary to free people from ignorance and error. Together with education, she believed that offering professional training would promote human development and affirmation in society. There were no doubts for Rosa Venerini, as she dedicated herself entirely to her apostolate and to the vocational education for women in the 17th century, an era in which they were barred from many opportunities.
Born into a wealthy family in Viterbo, Italy on February 9, 1656, she had privately taken a vow of chastity. When she reached the age of 20 she was undecided whether to enter a convent or get married. On her father's advice, she began a trial period in the monastery of Santa Caterina delle Domenicane in Viterbo where an aunt lived. A few months later, she was called back to her family after her father died and she understood that God was not calling her to a contemplative life. Within three years, from 1677 to 1680, her brother Domenico and her mother died, while a sister got married. She was left alone with her brother Orazio.
She attended the Dominicans of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Quercia near Viterbo but entrusted herself to the spiritual direction of the Jesuits, following the spirituality of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
Her confessor advised her to gather the women and girls of the neighborhood in her home to recite the Rosary. On those occasions, she became aware of the spiritual and cultural poverty of the women of the time, therefore, in addition to prayers, she began to instruct them in the faith. After Orazio also left home to get married, on December 20, 1684, Rosa rented a house with the help of a benefactress and opened her first school together with two friends. It was the first public school for girls in the Italian peninsula.
In Viterbo, those women who lived as nuns in the world and taught girls of modest social extraction caused a stir. She also encountered opposition from a part of the clergy who wanted the Catechism to be taught only in the parish. She overcame all difficulties, certain that this was God's will. That group of women, who called themselves Maestre Pie, began to grow in number and Rosa sent her companions two by two to spread her work. Schools were opened in Montefiascone and in other dioceses of Lazio.
In 1706 she also founded a school in Rome, but the project foundered. Only in 1713, thanks to the help of a family friend, was she able to open a school at the foot of the Campidoglio. On October 24, 1716, Pope Clement XI, along with eight Cardinals, attended her lessons. Positively impressed by her teaching method, the Pope told her: “Signora Rosa, with these schools you will sanctify Rome for us”. From that moment, many bishops requested the presence of the Maestre Pie in their dioceses. Rosa Venerini died in Rome on May 7, 1728, after having opened more than 40 schools. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 15, 2006.