Genoveva Torres Morales

Genoveva_Torres_Morales
Feast Day: January 5
Canonized: May 4, 2003
Beatified: January 29, 1995
Venerated: January 22, 1991

Born in 1870 in a small town in Spain, Genoveva had a difficult childhood. By the time she was eight, her parents and four of her brothers and sisters had died. When she was 13, doctors had to amputate her leg because of an infection.

Genoveva spent much of her time alone, and she found comfort in spiritual reading. Her reading helped her to know that God has a plan for each of us.

At age 15, Genoveva moved into the Mercy Home. The Carmelite nuns who ran the home treated her leg, which had never healed properly, and they taught her to sew and helped her to see the joy and prayerfulness of community life. She wanted to join the nuns in their work, but her health was not strong enough.

After she left Mercy Home, Genoveva formed a new religious community dedicated to serving the needs of elderly women who were retired from a lifetime of hard work. She named the order the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels. The nuns became known as “Angelicas.” Genoveva and her sisters were like angels to the women they served. The order grew quickly, spreading throughout Spain.

Mother Genoveva died in 1956, and when she was canonized a saint in 2003, Pope John Paul II called her an “instrument of God’s tender love.” She is sometimes called the “Angel of Solitude.”

Connecting to Blest Are We® Parish and School
Grade 3, chapter 10

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