Saint Maravillas of Jesus
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Saint María de las Maravillas Pidal Chico de Guzman O.C.D. |
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Painting.
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| Religious | |
| Born |
4 November 1891 Madrid, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died | 11 December 1974 (aged 83) La Aldehuela, Madrid, Francoist Spain |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 10 May 1998, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 4 May 2003, Columbus Plaza, Madrid, Spain by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 11 December |
| Attributes | Carmelite habit |
Saint María de las Maravillas Pidal Chico de Guzmán (4 November 1891 - 11 December 1974) - in religious María de las Maravillas of Jesus - was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed member from the Discalced Carmelites. The nun founded several houses for her order and even set one up in India after serving a brief exile with fellow religious due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
Maravillas became a saint in the Roman Catholic Church after Pope John Paul II canonized her in Madrid in 2003 during his apostolic visit.
María de las Maravillas Pidal Chico de Guzman was born as the last of four children in Madrid on 4 November 1891 and was baptized on 12 November in the local parish church of San Sebastian. Her father was Luis Pidal i Mon (7 February 1842 - 19 December 1913) - the second Marquis of Pidal - and her mother was Cristina Chico de Guzman i Munoz. Her father was the first Minister of Development and was later the national ambassador to the pontifical see. Her maternal grandmother would tell her the lives of the saints and in 1896 she made a private vow to remain chaste in an effort to follow the example of Saint Agnes. Her grandmother died at the beginning of 1914 after her father died in late 1913. In 1903 she took the Jesuit priest Juan Francisco Lopez as her spiritual director and he remained as such until she entered the order. She was known as "Mavi" as a child.
She received her Confirmation in 1896 and later made her First Communion in 1902. In autumn 1918 she and her mother went for a walk and she gave her daughter her blessing to become a professed religious; she entered the Discalced Carmelites in Madrid at El Escorial on 12 October 1919. Her initial religious profession was made on 7 May 1920. In 1923 she decided to found a convent in Getafe at the Cerro de los Angeles near the monument erected in the geographical center of Spain. The Bishop of Madrid was enthusiastic about the idea and on 19 May 1924 she and three nuns of El Escorial settled for a brief period of time in a house at Getafe while awaiting the building of a convent. On 30 May 1924 she made her solemn profession there at El Escorial and in June 1926 was appointed as the prioress of the convent of El Cerro in Madrid which opened on 31 October 1926. On 15 September 1932 the Indian Bishop of Vijayapuram asked her to found a Carmelite convent and on 11 September 1933 eight nuns went there to establish it. She herself would have gone but her superiors did not allow for her to leave.
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