AGOSTINI, ZEFERINO, BL.

Founder of the Ursuline Daughters of Mary Immaculate; b. Verona, Venetia, Italy. Sept. 24, 1813; d. Verona, April 6, 1896. Agostini was the elder child of Antonio Agostini, a doctor, and Angela Frattini. His father died while Zeferino was still young, but his mother ensured that her two sons received a Christian education at local schools. Agostini entered the seminary as a day student and was distinguished by his piety, concern for contemporary problems, discipline, and success in his studies. He was ordained on March 11, 1837. Assigned to parish work, he took charge of catechesis and the recreational program for boys. In 1845, he was named pastor of a large, poor parish, a position he maintained until his death 50 years later. He started many social and pastoral initiatives in this highly populated district of the city, but his special concern was for the education of women and girls. He founded the Pious Union of Sisters, dedicated to St. Angela merici, in response to three young women who were volunteering themselves as religious to serve the poor; the rule received episcopal approbation in 1856. That same year, he founded a school for destitute girls and the congregation of the Ursuline Daughters of Mary Immaculate, primarily for those assistants in the school who wished to live in community. The first 12 Ursulines professed their vows in 1869. Agostini was beatified in Rome by John Paul II, Oct. 25, 1998.

Feast: April 6.

Bibliography: Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 21 (1998): 1049. L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, no. 43 (1998): 3.

[k. i. rabenstein]