About Blessed Margarita María López de Maturana

"Leonor and I were like two bodies in one soul; we just did not know how to separate, and our mutual understanding reached the unbelievable." (Mo. Margarita)

They were born in Bilbao, on July 25, 1884 and lived in a family of modest means where their faith grew strong. They attended school run by the Congregation of the Daughter of the Cross. When they were eight years old, their older sister Lola took over the care of their education.

The twins, although very much alike, had different characters: Leonor was joyful and spontaneous; Pilar (Mother Margarita's baptismal name) was more serious and reflective.

In 1901, at the age of sixteen, she was sent to the Mercedarian convent of Vera Cruz in Bérriz as a boarding student, where she discovered her vocation. In 1903, her twin Leonor entered the Novitiate of the Carmelites Sisters of Charity in Vitoria, Spain while her she took the habit as a novice at the cloistered  of Mercedarian Monastery in Berriz. She change her name to Margarita Maria and spent her early years as a cloistered nun and educator. 

• Margarita felt a deep "missionary zeal" that eventually led her to open the doors of her contemplative community to the world: 
• Mercedarian Missionary Youth: In 1920, she founded this organization to support and pray for global missions.
• First Expeditions: In 1926, she received permission for the sisters to leave seclusion temporarily for missions. The first expedition went to Wuhu, China (1926), followed by the Mariana Islands (1927) and Japan (1928).
• A New Institute: On May 23, 1930, the monastery was officially transformed into the Mercedarian Missionaries of Bérriz, a missionary institute. Margarita was elected its first Superior General in 1931. 

• Global Reach: Margarita personally undertook extensive missionary trips to the South Pacific and traveled around the world twice to oversee the sisters' work.
• Illness: She suffered from a severe duodenal ulcer that eventually developed into fatal stomach cancer.
• Death: She died on July 23, 1934, in San Sebastián, Spain, just two days before her 50th birthday.
• Beatification: She was beatified on October 22, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI. 
• Would you like to know more about the specific mission work she established in China or the Pacific islands?