CATHERINE of Santa Rosa. — Born Constance Troiani, she was born in Giuliano di Roma on 9 February 1813. A victim of a family tragedy, at the age of six she was confined to the monastery of the Clarisses in Ferentino, where at fifteen she took the monastic habit and, for over 30 years, worked actively in the asylum and in the works of the monastery.
Inspired by the deeds of Canon Battista Olivieri in Egypt for the redemption of the Moorish women, and encouraged by Fr Giuseppe da S. Remo, OFM, she left for Egypt with five other sisters, arriving there on 11 September 1859. In 1868 she founded the institute of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Egypt (q.v.). She died in Cairo on 6 May 1887. In 28 years of missionary life and work for the salvation of souls, her patience and strength of character shone forth, united with a manly tenacity of purpose. The cause of her beatification is under way.