Guerrero González, Angela de la Cruz, Bl.
GUERRERO GONZÁLEZ, ANGELA DE LA CRUZ, BL.
Foundress of the Sisters of the Cross; b. Jan. 30, 1846, Seville, Spain; d. there March 2, 1932. The growing sanctity of Angela, the uneducated daughter of a simple family, was recognized by Father Torres Padilla as she was working in a shoe factory in Seville. After she was initially rejected by the Carmelites of Seville, accepted, then forced to leave because of illness, Father Torres suggested (Nov. 1, 1871) that she adopt a rule of life to live as a religious in the secular world. Thereafter she professed a private annual religious vow and recruited peasants as sisters in the Company of the Cross to serve the sick and needy in rural areas. Shortly after the founding of the congregation (Aug. 2, 1875), the sisters heroically ministered to victims of an epidemic in Seville (1876). Angela was beatified at Seville by John Paul II, Nov. 5, 1982, for her service to the poorest of the poor, and for her spirituality of the Cross in a life of poverty, detachment, and humility.
Feast: March 2.
Bibliography: angela de la cruz, Escritos íntimos, ed. by j. m. javierre (Madrid 1974). j. m. javierre, Madre dei poveri (Rome 1969); Sor Angela de la Cruz (Madrid 1982).
[k. i. rabenstein]