Saint María Natividad Venegas de la Torre | Mexico's First Female Saint | Feast Day July 30
Today, the Church honours María Natividad Venegas de la Torre, whose feast day is celebrated on July 30. Also known in religious life as María de Jesús Sacramentado, she was born in 1868 in Zapotlanejo, Mexico. From an early age, she desired to dedicate her life completely to God. Despite many hardships, she remained faithful to her vocation. During a difficult period in Mexican history, when the Church faced restrictions and religious communities experienced great challenges, Mother María continued serving with courage, trusting that Christ would provide for His people. Moved by her love for Jesus, she founded the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a congregation devoted to caring for the sick, the elderly, the poor, and those who had been forgotten by society. Her life was marked by humility, prayer, Eucharistic devotion, and tireless charity. She believed that every act of kindness offered with love became an offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 2000, Pope John Paul II canonised her, making her the first Mexican-born woman to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Saint María Natividad Venegas de la Torre teaches us: Love Jesus with your whole heart. Serve the poor and the sick with compassion. Remain faithful even during difficult times. Let every small act of charity become a witness to Christ's love. Her example reminds us that extraordinary holiness is often built through ordinary acts of love, repeated faithfully every day. Gospel of Matthew 25:40 "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me." First Letter of John 3:18 "Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth." May Saint María Natividad Venegas de la Torre inspire us to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus more deeply and to recognise Christ in every person we serve. Prayer Saint María Natividad Venegas de la Torre, faithful servant of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us. Help us to serve the poor, the sick, and the forgotten with generous hearts. Teach us to remain faithful in times of hardship, to trust God's providence, and to make every act of kindness an offering of love to Christ. May our lives reflect His compassion and mercy each day. Amen. Feast Day: July 30 Remembered for: Founder of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devoted servant of the poor and sick, and the first Mexican-born woman canonised as a saint. Hashtags
St Joseph's Corner
Saint María Natividad Venegas de La Torre
Also known as
María de Jesús Sacramentado
María of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
Mary of the Blessed Sacrament Venegas de la Torre
Nati (childhood nickname)
Memorial
30 July
Profile
Youngest of twelve children in a pious Bible-reading, Rosary–praying family; her father was an accountant and her mother a homemaker. Natividad was early drawn to prayer and contemplation, and made her first Communion at age 9. Her mother died when Nati was 16. The family moved to Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico for financial reasons, and Nati spent even more time in church and in prayer. Her father died when she was 19, and her paternal uncle and aunt took over care of the children who were still at home.
Nati began teaching local children to read, was very active in parish life, became a catechist, and attended daily Mass. She joined the Daughters of Mary on 8 December 1898, and began discerning a call to religious life. Following an Ignatian retreat, she joined the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 8 December 1905; the pious union was dedicated to care of the sick, elderly and abandoned. She worked the next 54 years with the poor and sick in the small Sacred Heart hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico. She served as a nurse, pharmacist, housekeeper, and the community’s accountant and the hospital‘s bookeeper. Chosen Superior General of the Daughters in 1921. By 1924 she had written the formal constitutions of the Order, obtained diocean approval, and is considered the founder of the Congregation. She served as leader of the Daughters for 35 years during which they inceased vocations, opened hospitals and clinics, and founded several houses; she took the name María of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Wrote a number of pieces about her region.
Beginning in 1926, President Plutarco Elías Calles began enforcing anti-clerical laws, seizing Church property, shutting down Church institutions including schools, hospitals, orphanages and homes for the elderly. Mass was prohibited, religious education outlawed, and all bishops were exiled from Mexico; this persecution started the Cristero War. Mother Nati managed to keep Sacred Heart hospital open during the repressions; when soldiers arrived to close it down, she overwhelmed them with kindness, and she and her sisters treated both soldiers and Cristeros, so the military held off enforcing the order to shut her down. Mother Nati insisted that the Eucharist not be removed from the hospital, and to prevent the soldiers from committing sacrilege, it was often hidden in bee hives on their property.
Mother Nati continued working with the patients until her last days, even when she had to get around in a wheelchair. Her final, bed-ridden days were spent in prayer for them, her hospital and her sisters.
Born
8 September 1868 in La Tapona, Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, Mexico
Died
30 July 1959 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico of natural causes
Venerated
13 May 1989 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified
22 November 1992 by Pope John Paul II
beatification celebrated in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy
Canonized
21 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II
first canonized Mexican
canonization celebrated in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy
her canonization miracle involved the healing of Anastasio Ledezma Mora whose heart stopped during surgery, who went into a coma following resuscitation, and was healed following the prayers by the family for the intercession of Mother Nati
Patronage
Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Guadalajara
nurses