Bl. Rita Lopes de Almeida

Rita Lopes de Almeida was born in 1848 in Ribafeita, near Viseu, Portugal. At that time Portugal's government had closed the religious houses and banned new members.

As a young woman she travelled from parish to parish teaching people to pray the Rosary, and was called the "Apostle of the Rosary." In 1880 she founded the Sisters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to educate poor girls and support families. The congregation was scattered when the 1910 Portuguese republic expelled religious orders. She died in 1913, and was beatified in 2006 as Rita Amada de Jesus.

Rita Lopes de Almeida was beatified in 2006.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.