Karolina Gerhardinger was a German Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Gerhardinger served as an educator in Bavaria until the establishment of her order, which provided free education to the poor and soon expanded in Europe.
Celine Chludzińska Borzęcka was a Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress - along with her daughter Jadwiga Borzęcka - of the Sisters of the Resurrection. Borzęcka desired the religious life but married in obedience to her parents and bore four children; two died as infants. After her husband's death, she chose to follow the spiritual path with her daughter at her side and began a life in community in Rome.
Maria Franciszka Siedliska, also known by her religious name Maria of Jesus the Good Shepherd, was a Polish Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. In childhood Siedliska was indifferent to her faith but after a local priest had converted her she became aware of a call to the religious life which her parents opposed. However the death of her father in 1870 enabled her to pursue her vocation. In 1873 she decided to found a religious congregation that received the blessing of Pope Pius IX before being established during Advent in 1875. Siedliska expanded her congregation from Rome to her native Poland and elsewhere, including Great Britain, France and the USA where she visited during her extensive travels.
Clelia Barbieri was an Italian Roman Catholic and the founder of the Little Sisters of the Mother of Sorrows.She is regarded as the youngest founder of a religious congregation in the history of the Catholic church, as she was just twenty-three when she died. Barbieri declined the married life in her adolescence – even when pressured – in favor of leading a life dedicated to the needs of others; she served as an educator for a while and joined a religious movement which made her a notable figure in her village.
Teresa Jornet Ibars, also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly. Ibars was the great-niece of Francisco Palau and a friend and confidante of Saturnino López Novoa. Her dedication to the old and ill was noted, and her sisters' work in Spain and later abroad.
Anne-Marie Rivier was a French Catholic nun and the foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. Rivier's focus was on education and she opened a school just before the beginning of the French Revolution which saw her school confiscated. The end of the revolution allowed for her to resume her educational inclinations and she also founded her religious order to take care of the education of orphans and other children who needed education.
Maria Schininà, also known by her religious name Maria of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was an Italian Roman Catholic nun and the founder of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1889). Her adolescence demonstrated no particular spiritual emphasis though the death of her father and the marriage of her brother prompted a sudden inner conversion that saw her reach out and collaborate with the ill and the poor; she began in 1885 the foundations for what would become the religious congregation that she set up in 1889.
Maria Katharina Kasper – born Katharina but in religion known as Schwester / sister Maria – was a German Roman Catholic religious sister and the founder of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. Kasper entered the religious life later in her life despite having harbored a desire to become a religious sister for a very long time. It did not materialize earlier due to aggravating circumstances such as the Kaspers' poor economic status and the deaths of both a brother and her father. Her dedication to the poor and the will was noted during the course of her life and she dedicated herself to this work with great zeal.
Elena Guerra was an Italian Roman Catholic religious sister and the founder of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit. Guerra was a strong proponent of the Holy Spirit as a motivation to do pious works. She was known to have been dedicated her life particularly to the education of Chinese and African girls.
Maria Therese von Wüllenweber was a German Roman Catholic religious sister. She established the Sisters of the Divine Savior – also referred to as the Salvatorian Sisters – with the assistance of the priest Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, founder of the Salvatorians. She later assumed the name "Maria of the Apostles" following her perpetual vows.
Giovanna Francesca Michelotti, born Anna Michelotti, was an Italian religious sister. Upon her investiture, Michelotti assumed the name Giovanna Francesca. She established a new religious congregation which she named the Little Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the Sick Poor. She was beatified on 1 November 1975.
Maria Grazia Tarallo was an Italian Roman Catholic nun. She was a member of the congregation known as the Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Holy Eucharist. Tarallo was given the new name of "Maria of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" upon the occasion of her solemn profession. She was well known for her charitable nature as well as her strong devotion to the Eucharist.
Dina Bosatta was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious (nun) who became a professed member of the Daughters of Mary religious congregation alongside her sister Marcellina. Bosatta became a nun in 1878 and assumed the religious name of "Chiara" and devoted her life to God and to the social welfare of neglected children and to the poor.
Giuditta Vannini – also known as Giuseppina – was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who became a Camillian. Together with Luigi Tezza she established the religious congregation known as the Daughters of Saint Camillus. She and her two siblings were orphaned as children and were placed in different homes; she was raised and educated in Rome under nuns where her vocation to the religious life was strengthened. Vannini later tried joining a religious order but was forced to leave during her novitiate period after suffering from ill health. She and Tezza met in 1891 and founded a religious congregation of which Vannini served as Superior General until her death while Tezza was exiled to Peru around 1900.
Maddalena Caterina Morano was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious who was a member of the Salesian Sisters. Morano served as an educator for her entire life believing it to be her vocation; she served as a catechist in addition to being an educator.
Maria Assunta Pallotta, born Assunta Maria Pallotta, was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who served as a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and also as part of the missions to China in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion.
Caterina Sordini was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious that established the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in latin Adoratrices Perpetuae Sanctissimi Sacramenti, devoted to the Eucharist. She assumed the religious name of "Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation" when she became a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis during her adolescence.
Francesco Spinelli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Sisters Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. Spinelli became close contemporaries of Geltrude Comensoli and Luigi Maria Palazzolo and had a previous collaboration with Comensoli in which the two established a religious institute in Bergamo before a rift between members caused Spinelli to distance himself from its work and leave.
Elisabetta Vendramini was an Italian Franciscan tertiary who established the Elizabethan Sisters in 1830 in Padua. Her beatification was celebrated on 4 November 1990.
Elisabetta Maria Satellico – in religious Maria Crocifissa – was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious from the Poor Clares who served as her convent's abbess.
