Saint Joachina de Vedruna de Mas

Religious

May 22: An Optional Memorial from the Common of Holy Women (Religious).

Joachina was born in Barcelona in 1783. She married Theodore de Mas in 1799 and bore him nine children before being widowed in 1816. Then in 1826 she was prompted by God’s Spirit to found the Congregation of Carmelite Sisters of Charity, which spread throughout Catalonia, establishing houses for the care of the sick and the education of children, especially the poor. She was greatly drawn to contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Her spiritual life was marked by prayer, mortification, detachment, humility and love. She died at Vich in 1854.

Prayer

Lord God,

you gave St Joachina de Vedruna to your Church

for the Christian education of youth

and the care of the sick.

May we follow her example,

and lovingly devote our lives

to serving you in our brothers and sisters.

Grant this through Christ, our Lord.

Scripture Readings

1John 3:14-18; Gospel - Mark 9:34-37.

Texts taken from the “Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,”

Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993.

Image courtesy of the Carmelnet webmaster, USA.