MARCH MESA, NAZARÍA IGNACIA, BL.

In religion, Nazaría Ignacia of Santa Teresa of Jesús; foundress of the Missionary Crusaders of the Church (Las Misioneras Cruzadas de la Iglesia ); b. Jan. 10, 1889, Madrid, Spain; d. July 6, 1943, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nazaría was the fourth of the ten children of José Marchy Reus, a sailor and later businessman, and his wife Nazaría Mesa Ramos. She first sensed a call to religious life while she was preparing for her first communion (1898) and made a vow of perpetual virginity at age 11. Desiring to be a Jesuit missionary like Saint Francis xavier, she formed her young friends into a secret missionary society of the Sacred Heart; they prayed and offered sacrifices for the missions. Her family moved to Mexico due to economic reasons in 1906. En route, Nazaría became acquainted with two members of the Hermanitas de los Ancianos Desamparados (Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly) with whom she began her religious life (1908). In 1912, she went to Bolivia, where with the approval of the nuncio, the Bolivian Church hierarchy, and 40 centavos, she founded at Oruro the Missionary Crusaders. Nazaría was soon joined by others, elected superior general, and began to evangelize workers in cities, mines, and the countryside. Among other works she organized the first syndicate for female workers in Latin America, opened soup kitchens for the unemployed, and advocated for the advancement of women. Her foundation with houses in Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Uruguay, received definitive approval, June 9, 1947, four years after her death. Her mortal remains were enshrined in her community at Oruro in 1972. Nazaría, the patroness of Mexican barrios, was beatified by Pope John Paul II, Sept. 27, 1992.

Bibliography: a.-m. mac as lÓpez, La fuerza del si: semblanza de M. Nazaria-Ignacia…. (Sevilla 1992). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1992): 919.

[k. i. rabenstein]