MARIA MICHELA OF THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT. - Michela Des Maisières Lopez di Dicastillo, viscountess of Jorbalán, foundress of the Handmaids of the Most Blessed Sacrament and of Charity, b. in Madrid on 1 Jan. 1809, d. in Valencia on 24 Aug. 1865.

She distinguished herself from her earliest years and even more so in her youth, including when she spent several years with her brother, an ambassador, in Paris and Brussels, in the exercise of charity, especially toward girls in danger or led astray, for whom in 1845 she founded a "College" in Madrid, where they could be rehabilitated before God and society. To make this work lasting she thought of founding a new Congregation, which would take care of it and at the same time practice perpetual adoration. The Institute arose on 6 Jan. 1859 and she directed it until her death. The work developed very quickly, and when she passed away, 7 houses had already been established, which she called the "7 sorrows of the Madonna." The cause of death was the epidemic that broke out in the house in Valencia, where she hastened to care for her stricken sisters and where she became infected two days after her arrival.

She was beatified on 7 June 1925 and canonized on 4 March 1934. Feast on 14 Aug.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: AAS, 26 (1934), pp. 520-42; Th. J. Cámara, Vida de la ven. M. Sacramento, 2 voll., Madrid 1908; A. Romano di S. Teresa, La b. M. M. del S.mo S., Roma 1925; nuova ed., ivi 1934; E. Barraquer y Cereto, La siempre columniada, Madrid 1928.

Celestino Testore

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Maria Michela of the Most Holy Sacrament, Saint

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