Mercedes de Jesús Molina (1828–1893)

Biography

She accompanied Father Bovo, along with two other young women, to the mission with the Jíbaros of the Andes, but had to abandon work due to tribal wars and the smallpox epidemic. In Cuenca she continued her educational and care work with girls and women as well as home care for the dying. Founder of the Sisters of Santa Mariana de Jesús, under the patronage of the first Ecuadorian saint: Santa Mariana de Jesús Paredes y Flores. The congregation would be dedicated to the education of young people and adults and the recovery of marginalized women, but after a few years of expansion, the spiritual directors pointed out new occupations for the religious, which separated them from their specific founding purpose, which led Sister Mercedes to resign from her position as superior general. From then on, as happened with other foundresses, she was removed from directing her work and dedicated to the formation of the nuns and more humble jobs such as being a porter, which she assumed with the simplicity of great souls.