Angela Merici or Angela de Merici was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, in which women dedicated their lives to the service of the Church through the education of girls. From this organization later sprang the monastic Order of Ursulines, whose nuns established places of prayer and learning throughout Europe and, later, worldwide, most notably in North America.
Orphaned young, she went to Salo to live in the home of an uncle. Later she joined the Third Order of St. Francis. At the age of 20, she returned to Desenzano, where she gathered about her a group of girls who taught the catechism to the children of the village. In 1506, while praying in the fields of Brudazzo, Angela had a vision in which she was told that she would found a society of virgins at Brescia. The citizens of Brescia came to regard her as a prophet and a saint. There she found the Company of Ursula for serving others. Many came to serve the people. The aim of the company is to serve all in the midst of worldly anxieties, not to ignore or abandon the reality of material life. All their action plans focused on educational activities for the children of poor families. She passed away in 1540.