- Joaquina Vedruna de Mas
Infobox Saint
name=Saint Joaquina Vedruna de Mas
birth_date=April 16 1783
death_date=August 28 1854
feast_day=May 19
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
imagesize=
caption=
birth_place=Barcelona ,Spain
death_place=Vic ,Spain
titles=Foundress
beatified_date=May 19 1940
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=April 12 1959
canonized_place=
canonized_by=Pope John XXIII
attributes=
patronage= abuse victims
death of children
exiles
widows
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
issues=Saint Joaquina Vedruna de Mas (or Joaquima, in Catalan) (Barcelona ,Spain ,April 16 ,1783 –August 28 ,1854 ) was a Spanishnun , founder of theCarmelite Sisters of the Charity . He was born from abourgeois family. In 1799, she married thelawyer and Vic's landowner Teodoro de Mas, with whom she had nine children. Her husband died in 1816 and he moved with her children to their estate in Vic. She began her charitable activities with the sick and young women. Herspiritual director , the Capuchin Esteban de Olot, suggested her to found an apostolic congregation devoted to education and charity. Thebishop of Vic ,Pablo Jesús Corcuera , told to her that the institute shall to be ofCarmelite inspiration. The same bishop wrote the rule onFebruary 6 ,1826 and onFebruary 26 she and other eight women pronounced the vows. In few years the Vedruna's Carmelites founded several houses inCatalonia . She had to fleeing from Spain during theFirst Carlist War , as she founded an hospital in theCarlist townBerga , that was further occupied by the Liberals. She was in theRousillon ,France , from 1836 to 1842. The congregation was definitively approved in 1850. In spite of serious challenges posed by civil war and secular opposition, the institute she founded soon spread into Catalonia. Thereafter communities were established throughout Spain andHispanic America . Sickness ultimately compelled her to resign as superior of her order; although she actually died during acholera epidemic in Barcelona, over the final four years of her life, she slowly succumbed toparalysis . At her death in 1854 at the age of 71, Joaquina was known and admired for her high degree of prayer, deep trust inGod and selflesscharity . She wasbeatified by theRoman Catholic Church in 1940 and wascanonized in 1959. She is buried in theCarmelites of the Charity's mother-house in Vic.External links
* [http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1410 American Catholic article on Blessed Joachima]
* [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0519.htm#joac Saint Patrick's Cathedral article on Joaquina Vedruna de Mas, Widow Foundress]
*es icon [http://www.mercaba.org/SANTORAL/Vida/05/05-22_S_joaquina_vedruna_de_mas.htm Biography by Luis Sanz Burata]Bibliography
*Itúrbide, Emilio: "Del matrimonio a la gloria de Bernini: Santa Joaquina Vedruna, fundadora del Instituto de Hermanas Carmelitas de la Caridad. Ejemplo vivo para todos los estados de la vida", Pamplona: Gómez, 1959
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