Maria Pilar Izquierdo Albero

It was in the heart of her painful infirmity that the call to found a work matured. As early as 1936, Maria Pilar began to speak of a "Work of Jesus" whose goal would be to "reproduce the active life of the Lord on earth through works of mercy."

On December 8, 1939, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Maria Pilar was miraculously healed of her paralysis and instantly regained her sight after receiving communion. She chose, however, to keep her abdominal cysts in order to continue offering her sufferings to God. The very next day, she began to concretize her foundation project. Accompanied by a group of young women she had formed, she settled in Madrid to dedicate herself to the apostolate among the most destitute, the sick, and children in the disadvantaged suburbs of the post-war period.

The Bishop of Madrid-Alcalá, Msgr. Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, granted initial approval to the foundation under the name "Missionaries of Jesus and Mary" on November 16, 1939. However, the work quickly encountered sharp opposition, slander, and doubts regarding the supernatural nature of her healing. Faced with these tensions, the bishop temporarily withdrew his approval and ordered the dissolution of the group, forbidding Maria Pilar from any public apostolate.

Maria Pilar accepted this trial in silence and obedience. In 1942, after a new examination of the situation, Msgr. Eijo y Garay authorized the work again in the form of a pious association called the "Pious Union of the Missionaries of Jesus, Mary and Joseph." The apostolate among the poor resumed with fervor. Nevertheless, in 1944, new intrigues and slander arose within the community itself, pushing the founder to withdraw. She left Madrid accompanied by nine faithful companions to settle in San Sebastián, offering her humiliations for the survival of her mission.

In San Sebastián, Maria Pilar was once again struck down by illness: she was diagnosed with stomach cancer, while a car accident fractured her leg, condemning her once more to immobility. She died on August 27, 1945, at the age of 39, after having forgiven her detractors and offered her life for her spiritual daughters. After her death, her companions who remained faithful persevered under the spiritual direction of Father Daniel Díez García. In 1947, the group established itself in Logroño. In May 1948, the Bishop of Calahorra and La Calzada-Logroño, Msgr. Fidel García Martínez, canonically approved the association under the name of "Missionary Work of Jesus and Mary" (Obra Misionera de Jesús y María). The institute developed rapidly and was erected as a congregation of diocesan right in 1961 by Msgr. Abilio del Campo y de la Bárcena, before obtaining recognition of pontifical right on October 12, 1981. Given the growing reputation of the founder's holiness, the Bishop of Calahorra, La Calzada-Logroño, Msgr. Francisco Álvarez Martínez, opened the diocesan beatification process, which took place from 1983 to 1988. The decree of validity for the process was published in Rome on October 23, 1992. On December 18, 2000, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, declaring her venerable.

The miracle accepted for the beatification of Maria Pilar Izquierdo Albero is the unexplained healing of Josefina Cabeza Díaz, which occurred on August 10, 1952, at the Nuestra Señora del Pilar clinic in Logroño. Suffering from an extremely severe generalized peritonitis, the patient was instantly healed after Sister María Luisa Innerárity applied a balm that had belonged to the foundress (the "Mother Pilar balm").

The diocesan inquiry into this miracle took place from October 3, 1984, to April 3, 1989. After validation by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 21, 1999, the miracle received the approval of the medical board on June 21, 2000, and then that of the theologians on March 13, 2001. The official decree on the miracle was promulgated by Pope John Paul II on July 7, 2001.

The beatification ceremony was presided over by Pope John Paul II on November 4, 2001, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. Her liturgical memorial is set for August 27 (the day of her death) in the Roman Martyrology, although the Apostolic Letter of beatification also mentions the possibility of celebrating her feast day on July 27 (the day of her birth).

The spirituality of Maria Pilar Izquierdo Albero is based on intimate union with the suffering Christ, summarized by her constant motto: "Pain, souls, love!" (¡Dolor, almas, amor!). She considered suffering not as a fatality, but as a privileged path of redemption and love for the salvation of souls. Her life was a continual offering, lived in humility, silence in the face of slander, and absolute obedience to the Church.

Today, the legacy of Blessed Maria Pilar is perpetuated through the Missionary Work of Jesus and Mary (OMJM). The religious sisters of the congregation dedicate themselves to the service of the poorest, the education of the youth, assistance to the sick and the elderly (at home or in their own institutions), as well as to parochial and missionary apostolate. The congregation is active in several countries, notably in Spain, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Italy, and Mozambique, with its general house located in Logroño.