Venerable Bartolomea Capitanio

Bartolomea Capitanio (13 January 1807 – 26 July 1833) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere that she established with Vincenza Gerosa. Capitanio's rather short life was dedicated to the educational needs of children and the poor and she served as a teacher for most of her life while using her order to achieve this aim. Pope Pius XI beatified her in 1926 and Pope Pius XII canonized her - alongside her old friend Gerosa - in 1950. Bartolomea Capitanio was born in Bergamo in 1807 as the eldest of seven children to the merchant Modesto Capitanio and his second wife Caterina Casnossi; she had two brothers and four sisters. All her siblings died as infants except for Camilla. Her father ran a business dealing in grain and also a small greengrocers. Her mother educated her children with great care and also a deep faith. Her father soon became an alcoholic and became aggressive at home. Capitanio was educated at the convent of the Poor Clares and Lovere after her mother sent her there in 1818; she remained there as a teacher, until 1825 when she returned home. The girl would have entered the order of those nuns but her parents would not consent to her request but approached her spiritual director, the priest Angelo Bosio, for guidance. Reading the life of Aloysius Gonzaga enlightened and inspired her and she attempted to emulate his virtues. After the conclusion of her studies she opened a private school for girls where she encouraged the devotion of the "Six Sundays of Saint Aloysius" that Pope Clement XII had approved back in 1739. The Austrian government - which controlled the northern Italian region at the time - issued her a teacher's diploma upon her passing the requisite examination in 1822; she began teaching first grade schoolgirls at her old school though left on 18 July 1824 to go back home and teach at the local school.