Rafaela Porras Ayllón,

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

''Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus'', (1 March 1850 – 6 January 1925) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

who established the

Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus The Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ) is a Roman Catholic religious institute that was founded in Madrid, Spain, in 1877 by two sisters, María Dolores and Raphaela Maria Porras y Ayllon. Rafaela Maria became its first superior general i ...

in conjunction with her sister Dolores. She devoted herself to the management of the congregation and resided in Rome until her death after her resignation as the congregation's superior in 1893.

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

canonised her in 1977; she is the patron of the congregation.

Life

Rafaela Porras Ayllón was born in Pedro Abad on 1 March 1850 as the daughter of Ildefonso Porras (the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Córdoba) and Rafaela Castilo as the tenth of thirteen children; she had one sole sister and eleven brothers. Her father died in 1854 while tending to victims of a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic and her mother later followed in 1869. Her devotion to

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

during her childhood was ever so profound. She visited her parish on a frequent basis. The death of her mother served to motivate her more to devote herself to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. She made a vow of perpetual

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains from sexual activity that is considered immoral or from any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for exampl ...

on 25 March 1865 on the

Feast of the Annunciation The Feast of the Annunciation () commemorates the visit of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is celebrated on 25 March; however, if 25 Marc ...

. In February 1874 she and her sister María Dolores travelled to the convent of

Poor Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Sec ...

s in their hometown in order to discern what their vocation was. The two sisters were clothed with the

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally, some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious Hermit, eremitic and Anchorite, anchorit ...

on 4 June 1874 and joined a group of 21 other novices. In 1875, the two entered a religious congregation, the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, and it was there that Ayllon assumed the

''María of the Sacred Heart of Jesus''. The pair remained there when the congregation moved to

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

; with the aid of Bishop

Zeferino González y Díaz Tuñón Zeferino González y Díaz Tuñón (28 January 1831 – 29 November 1894) was a Spanish Dominican theologian, and philosopher, Archbishop of Seville and cardinal. Life On 28 November 1844, in the College of Ocania, González entered the D ...

founded the Institute of Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament and Daughters of Mary Immaculate – this would be the origin of the congregation that she and her sister would establish not long after. The group went to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

to make their vows in 1877. With her sister and sixteen sisters the group moved to Andujar and then to Madrid; the congregation received the diocesan approval of the

Archbishop of Toledo The Archdiocese of Toledo () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Spain.

, Juan de la Cruz Ignacio Moreno y Maisonave, on 14 April 1877. She made brief vows on 8 June 1877 and then made her perpetual profession on 8 November 1888. The congregation received the papal decree of praise of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

in 1886 at which point the congregation was officiated in the name of the

and issued his papal approval in 1887. The congregation would grow with new institutes being formed in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

(1885) and

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

(1886) in Spain and with a house in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(1892) being established as well. She was appointed as the Superior and remained in that post until 3 March 1893 when she resigned and anointed her sister as her successor; she then withdrew to the house in Rome and spent the remainder of her life there. She had resigned because of misunderstandings with her colleagues thus deemed it prudent to step aside from her position."Saint of the Day: St. Raffaella of the Sacred Heart", Vatican News, January 6
/ref> She died in her room in Rome in 1925. Her death came at the point where the benediction of the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

took place in the convent chapel close to her room. She is buried in Rome at the institute based there.

Sainthood

The beatification process commenced in Rome with a diocesan process that spanned from 1 February 1936 until 1938 and the process saw the collection of documentation pertaining to her life as well as collating a range of testimonies from those who knew her. The decree on her writings was granted on 21 September 1938 after all of her writings were placed in the care of theologians for investigation in order to ensure that her written works did not contradict Church doctrine. These processes took place despite the fact that the

Congregation of Rites The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V by ''Immensa Aeterni Dei''; it was divided into two separate congregations by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 1969. The Congregation was cha ...

did not grant their formal approval to the initiation of the cause until 22 November 1939 which granted her the title

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

and allowed for another process to open to continue the work of the first; this spanned from 1940 until 1941 and both processes were ratified in 1943. She was proclaimed to be

venerable ''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom. Catholic In the Catholic Churc ...

on 13 May 1949 after

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

recognized the fact that she had indeed lived a model and pious life of

heroic virtue Heroic virtue is the translation of a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs. The phrase is used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman a ...

. Pope Pius presided over her beatification on 18 May 1952 after he approved two healings deemed to be miracles wrought from her direct intercession. The third miracle was investigated in

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

in 1974 and once completed was ratified on 15 November 1974. The miracle received papal approval on 13 November 1976 and allowed for

to canonize on 23 January 1977. The miracle in question was the healing of the nun Maria of the Incarnation García Gallardo.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleSaints SQPNHandmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayllon, Rafaela Porras 1850 births 1925 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Spanish nuns 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Spanish nuns Beatifications by Pope Pius XII Canonizations by Pope Paul VI Founders of Catholic religious communities People from the Province of Córdoba (Spain) Spanish Roman Catholic saints