Maria del Carmen Albarracín Pascual

On September 26, 1942, at the age of 15, María del Carmen entered the postulancy of the congregation of the Religious of Mary Immaculate, Claretian Missionaries (Religiosas de María Inmaculada, Misioneras Claretianas), at their novitiate house located at 169 Mayor Street in Sarriá, Barcelona. There, she received the name Sister Teresita. From her arrival, her superiors and companions were struck by her modesty, her humility, and above all her constant smile, which became her distinctive mark. She made her first religious profession on April 10, 1944. Following her temporary vows, she was entrusted with a kindergarten (preschool) class. She dedicated herself to this educational task with patience, gentleness, and a great sense of responsibility, seeking to transmit the love of God to the children through the simplest daily actions. However, her health declined rapidly. Afflicted with severe intestinal tuberculosis, she endured violent physical suffering that she strove to hide so as not to worry her community, offering her pains in silence.

Sister Teresita's spiritual life is characterized by an absolute trust in divine mercy and by the search for holiness in ordinary things, inspired by the "little way" of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Her spiritual program consists of performing the simplest actions of daily life in an extraordinary way. Faced with illness, she resolves to "always smile" so that only Jesus would know the cause of her pain. As her intestinal tuberculosis progressed inevitably, she was perceived by doctors, nurses, and her fellow sisters as a true "angel of peace." Feeling her end approaching, she asked to pronounce her perpetual vows. On March 12, 1946, in Barcelona, she was authorized to make her perpetual profession in articulo mortis (at the point of death). She passed away peacefully that same day, at the age of 18 (a few weeks before her 19th birthday). Her mortal remains rest today in the chapel of the Casa de Espiritualidad María Antonia París of the Claretian Missionaries, in Sarriá (Barcelona).

The cause for the beatification of María del Carmen Albarracín Pascual opened at the diocesan level in Barcelona. The informative process was officially opened on January 12, 1962, and closed on June 12, 1967. After the examination of her writings and her life by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Positio was published in 1994. On July 1, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her theological and cardinal virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The spirituality of the Venerable Teresita Albarracín is based on spiritual childhood and confident abandonment into the hands of God. Her legacy is summarized by her life motto: "Sonreír siempre" (Always smile). She left behind intimate writings and retreat notes that testify to her ardent desire for holiness and her intimate union with the Crucified Christ and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She is today considered by her congregation as the patroness and model for young nuns (temporary professed or junioras). Her room, preserved within the house of spirituality in Sarriá, remains a place of recollection and prayer for pilgrims.