RAFFAELLA MARIA OF THE SACRED HEART, Blessed. - In the world Raffaella Porras y Ayllon, foundress of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, b. at Pedro-Abad on 1 March 1850, d. at Rome on 6 Jan. 1925.

Left an orphan in 1869, after a childhood marked by the deepest piety, she wished to enter the Society of the Reparatrice Sisters of Cordova, whose convent was being built at her and her sister Dolores's expense. But, when that community left Cordova, R. was ordered to take the leadership of a new Congregation, which the archbishop of Toledo, after the founding of the house of Madrid, wished to call the "Reparatrice Sisters of the Sacred Heart." The name, however, was later changed by the Holy See to that of "Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus."

R., elected mother general unanimously in 1887, devoted herself to compiling the rules and to the formation of the religious with extraordinary zeal; but 5 years later she laid down the office in order to further the concord and peace of the Institute. From that day, for 32 years, spent for the most part in Rome, she led a heroic life in complete concealment; she was in fact surrounded by such oblivion that not only was no office ever again entrusted to her, but even the young recruits did not know that she had been their foundress. It was in this state of humiliation that death overtook her.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: AAS, 32 (1940), pp. 122-24; Lettera apost. per la beatificaz., ibid., 44 (1952), pp. 456-60; Discorso di Pio XII ai pellegrini spagnoli, ibid., pp. 473-77; E. Roig y Pascual, La Madre M. del Sagrado Curación de Jesu, 2ª ed., Barcellona 1940; F. Camba Messaguer, La serva di Dio R. M. del S. C. di G., Roma 1945; L. Castano, La b. R. M. del S. C., Roma 1952.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec10_raffaella_maria_del_sacro_cuor, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Raffaella Maria del Sacro Cuore, beata}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {473}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/raffaella-maria-del-sacro-cuore-beata} }

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Raffaella Maria of the Sacred Heart, Blessed

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