Educated with Christian strictness, after a brief hesitation, with resolute will and under the wise spiritual guidance of the Jesuits, she devoted herself to a life of high perfection. Following her impulse toward practical apostolate, as early as 1682 she began in her own home a kind of catechism school, with an evening rosary for girls of the common people and their mothers; from this developed the idea of a true public school. The first “Scuola Pia” was opened on 30 August 1685, with the precise aim of instructing the daughters of the common people in religion, forming them for a true Christian life and preparing them for civil life. Great merit in her very difficult undertaking was due to Fr Ignazio Martinelli, who for many years was her spiritual director (d. 1716). The bishop of nearby Montefiascone, Cardinal M. A. Barbarigo, called Venerini to his diocese in 1692; with his effective support, within two years she succeeded in opening and organizing the female Scuole Pie in nearly all the towns of the diocese. As long as Barbarigo lived (d. 1706), she retained oversight of them, while the direction was entrusted, on her advice, to St Lucia Filippini (q.v.). Venerini then, overcoming two major difficulties and with admirable firmness, subsequently opened and ran until her death about forty Scuole Pie. From 1713 she made her home in Rome; on 24 October 1716 she received a solemn visit from Clement XI, a great admirer and patron of her work, at the very Scuola Pia in Rome. Her providential institution continues under the title of Maestre Pie Venerini (q.v.).
The great merit of Venerini lies in this: until her time, popular female education was almost non-existent. A few rare monasteries of enclosure or conservatories, and some cities often without continuity, had in some way provided for II. Venerini brought the school and the teachers, solidly trained, out of the convents into even small towns, into direct contact with the people, while at the same time ensuring stability through a centralized organization. Also felicitous was her idea of maintaining, as a rule, lively contact with the girls even after they had finished school and with their mothers, thus creating around each school a stable and active center of Christian life. Venerini was beatified by Pius XII on 4 May 1952.