María Angélica Pérez

The religious life of Sister María Crescencia took place within the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Garden, an institute founded in Italy in 1829 by Saint Anthony Mary Gianelli. This institute is dedicated to vigilant evangelical charity, particularly through the education of youth and the care of the sick and the poor. In her early years of consecrated life, Sister María Crescencia taught sewing and catechism to children in Buenos Aires. At the end of 1924, she was sent to the Maritime Sanatorium ("Solarium") in Mar del Plata to care for young girls suffering from bone tuberculosis. She devoted herself there without measure, but her own health, already fragile, was seriously affected by constant exposure to the disease. In March 1928, to allow her to benefit from a more favorable climate, her superiors decided to send her to Vallenar, in northern Chile, where the congregation managed a hospital. Due to her pulmonary disease, she was kept away from direct contact with contagious patients. She then humbly dedicated herself to the pharmacy, the kitchen, the preparation of diets for the sick, the chapel, and the teaching of catechism. Her unalterable sweetness, patience, and constant charity earned her the affectionate nickname "Sor Dulzura" (Sister Sweetness) or "la santita" (the little saint) by the patients and the local population. Despite periods of rest in Quillota and Freirina, her health continued to decline. She passed away from tuberculosis on May 20, 1932, at the hospital in Vallenar, at the age of 34.

After her death, the reputation of holiness of Sister María Crescencia continued to grow in Argentina and Chile. In 1966, during the exhumation of her remains in Vallenar for their transfer to Quillota, her body was discovered intact and incorrupt. In 1986, her remains were repatriated to Argentina and placed in the chapel of the College of Our Lady of the Garden in Pergamino, where many pilgrims come to pray. The cause for beatification was officially opened at the diocesan level on June 30, 1987, in the Diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos. On June 22, 2004, Pope John Paul II recognized the heroic nature of her virtues and declared her venerable.

The miracle required for her beatification is the scientifically inexplicable healing of Maria Sara Pane, a 25-year-old Argentine woman. Suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus since childhood, she contracted acute hepatitis in March 1997, which worsened fulminantly, putting her life in great danger. While she was hospitalized at the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires awaiting an urgent liver transplant, the superior of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Garden gave her a holy card and a relic of the Venerable María Crescencia. Fervent prayers were addressed to her intercession by the community, her loved ones, and the patient herself. On April 2, 1997, at the most critical moment, the young woman was suddenly and completely healed. On December 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing this miracle. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on November 17, 2012, at the "El Panorámico" circuit in Pergamino, Argentina. It was presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Benedict XVI, before a crowd of more than 30,000 people. She thus became the first blessed of the province of Buenos Aires.

The spirituality of Blessed María Crescencia Pérez is characterized by a deep mystical union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and an intense Eucharistic devotion. Inspired by the 'little way' of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, she lived her consecration in self-effacement, joyful obedience, and the perfect fulfillment of the humblest tasks. Her evangelical gentleness, which earned her the nickname 'Sister Gentleness,' remains a model of attentive charity for caregivers and those committed to the sick.