MOLINA, MERCEDES. – Foundress of the Sisters of St. Marianna FLORENSI (v.), born in Bada (Ecuador) in 1828, died in Riobamba on 13 June 1883.
In Guayaquil, whither she had moved with her family, confined to bed after a fall from a horse, she resolved to abandon the rather worldly life she had hitherto led. Having rejected a marriage proposal to which she had previously inclined, she began to lead a harsh life of prayer and penance in seclusion in her sister’s home; she left this to care for poor orphans and then to assist missionaries among the Jivaro Indians. After the missionaries departed, she went to Riobamba, where she founded her Institute, dedicated to the care of poor and abandoned girls, converts, and those in danger of falling away. On 14 April 1873, she and her first companions took vows, taking the name Mercede of Jesus. The cause for her beatification was introduced on 8 February 1946.