Maria Josephina Teresa Marcucci

In 1913, she left to found a monastery in Mexico, but the Carrancista revolution caused the project to fail. In 1916, she joined Spain and in 1918 founded the first Passionist monastery in the country in Deusto (Bilbao). She became mistress of novices there and then superior, collaborating with Father Juan González Arintero under the pseudonym 'Jesús Pastor'. Recalled to Italy in 1935, she directed the monastery of Lucca and erected the sanctuary of Saint Gemma Galgani there, before returning to Spain in 1941 to found the monastery of Madrid.

After her death in Madrid in 1960, her reputation for holiness grew in Spain and Italy. The diocesan process for her beatification opened in Madrid on March 10, 1989, and closed on November 5, 1991. The validity of the inquiry was decreed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on December 12, 1992, and the Positio on her heroic virtues was published in 1994.

On April 3, 2014, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, officially declaring her 'venerable'. The recognition of a miracle is now required for her beatification, as none has yet been officially approved to this day.

Her spirituality is centered on the Passion and the Eucharist, summarized by her motto: 'I was born to love God and to make Him loved'. Her spiritual autobiography, 'Apostola dell'amore', is considered a masterpiece of mystical theology. Through her writings and correspondence, she anticipated the doctrine of the universal call to holiness of the Second Vatican Council.