Blessed Margarita de Maturana
Blessed Margarita de Maturana (Spanish: Margarita María López de Maturana; born July 25, 1884 AD in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain; died July 23, 1934 AD in Berriz, Biscay, Spain) was a Spanish Basque religious sister who transformed a contemplative Mercedarian convent into a missionary congregation, the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz, and became a pioneer of the missionary movement among women religious. She is venerated as a Blessed of the Church. Her feast day is July 23.
Entering the Mercedarian convent of Berriz as a young woman, "Madre Margarita" was seized with a great zeal for the foreign missions and led her community to open to missionary work in Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. She was beatified in 2006.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Margarita de Maturana
| Blessed Margarita de Maturana | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | July 23 |
| Profession | Religious sister; founder of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz |
| Patronage | Missionaries; the missionary vocation of women religious; the Basque Country |
| Attributes | Religious habit; the missions; the Mercedarian emblem |
| Birthplace | Bilbao, Biscay, Spain |
| Death Place | Berriz, Biscay, Spain |
| Cause of Death | Natural death; religious sister and founder-transformer of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz; died at Berriz |
| Primary Shrine | Berriz, Biscay, Spain |
Biography
Margarita María López de Maturana was born on July 25, 1884, at Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. As a young woman she entered the convent of the Mercedarian nuns at Berriz, in Biscay, then a contemplative community that also ran a school.
Within the enclosed life, Madre Margarita was seized by a burning desire for the evangelization of non-Christian peoples—a missionary zeal unusual for a cloistered nun of her time. Convinced that women religious were called to share fully in the Church's mission ad gentes, she worked, with the encouragement of the Holy See, to transform her community from a purely contemplative and teaching convent into a missionary congregation.
Under her leadership as superior, the sisters of Berriz became the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz and began to send members to the foreign missions—first to the Far East, including Japan and China, and later to other lands in Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. She fostered mission awareness, formation, and cooperation, and is regarded as a pioneer of the modern missionary movement among women religious. She herself traveled to visit the missions.
Margarita de Maturana died at Berriz on July 23, 1934. She was beatified on October 22, 2006, at Bilbao, in a ceremony authorized by Pope Benedict XVI. Her feast is kept on July 23.
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Feast day
July 23
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