María Micaela del Santísimo Sacramento (1809–1865)

Biography

He inherited a noble and generous character from his father, and a solidly pious education from his mother. The family situation, which goes through various misfortunes, means that Micaela finds herself at the head of the family from a young age. He always found time to help the poor, and when he visited the San Juan den Dios hospital in Madrid and learned about the life of the prostituted women who took refuge there during their illnesses, he decided to help them by opening a house to shelter them. Micaela alternates this life of charity and devotion with that of young women of her social class, frequenting parties, concerts and making friends. He spent several years in Paris, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Brussels, accompanying the family of his brother who had been appointed ambassador in Brussels. Although she was asked to marry, Micaela no longer wanted “another husband but God.” And she decided to apply to join the Daughters of Charity in Paris, but due to her brother's opposition it took her several years to be able to do so. After four more years of trials and suffering due to the lack of understanding from her family and society and even from the ecclesiastical world, Micaela founded the religious congregation of Adorers and Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament and Charity, and took the name of Mother Sacrament. Queen Isabella of Spain met her and appreciated her work and appointed her general director of all the schools founded by the queen in Spain. Today the congregation exercises its evangelical and social activity under new forms, adapted to the times and places where it works. But its mission is always to fight against marginalization, mainly of women.