María del Tránsito Cabanillas

Drawn to the consecrated life, she entered the Franciscan Third Order in 1858 and pronounced a vow of perpetual virginity in 1859. After unsuccessful attempts at contemplative life with the Carmelites of Buenos Aires and then at the Visitation of Montevideo due to her fragile health, she returned to her project of an active foundation. On December 8, 1878, she founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Tertiary Sisters of Argentina with Teresa Fronteras and Brígida Moyano. The institute developed rapidly, opening three colleges during her lifetime. Exhausted by her duties, she passed away on August 25, 1885, in San Vicente de Córdoba.

The reputation for holiness of the foundress spread immediately after her death, carried by her humility and heroic charity. The diocesan process for her beatification was conducted in Córdoba and concluded in 1973, before being officially opened in Rome in 1974. On June 28, 1999, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The miracle required for her beatification concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing of an Argentine Franciscan missionary priest suffering from a serious brain condition deemed incurable. This miracle was officially approved on July 7, 2001. María del Tránsito de Jesús Sacramentado was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 14, 2002, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome, becoming the first Argentine woman and the first female religious founder from that country to be raised to the altars.

The spirituality of the Blessed is deeply marked by the Franciscan charism and an intense Eucharistic devotion. Her legacy is symbolized by her alms basket (the canasta), with which she walked the streets to beg in order to support the poor and build her schools. Today, her congregation continues its educational and charitable mission in Argentina and beyond.