MARIA di GESÙ, venerable. — A Discalced Carmelite, in the world Maria Lopez de Rivas, born on 18 August 1560 in Tartanedo (Guadalajara, Spain), died in Toledo on 13 September 1640 in a reputation for holiness. In Toledo she donned the habit of the daughters of s. Teresa, where she was (from 1583 onward) six times novice mistress and three times prioress. She possessed a profound understanding of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, heavenly visions, the gift of prophecy, and that of scrutinizing hearts. The cause of her beatification was introduced in 1926 (AAS, 19 [1927], pp. 102–105).
BIBL.: Articulos para la causa de la sierva de Dios M. de Jesús, Toledo 1914; Gioacchino della S. Famiglia, La sierva de Dios M. de Jesús, there 1919; Evaristo della Vergine, e El Letradillo de s. Teresa - Biografia de la m. M. de Jesús, there 1926; Silverio di S. Teresa, Historia del Carmen Desc. en España..., IX, Burgos 1940, pp. 779–823. Ambrogio di Santa Teresa