Blessed María of St. JosephFeast day: April 2
Also known as Laura Evangelista Alvarado Cardozo
Born at Choroni, Venezuela, April 25, 1875;
Died at Maracay, Venezuela, April 2, 1967;
beatified May 7, 1995.
Laura Evangelista's made her First Holy Communion on August 15, 1888--a day she could never forget because that was also the day she made a private vow of virginity and consecrated herself to her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. At the age of 17, she made the same vow under the spiritual guidance of her parish priest, Vicente López Aveledo.
She was already working for her living and teaching poor children the catechism in her home, when a smallpox epidemic struck Maracay. Father Vicente opened a hospital and she tended the sick despite the poverty of the people and difficulty of the situation. Yet she never lost hope. Continually she would utter the motive of her life: "My Jesus, the ideal I seek is You and You alone. Nothing frightens me. I want to be a saint, but a true saint."
Her spiritual director, Father Vicente, founded a congregation of nursing sisters--the Augustinian Recollects of the Heart of Jesus-- to tend to the sick, elderly, and orphans in 1901. The following year Laura Evangelista reaffirmed her adolescent vow. On September 13, 1903, she was recognized as the foundress of the community, professed her perpetual vows, and took the name María de San José.
Much like Mother Teresa of Calcutta's modern-day sisters, Mother Maria's sisters cared for the poorest of the poor. She would say, "Those rejected by everyone are ours; those no one want to take are ours." And so they founded 37 homes for the elderly and orphans; thus, spreading Christ's love more deeply into the hearts of those in La Victoria, Villa de Cura, Coro, Calabozo, Ocumare del Tuy, Barquisimeto, Los Teques, San Felipe, Puerto Cabello, Caracas and Valencia.
Mother María's life was a union of loving service and deep contemplation, especially before the Blessed Sacrament where she would spend hours in intimate conversation with Jesus. Her love of the Holy Eucharist drew her to make hosts with her own hands for distribution to parishes--a work she recommended to her daughters.
She died at the age of 92 after a long, patiently borne illness. At her request she was buried in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception Home in Maracay. There thousands of pilgrims visit her shrine to thank her for her intercession on their behalf
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