María Soledad Torres y Acosta - born Manuela - was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Servants of Mary. Her apostolic actions - and those of her order - were dedicated towards the nursing of the sick and the poor in the places that it operated in. Torres' childhood consisted of the desire to join the religious life and managed to join a priest's fledgling religious cluster of women after the Dominicans refused to admit her due to her frail constitution. But a series of struggles saw her in a conflicted position of leadership that saw her removed and reinstated twice.
The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary, is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. It includes several branches of friars, contemplative nuns, a congregation of active religious sisters, and lay groups. The order's objectives are the sanctification of its members, the preaching of the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The Servites friars lead a community life in the tradition of the mendicant orders.
Giovanni Antonio Farina was an Italian Catholic bishop known for his compassionate treatment of the poor and for his enlightened views of education; he was sometimes dubbed as the "Bishop of the Poor". He served as the Bishop of Vicenza and later as the Bishop of Treviso; he is also known for ordaining the future Pope Pius X to the priesthood.
Gennaro Maria Sarnelli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Redemptorists. Sarnelli was one of Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori's earliest companions and a prolific writer on a range of religious topics. He wanted to become a Jesuit though was dissuaded from this before working in the Hospital of the Incurables where he call to the priesthood blossomed. His apostolic zeal knew no limits: he preached missions and aided his friend Liguori in his work; he tended to the sick and helped to get girls out of prostitution despite the threats levelled against him.
Bartolomea Capitanio 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.
Vincenza Gerosa - born Caterina Gerosa - was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere that she founded alongside Bartolomea Capitanio. Gerosa met Capitanio in 1824 and the two consecrated themselves to God in the name of educating children and tending to the poor of the Bergamo area.
Antonio Lucci, born Angelo Nicola Lucci, was an Italian Roman Catholic professed member from the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and served as the Bishop of Bovino from 1729 until his death.
Pius of Saint Aloysius was an Italian Roman Catholic professed cleric from the Passionists. He died before he could receive his ordination to the priesthood but in his short life managed to captivate people around him for his strong dedication to his order's charism and his deep faith.
Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer zu Gleifheim was an Austrian-Italian Roman Catholic prelate and the Bishop of Trent from 1834 until his death. He was born to Austrians but was considered to be an Austro-Italian due to having been born in the Italian town of Bolzano.
Gabriel Maria Roschini, OSM, was a Roman Catholic Italian priest and professor of Mariology, who published over 900 titles on the subject. During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, he worked closely with the Vatican on Marian publications. In light of the encyclopedic accuracy of his work, Roschini is considered one of the top two Mariologists of the 20th century. His first major work, a four volume Mariology, Il Capolavoro di Dio, is judged to be the most comprehensive mariological presentation in the 20th century. Several theologians called him "one of the most profound mariologists" and "irreplaceable".
Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa - born as Paola Francesca Di Rosa - was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Ancelle della carità (1839). Di Rosa worked first at her father's spinning mill where she - with his encouragement - tended to the spiritual and material needs of the female workers while gathering several women to dedicate their collective efforts to caring for the poor; this formed the basis for the establishment of her religious congregation. Her apostolate prioritized tending to the ill in hospitals and to soldiers going to the front.
Angelo Paoli – born Francesco – was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Carmelites. Paoli became known as the "father of the poor" due to his strong charitable outreach towards those who were poor and sick, for which he received praise from a number of cardinals and other prelates while living in Rome. This extended to his friend Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi and to popes Innocent XII and Clement XI who both offered him the cardinalate, which he refused.
Matilde of the Sacred Heart, born Matilde Téllez Robles, was a Spanish Roman Catholic nun and the foundress of the Hijas de María Madre de la Iglesia. Téllez was an active participant in her parish during her adolescence and was part of several faith-related organizations until her desire for the religious life led her to establish an order dedicated to both the care of the poor and ill and the education of children. Her order's foundation was first mired in a lack of membership though the number increased as houses were established and their works grew.
Maria Domenica Mantovani was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious, and the co-founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; she established them alongside Giuseppe Nascimbeni. As a nun she received the religious name of Maria of the Immaculate.
Antonio Maria Gianelli was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Bobbio from 1837 until his death. He was also the founder of the Figlie di Nostra Signora del Giardino and the Missionaries of Saint Alphonsus. Gianelli was dedicated to the educational needs of his people and catered to their spiritual and material needs as well; he was on hand to aid the ill and the poor and made evangelization a focus to his episcopal mission. He likewise preached missions and became known for his charisma and his eloquence.
Tommaso Maria Fusco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who established the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood.
Rosa Maria Benedetta Gattorno Custo was an Italian Roman Catholic who was widowed and later became a nun. She was also the founder of the Daughters of Saint Anne and assumed the new name of "Anna Rosa" after she had established her order and made her religious profession as a nun. Her order - after her death - expanded in Europe and other parts of the world.
Blessed Costanza Starace was an Italian Roman Catholic nun. She was the founder of the religious congregation known as the Compassionist Sisters Servants of Mary. Starace later assumed the new name of "Maria Maddalena of the Passion" upon the occasion of her solemn profession. She became a secular member of the Servite Order after she failed to join a religious order.
Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Secular Servites. Baccilieri was also the founder of the Sisters Servants of Mary of Galeazza - a religious congregation designed for women. He had become well known for restoring a troubled parish to one brimming with the faith and was made its parochial vicar as a result of his good work and effort in the Bolognese parish.
Zefirino Agostini 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.
