María Félix Torres

The life of María Félix Torres is intimately linked to the foundation of the Company of the Savior (Compañía del Salvador) and the Mater Salvatoris colleges. In 1932, during new Spiritual Exercises, her vocation became clear: to found a religious institute of Ignatian inspiration dedicated to the apostolate among young women, particularly university students.

To concretize this mission, she first opened small educational structures, such as the "Academia Nueva" in Lérida in 1932, then the "Re-Vir-Cien" academy in Barcelona in 1939. On October 11, 1940, with the authorization of the Apostolic Administrator of Barcelona, Msgr. Miguel de los Santos Díaz Gómara, she and her companions began to live in community.

On June 13, 1944, Msgr. Gregorio Modrego, Bishop of Barcelona, erected the community as a Pious Union of the Company of the Savior and approved its first constitutions. On January 31, 1952, the institute was officially erected as a religious congregation of diocesan right. On February 2, 1952, the first seventeen religious, including María Félix Torres, pronounced their vows in the chapel of the episcopal palace of Barcelona.

Under the impetus of the foundress, who served as Superior General for eighteen years, the congregation dedicated itself to the Christian education of youth. She founded the Mater Salvatoris colleges, first in Spain (Barcelona, Lérida, Madrid), then opened itself to international mission by establishing itself in Venezuela (Caracas and Maracaibo).

In 1965, María Félix Torres suffered a cerebral embolism that forced her to relearn how to read and write, an ordeal she endured with great strength of soul while continuing to guide her community according to the orientations of the Second Vatican Council. On May 25, 1986, under the pontificate of John Paul II, the Company of the Savior received definitive pontifical approval as an institute of pontifical right. Today, the work also extends to the United States, Puerto Rico, and Benin.

After the founder's death in 2001, her reputation for holiness spread rapidly among her former students, her sisters, and the faithful. The cause for canonization was officially introduced in the Archdiocese of Madrid. In 2008, the cause obtained the nihil obstat decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On January 24, 2009, the diocesan inquiry was officially opened by Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid. This inquiry was closed on December 16, 2011. On December 14, 2012, the decree of validity for the diocesan inquiry was signed in Rome. Finally, in November 2017, the Positio was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

On July 10, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of María Félix Torres, thereby conferring upon her the title of Venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession is required by the Church.

The spirituality of the Venerable María Félix Torres is deeply Christocentric and Ignatian. Her life motto, "God above all" (Dios sobre todo), testifies to her constant search for the greater glory of God. It is characterized by filial obedience and unwavering adherence to the Pope, a tender love for the Virgin Mary under the title of Mater Salvatoris, and an ardent apostolic zeal for the salvation of souls through education.

Her legacy endures through the Company of the Saviour and the network of Mater Salvatoris schools, which continue to form young generations to be leaven for the Gospel in society. On January 12, 2021, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of her death, her remains were transferred to a new tomb within the Mater Salvatoris hermitage, located in the congregation's formation house in Aravaca (Madrid). In January 2026, to mark the 25th anniversary of her passing to God, a documentary film retracing her life and work, titled Dios sobre todo, was presented to the public.