Louis-Antoine-Rose Ormières Lacase

Concerned with the education of children in rural areas, Father Ormières collaborated with Father Gabriel Deshayes to bring nuns from Brittany to Quillan in 1839. With Sister Saint Pascal (Julienne-Marie Lavrilloux), he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Guardian Angel. The institute developed in France and Spain, obtaining imperial recognition in 1852 and establishing its Motherhouse in Montauban in 1858. After an ephemeral attempt at a male branch and the internationalization of the work in Ecuador, he was received by Pope Pius IX in 1867. He passed away on January 16, 1890, in Gijón, Spain.

The informative process regarding the reputation of holiness of Father Ormières opened in Oviedo on March 25, 1954, the date on which he was declared a Servant of God under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. After the examination of his life and his writings, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues on March 8, 1997, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The miracle accepted for his beatification is the scientifically inexplicable healing of Sister Jenara Sánchez del Río (Sister Celina) from a grade 3 mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the palate in December 2002, following prayers addressed to the intercession of Father Ormières. Pope Francis signed the decree recognizing the miracle on July 8, 2016. The beatification was celebrated on April 22, 2017, in the Cathedral of Oviedo by Cardinal Angelo Amato, who described him as a "guardian angel of youth."

The Blessed's spirituality rests on an absolute trust in divine Providence, humility, and obedience to the Church. He saw the Sisters of the Guardian Angel as "visible angels" tasked with softening the lives of the poor. Today, the congregation continues its work of education, catechesis, and service to the destitute in about fifteen countries around the world.