Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego

The major work of Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego is intimately linked to the foundation of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity (commonly known as the Trinitarian Sisters of Madrid). In 1876, during spiritual exercises, he received the inspiration to found a female religious institute dedicated to the redemption, protection, and rehabilitation of young women in situations of extreme vulnerability, particularly those forced into prostitution or threatened with social exclusion. The inspiration materialized on February 2, 1885. During a mass celebrated before the image of Our Lady of Victories in the church of the Royal Monastery of the Incarnation, he co-founded the congregation with Mariana Allsopp González-Manrique, a young woman of Mexican origin raised in Madrid. The first nuns settled in a house on Calle del Obelisco, on the outskirts of Madrid, where they opened sewing and embroidery workshops to offer the young women they welcomed the means to acquire financial independence. Faced with their destitution and dedication, the neighborhood residents affectionately nicknamed them "the madwomen of the Obelisk" (las locas del Obelisco). The institute developed rapidly. In 1886, the community moved to Calle de Ferraz, then in 1889 acquired a house on Calle del Marqués de Urquijo, which became the motherhouse and the seat of the general curia. The congregation received diocesan approval on November 4, 1885, and then pontifical approval from Pope Leo XIII on April 11, 1901. It was officially aggregated to the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives on April 20, 1904. During the founder's lifetime, the institute expanded with new foundations in Villanueva de Villaescusa, Barcelona, Santander, Seville, Vigo, Granada, Bilbao, and Cáceres. Also concerned about the fate of abandoned children, Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego founded the Hogar Porta Coeli ("Gate of Heaven") in Madrid in 1915, a home intended to welcome, feed, and educate young boys who were homeless and left to fend for themselves on the streets of the capital. To ensure the operation of this work, he attempted to establish a male branch, the Tertiary Trinitarians of Madrid, which received a nihil obstat on January 24, 1923. However, this male branch did not survive the founder's death, and it was the Trinitarian Sisters who took over the management of the Porta Coeli home.

Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego passed away on April 1, 1924, in the poverty of his room at the Porta Coeli home in Madrid. His reputation for holiness was already firmly established among the Madrid population, who considered him the "father of the poor."

On April 20, 1924, the archpriest of the Cathedral of Madrid, Luis Pérez Estévez, requested the collection of necessary documents and testimonies with a view to opening a beatification process. Although the initiative experienced an initial slowdown, co-founder Mariana Allsopp and the Trinitarian Sisters actively maintained the memory of their founder. The diocesan informative process was officially opened on June 16, 1955.

The process for the recognition of heroic virtues progressed over the following decades. On April 2, 1993, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable. The cause for beatification remains open, awaiting the official recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The spirituality of Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego rests on an absolute trust in Divine Providence and on an active charity inspired by the mystery of the Holy Trinity. His action focused on the liberation of persons captive to misery, exploitation, and exclusion, fully aligning with the redemptive charism of the Trinitarian family. The motto of the congregation he co-founded, "A door always open" (Una puerta siempre abierta), summarizes his ideal of unconditional welcome, mercy, and hope for the most abandoned. Today, the legacy of the Venerable Francisco de Asís Méndez Casariego is perpetuated by the Congregation of the Trinitarian Sisters of Madrid, present in several countries in Europe and Latin America. The religious sisters continue their mission of welcoming vulnerable young women, prison ministry, and social reintegration. The body of the founder rests alongside that of the co-founder, the Venerable Mariana Allsopp González-Manrique, in the chapel of the congregation's motherhouse in Madrid. A street in the Spanish capital, located in the El Viso neighborhood, also bears his name in tribute to his social and spiritual work.