MOLINA, MERCEDES. - Foundress of the Sisters of S. Marianna FLORENSI (v.), b. at Bada (Ecuador) in 1828, d. at Riobamba on 13 June 1883.
At Guayaquil, whither she had gone with her family, confined to bed as a result of a fall from a horse, she decided to withdraw from the rather worldly life she had led until then and, rejecting marriage, toward which she had previously inclined, began to lead an austere life of prayer and penance in a secluded place in her sister’s house. She left it in order to care for poor orphan girls and then to assist the missionaries among the Jibaro Indians. After the missionaries had departed, she went to Riobamba, where she founded her Institute, devoted to the care of poor and abandoned girls, converts, and those in danger, and made her vows with her first companions on 14 Apr. 1873, taking the name Mercede di Gesù. The cause of beatification was introduced on 8 Feb. 1946.