Maria Nieves Sánchez y Fernandez

After her temporary profession in 1922, Sister María Nieves was sent to the college in Cabra, where she dedicated herself fully to teaching and the education of young girls until 1937. During the Spanish Civil War, from June 1937 to March 1939, she was transferred to the Calasanzio college in Córdoba, which had been temporarily converted into a military hospital. There, she worked with dedication as a nurse alongside her fellow sisters and several students to care for the wounded. Once the conflict ended and the hospital closed, she returned to the college in Cabra to resume her mission as an educator. In 1939, she was appointed mistress of novices and moved to Carabanchel-Alto, near Madrid, where she oversaw the spiritual formation of the congregation's future religious sisters until 1955. She was then appointed vice-superior of the Calasanzio college in Córdoba (1955-1957), then superior of the 'Mater Divinae Gratiae' house of spiritual exercises in El Puy de Estella (1957-1958), before returning to Madrid as vice-superior in 1958. In 1959, a diagnosis of bone cancer marked the beginning of a long period of intense physical suffering, which she endured with heroic patience. In 1968, she joined the community of Carabanchel, where her health continued to deteriorate. In 1975, she was transferred to the Santa Victoria college in Córdoba to spend her final years within the community of elderly sisters. After undergoing surgery for colon cancer, she passed away on May 1, 1978, in Córdoba.

The reputation for holiness of Sister María Nieves, nurtured by her patience in illness and her dedication to education, led to the opening of her cause for beatification. The diocesan phase of the canonical inquiry officially began in the Diocese of Córdoba on December 11, 1991. After the collection of testimonies and writings, the file was transmitted to Rome, and the Positio on her life and virtues was officially submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on March 12, 1999. On February 23, 2016, the theological consultants and the cardinals of the Roman congregation voted unanimously in favor of the heroic nature of her virtues.

On March 3, 2016, Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the Servant of God. She was thus declared venerable. The official decree was published by the Holy See on March 4, 2016. For her beatification to be pronounced, the Church must now officially recognize a miracle performed through her intercession.

The spirituality of the Venerable María Nieves de la Sagrada Familia was deeply Trinitarian, Eucharistic, and Marian, faithfully following the ascetic and educational tradition of the Piarists. She distinguished herself by a simple, austere, and humble life, marked by a sincere love for silence and the most modest tasks. Her clear faith was brilliantly manifested in her absolute obedience to the Church and in her ability to endure very heavy physical suffering in the secret of prayer and self-offering. As an educator and mistress of novices, she transmitted the love of God through the daily example of charity and gentleness.