Rose Venerini

Rose Venerini (9 February 1656 – 7 May 1728), also called Rosa Venerini, was an Italian Roman Catholic saint and virgin who founded the first public schools for girls and young women in Italy. According to the Vatican document published on the occasion of Venerini's canonization in 2006, "Wherever a new school sprang up, in a short time a moral improvement could be noted in the youth". Her confraternity of teachers, after her death, was raised to a religious congregation called the Religious Teachers Venerini (or Venerini sisters), which worked with Italian immigrants in the U.S. and Switzerland established the first day care centers in the Northeastern U.S., and worked throughout the world. Her feast day is May 7.

Patron saint of Catholic teachers and educators