Blessed Zefirino Agostini

Zefirino Agostini (24 September 1813 - 6 April 1896) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest that served in his hometown of Verona to perform his pastoral duties. He established two religious congregations in his lifetime being the Pious Union of Sisters Devoted to Saint Angela Merici and the Ursuline Sisters of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Agostini was beatified on 25 October 1998. Zefirino Agostini was born in Verona on 24 September 1813 as the oldest son to Antonio Agostini and Angela Frattini. His father died before he reached age one which prompted his mother to care for him and his brothers. He spent his childhood with his paternal grandparents in Terrossa where he learned to read and write. Agostini commenced his studies for the priesthood at the age of eighteen. One of his teachers during his time there was Venerable Nicola Mazza. He received his ordination on 11 March 1837 from the Bishop of Verona Giuseppe Grasser. Agostini was appointed in 1845 as the pastor of the parish of Santi Nazario e Celso and took possession of that parish upon his entrance on 29 June 1845. He had been there as a parish priest since 1837 but was elevated as its pastor. He established a range of after-school care programs for girls and also catered for women's religious instruction in his parish. In 1852 he tried to open a centre for adolescents under the care of the Canossians but it didn't quite work so he tried to look into female oratories as a possible alternative. Agostini also instilled devotion to Saint Angela Merici among his female parishioners and even established a religious congregation devoted to her. The Rule for that order - the Pious Union of Sisters Devoted to Saint Angela Merici - received diocesan approval from the Bishop of Verona Benedetto Riccabona de Reinchenfels in 1856. On 2 November 1856 the priest opened his first school for poor girls.