María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui
| Blessed María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui F.I. | |
|---|---|
| Religious | |
| Born |
6 March 1898 Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died |
27 April 1919 (aged 21) Salamanca, Kingdom of Spain |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 12 May 1996, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 27 April |
| Attributes | Religious habit |
Blessed María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui (6 March 1898 – 27 April 1919) was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious from the Daughters of Spain.[1] She lived a brief life but was noted for her ardent faith and her Marian devotion while also being known for the effect she had on the faithful as well as agnostics whom she came into contact with.[2]
The beatification process for the late Elósegui opened in 1982 – she was then titled as a Servant of God – and she later became Venerable in 1995. Pope John Paul II beatified her in mid-1996.
Life
María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui was born in Tolosa – in the Kingdom of Spain – as the second of fifteen children born to Ramon Bandrés and Teresa Elósegui.[1] Her paternal uncle and godfather was Antonio Bandrés. Her siblings and parents often referred to her as "Antonita".[2]
Elósegui attended school in her town that the Daughters of Spain managed and she later entered that order into the religious life in Salamanca on 8 December 1915 – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception – during World War I. In 1913 she attended a session of the Spiritual Exercises when she met the order's founder Saint Candida Maria of Jesus who said to her: "You will be a Daughter of Jesus".[2] She made her solemn religious profession on 31 May 1918 and then fell ill in June 1918 marking the start of a long illness that soon saw her death.[1] Her confessor around this time was the priest Ilario Oscoz.[2]
Her doctor – Filiberto Villalobos – testified that he was moved as he cared for the nun due to her ardent spirit and her commitment to the faith. Her death impacted the agnostic doctor as well as Miguel de Unamuno and Indalecio Prieto who either left oral or written testimonies about the impact her death had on them.[1]
She died on 27 April 1919 while singing a Marian song.
Beatification
The beatification process commenced with the inauguration of an informative process in Salamanca that opened on 23 January 1962 and concluded not long later sometime in 1963 at which point the process was closed and her writings placed under the direction of theologians who – on 10 July 1970 – managed to ascertain that her writings were orthodox in nature and thus would pose no difficulties to the continuation of the cause; an apostolic process was held in 1982 while the formal introduction to the cause came on 11 May 1982 in which she was titled as a Servant of God. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated these two previous processes in Rome on 27 January 1983 and received the official Positio dossier in 1989 for further evaluation.
Theologians assented to the contents of the dossier on 28 June 1994 while the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. followed suit in their meeting of 10 January 1995. She became titled as Venerable on 6 April 1995 after Pope John Paul II confirmed the fact that she had lived a life of heroic virtue.
The miracle required for her beatification was investigated in Spain and received full validation on 12 May 1995 from the C.C.S. before a medical team examined the miracle in question and voiced their approval of it on 11 January 1996; theologians also assented on 29 March 1996 and the C.C.S. as well on 16 April 1996. The pope issued his final approval to this on 30 April 1996 and later beatified her in Saint Peter's Square on 12 May 1996.
The current postulator for this cause is Sister Ana Maria Cinco.
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Biographies of New Blesseds – 1996". EWTN. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "Blessed María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 6 September 2016.