Feastday: March 25
Birth: 1672
Death: 1732
Co-foundress of the Italian institute of theMaestre Pie, the Filippine. Also listed as Lucia, she was born in Tuscany, Italy. With Rosa Venerini, Lucy started training schoolmistresses at Monte Fiascone. The institute evolved from this work. Lucy was canonized in 1930.
Lucy Filippini (Italian: Santa Lucia Filippini) (13 January 1672 – 25 March 1732) is venerated as a Catholic saint. She founded the Institute of the Maestre Pie, dedicated to the education of young girls.
Life
Lucy Filippini was born on 13 January 1672 in Corneto-Tarquinia. She was the fifth and youngest child of Filippo Filippini and Maddalena Picchi. She was orphaned at an early age. At the age of six, she went to live with her aristocratic aunt and uncle who encouraged her religious inclination by entrusting her education to the Benedictine nuns at Santa Lucia.
Her career began under the patronage of Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo, who entrusted her with the work of founding schools for young women, especially the poor. With Rose Venerini to train school teachers, she co-founded with Marcantonio Barbarigo the Pious Teachers (Religious Teachers Filippini), a group dedicated to the education of girls. The young ladies of Montefiascone were taught domestic arts, weaving, embroidering, reading, and Christian doctrine. Twelve years later the Cardinal devised a set of rules to guide Lucy and her followers in the religious life. Fifty-two schools were established during Lucy's lifetime. Pope Clement XI, in 1707, called Lucy to Rome to start schools which he placed under his special protection. She died of breast cancer in 1732, aged 60, at Montefiascone.
Veneration
Lucy Filippini was canonized 22 June 1930. Her statue can be seen in the first upper niche from the main entrance on the left (south) side of the nave of St. Peter's Basilica. Her feast day is March 25.
