Mercedes de Jesús Molina

In 1870, Mercedes set out to evangelize the Shuar people in Gualaquiza, in the Amazon. Faced with a smallpox epidemic, she became a nurse to care for the sick. On April 14, 1873, she founded the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Marianne of Jesus (the Marianites) in Riobamba, the first indigenous religious congregation in Ecuador, dedicated to the education of poor young girls and the care of orphans. Despite internal trials and her removal from leadership by Bishop Mgr Ordóñez, she accepted this decision with humility and continued to serve the community in various modest positions.

The life of Mercedes was marked by an intense mystical union, including ecstasies and levitations after communion starting in 1862. She passed away on June 12, 1883, in Riobamba. Her reputation for holiness led to the opening of a process in 1886, which was interrupted by the political context, then resumed in 1929. Her cause was introduced in Rome in 1946, and she was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on November 27, 1981.

The beatification of Mercedes de Jesús Molina was made possible by the miraculous healing in 1965 of Zoila Elena Cáceres Larrea, a young girl who had ingested rat poison. The miracle was approved in 1984. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on February 1, 1985, in Guayaquil. In 2015, she was declared patroness of the Ecuadorian missionaries ad gentes.

Mercedes' spirituality is based on the love of the suffering Jesus, summarized by her motto: "Ser amor misericordioso donde hay dolor humano" (To be merciful love where there is human pain). Nicknamed the "Rose of the Guayas," her legacy continues through the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Marianne of Jesus, now present in several countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. Her remains rest in Riobamba.