Manuela de Jesús Arias Espinosa

In 1945, driven by a missionary calling, she left the cloister to found the Clarissan Missionaries of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Cuernavaca. This congregation unites Eucharistic contemplation and active apostolate. Approved by Pope Pius XII in 1951, the work expanded rapidly internationally (Japan, Asia, Africa, Europe). She also founded several other branches, including the Clarissan Vanguards (Van-Clar) and the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church, forming the Inesian Family. In 1969, she transferred the general house to Rome.

Mother María Inés Teresa dedicated her final years to visiting her foundations throughout the world. Received by Pope John Paul II in December 1980, she passed away peacefully in Rome on July 22, 1981, following a painful illness. She left behind a spiritual legacy of more than 6,000 writings. Her cause for beatification opened in 1992, and she was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on April 3, 2009.

The miracle accepted for her beatification is the unexplained recovery in 2001 of a 15-month-old child, who was the victim of a serious accidental drowning and had been declared clinically hopeless. After the fervent prayers of his family invoking the intercession of Mother María Inés Teresa, the child recovered completely without any aftereffects. This miracle was officially recognized by Pope Benedict XVI in June 2011. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on April 21, 2012, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato.

The spirituality of the Blessed rests on the union of contemplation and action, guided by her motto "Oportet Illum Regnare" (He must reign). Deeply Eucharistic, Marian, and marked by the joyful abandonment of the Theresian "little way," she was distinguished by her constant smile. Today, the Inesian Family continues her work of evangelization ad gentes in more than 14 countries through schools, clinics, and missions.