“One of the great arguments for Christianity”

Cardinal Newman once wrote that “the outburst of saints in 1500-1600 after the monstrous corruption” of the Renaissance papacy was “one of the great arguments for Christianity.” Today is the Feast of St. Angela Merici (1474-1540), foundress of the Ursulines, the first women’s teaching order. Born in Italy near Brescia, at age 22 she gathered a group of laywomen to teach religion to young girls. She converted her childhood home into a school. Her reputation spread throughout Italy. In November 1535, she founded the Company of St. Ursula with twelve women. The Ursulines were the first women religious in what is now the United States when they arrived in New Orleans in 1727. They came to Canada in 1639, making them some of the first religious sisters on the North American continent. In 1904 they founded the first women’s Catholic college in New York State, the College of New Rochelle.