Saint of the day March 20, 2025

Josefa Sancho de Guerra
María Josefa was born in 1842, the eldest daughter of a large Spanish Catholic family. Her father died at a young age, leaving her mother responsible for the family's well-being. María was sent to Madrid to live with wealthy relatives while receiving an education.

María’s mother was religious and had trained her young daughter in the Catholic faith, but was surprised to find María return from Madrid at the age of eighteen insisting on joining a convent. María felt on fire for a religious vocation and kept begging her mother for permission to enter. María joined the Institute of the Servants of Mary, but soon felt uncertain about whether she had chosen the right path. After speaking with various confessors and praying with her uncertainty, she left the Institute.

María had felt the call to establish her own order.

In 1871, at the age of twenty-nine, María Josefa founded the Servants of Jesus of Charity, which focused on caring for Christ in the least of his people—the children, sick, elderly, and the poor. When she became the order’s first superior she took the name María Josefa of the Heart of Jesus. Her order has spread all over the European and Spanish-speaking world—today, the Servants of Jesus of Charity have houses in Chile, Colombia, France, and the Dominican Republic.

María Josefa was devoted to the Sacred Heart and saw her and her sisters’ work with the sick and suffering as participating in Christ’s redemptive sufferings. And this kindness they offered to others was a foretaste of heaven. She wrote to her sisters:

“The charity and mutual love constitute even in this life the paradise of the community. Without cross we cannot live wherever we go, because religious life is a life of sacrifice and of abnegation. The foundation of greatest perfection is fraternal charity.”

On March 20, 1912, María Josefa passed away, just short of seventy years old. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000, on October 1.

Reflection

Indeed, Maria Josefa Sancho de Guerra's journey was not merely a journey of an individual, but a testament to the power of faith and compassion that transcends boundaries and touches lives—a spiritual song that still plays on, echoing her devotion to God and humanity.
Through her life, María Josefa left a lasting legacy of profound mercy and selfless service. Her order continues to provide care, comfort, and spiritual guidance to those in need, adhering to the same principles that Maria Josefa herself embodied.
It is hoped that María Josefa Sancho de Guerra's story serves as an inspiration—a beacon lighting our path, guiding us to live a life rooted in love, compassion, and faithful service. We continue to pray, asking for her intercession, as we strive to be bearers of God's grace and love, just as she was