Maria Soledad

The work of Maria Soledad is intertwined with that of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick (Siervas de María, Ministras de los Enfermos), a congregation founded in Madrid on August 15, 1851, to provide free assistance, day and night, to the poor sick in their own homes. When the founder, Father Martínez Sanz, left in 1856 as a missionary to Equatorial Guinea, the young community went through a serious crisis: Maria Soledad, who had been elected superior, was dismissed by a new director based on unfounded rumors and sent away to Getafe, while several of the founders left the institute. After the intervention of the Archbishop of Toledo, Father Gabino Sánchez restored order and reinstated her in her position as superior general at the beginning of 1857. Under her firm and humble leadership, the congregation recovered, became structured, and spread: its religious sisters distinguished themselves notably during cholera epidemics. At the time of her death, the institute had several dozen houses in Spain as well as foundations across the Atlantic, in Havana (Cuba, 1875) and in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The congregation received the decree of praise in 1867 and pontifical approval from Pius IX in 1876.

The reputation for holiness of Maria Soledad rests on the alliance of great humility and active charity toward the poorest sick. A self-effacing woman, devoid of ambition, she accepted the responsibilities entrusted to her as a service and endured without revolt the dismissal and slander that marked the first years of the institute, remaining attached to the unity of her community. Her devotion was nourished by the mystery of the Virgin of Sorrows, whose name she took, and by an abandoned trust in Providence. Pope Paul VI summarized her existence as "a simple and silent life, which two great words can summarize: humility and charity." As death approached, tradition attributes to her these final words addressed to her daughters: "My daughters, have peace and unity." This constant concern for concord and the service of the sick, lived in daily and unassuming self-giving, forged a solid reputation for virtue during her lifetime, which the remarkable preservation of her body, noted during her exhumation, reinforced in popular devotion.

The process for the recognition of the holiness of Maria Soledad led to her declaration as Venerable in 1938. After the recognition of two miracles attributed to her intercession, Pope Pius XII proclaimed her Blessed on February 5, 1950, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Twenty years later, following the examination of a new miracle, Pope Paul VI inscribed her in the catalogue of saints on January 25, 1970, also in Rome; on this occasion, he presented her as a "precursor and master of the most perfect assistance-based solicitude," hailing in her a model of dedication to the sick. Her liturgical memorial is set for October 11, the anniversary of her death. Her remains, transferred from the cemetery where she had first been buried, have since been venerated in the church of the motherhouse of the Servants of Mary in Madrid, where they remain the object of faithful devotion.

The legacy of Saint Maria Soledad Torres Acosta lives on above all in the congregation of the Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, which she founded and which has continued its expansion well beyond Spain, into Europe, the Americas, and other continents, faithful to its primary vocation: to watch over the poor sick at home, free of charge, both day and night. Honored as the patroness of this institute, the saint is invoked by the religious sisters and the faithful dedicated to the care of the sick and the service of the most destitute. The principal place of worship dedicated to her remains the congregation's motherhouse in Madrid, where her remains rest and where her memory is preserved. A figure of hospital charity in the 19th-century Spanish context, she is often compared to other founders and foundresses of care institutes of her time, and her example of humility and devotion to the sick continues to nourish the spirituality of the Servants of Mary.