María Dolores Segarra Gestoso

In 1939, María Dolores met María Rosario Lucas Burgos, a former nun of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, and Father Sebastián Carrasco Jiménez, then ecclesiastical vicar of Melilla. Sharing the same spiritual aspiration centered on union with Christ the Priest and Victim, they founded in 1944 a pious union called the "Daughters of the Church" (Hijas de la Iglesia). This association was established as a religious institute of diocesan right in 1948. María Dolores assumed the duties of vicar general and mistress of novices there. In 1952, the institute changed its name to become the "Slaves of the Most Holy Sacrament and the Immaculate" (Esclavas del Santísimo y de la Inmaculada). The following year, in 1953, the orientation of the community changed to adopt a strictly contemplative and cloistered charism. María Dolores, convinced that her vocation included an active apostolic dimension for souls, expressed her disagreement. In July 1953, she was expelled from the congregation along with another sister and two novices. An apostolic visitation ordered by the Bishop of Cuenca, Msgr. Inocencio Rodríguez Díez, would later demonstrate the absence of serious grounds justifying this measure. While awaiting a decision from Rome, María Dolores and her companions settled in an apartment in Madrid. In 1954, she formally received the dispensation from her vows and her decree of dismissal from the Congregation for Religious. Faithful to the ideal she carried within her, she associated herself once again with Father Sebastián Carrasco Jiménez, who had become vicar general of Málaga. Together, on August 8, 1955, in Málaga, they founded a new religious family: the Missionaries of Christ the Priest (Misioneras de Cristo Sacerdote). On October 4, 1957, Msgr. Rafael Álvarez Lara, Bishop of Guadix-Baza, approved the institute as a pious union in his diocese. The motherhouse of the congregation was established in Huéscar (province of Granada) on October 20, 1957. María Dolores led the new congregation for only sixteen months. Suffering from a chronic liver disease, she underwent an operation and passed away on March 1, 1959, at the Military Hospital of Granada, at the age of 37. She was initially buried in the cemetery of Huéscar, before her mortal remains were transferred to the crypt of the congregation's general house in Las Rozas de Madrid. On June 11, 1969, with the authorization of the Holy See, Msgr. Casimiro Morcillo, Archbishop of Madrid-Alcalá, definitively erected the Missionaries of Christ the Priest as a congregation of diocesan right.

The reputation for holiness of María Dolores Segarra Gestoso spread rapidly after her death, both among her spiritual daughters and among the faithful. On June 5, 1987, Cardinal Ángel Suquía Goicoechea, Archbishop of Madrid, officially opened her canonization process. By delegation of the Archbishop, Msgr. Luis Gutiérrez Martín, auxiliary bishop and vicar general of Madrid, opened on June 30, 1993, a diocesan inquiry into an alleged miraculous healing (the sudden recovery of sight in one eye) attributed to the intercession of the Servant of God. Both diocesan processes (on life and virtues, as well as on the alleged miracle) were officially closed on January 12, 1999, by Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid.

On September 29, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues. By this act, María Dolores Segarra Gestoso was declared venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle by the Holy See remains necessary.

The spirituality of the Venerable María Dolores Segarra Gestoso is deeply Eucharistic, Marian, and priestly. It is centered on the priestly prayer of Jesus reported in the Gospel according to Saint John: "For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:19). The congregation's motto summarizes this ideal: "Cum Christo Per Mariam Sanctifico Me Pro Eis" (With Christ, through Mary, I sanctify myself for them). The charism of the Missionaries of Christ the Priest harmoniously unites the contemplative and active dimensions. The religious sisters offer their lives, their prayers, and their sacrifices for the sanctification of priests and the awakening of priestly vocations, while conducting a direct apostolate among souls (catechesis, teaching, parish assistance). Today, the congregation continues its work and is established in Spain (in Las Rozas de Madrid, Granada, Cáceres, and Huéscar) as well as in Peru (in Lurín).