María Maravillas de Jesús (1891–1984)

Biography

At the age of 19, she came into contact with the works of Santa Teresa de Jesús and San Juan de la Cruz and decided to consecrate herself to God in the Barefoot Carmelite monastery of El Escorial. The main reason that led Maravillas to Carmel was his love for Christ, his desire to imitate Him. Hundreds of times in her letters she expresses this longing to love him madly, to correspond to the infinite love of God. God inspired him to found the Carmel of the Cerro de los Ángeles, which was to be like a living lamp that burned in reparation before the Heart of Christ. She was named prioress of the community, and soon inaugurated several new carmels. She suffered a lot along with her Carmelites during the Spanish civil war, as she was expelled from her convent, suffering a thousand hardships until they were able to move to the national zone and settle in an old and abandoned convent. After the war, in a very few years the foundations of new Carmels multiplied. Her daughters loved her dearly and that is why she was obeyed without commanding, such was her balance, her serenity, her charity and her delicacy with everyone. He corrected, he told the truth, but without ever hurting anyone. He always had an immense understanding for the weaknesses and weaknesses of others and always tried to encourage, uplift and console. She died in the Carmel of La Aldehuela on December 11, 1984 at the age of 83, surrounded by her daughters, with a death full of peace and dedication. He repeated: “What a happiness to die a Carmelite!” She was beatified in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.