Angela Merici, or
Angela de Merici (; 21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540) was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a
saint by the 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.