Saint Genoveva Torres Morales | The Angel of Solitude | January 5th
St Joseph's Corner
Youngest of six children. By the age of eight, both her parents and four of her siblings had died. A child homemaker for her older brother, Genovena grew up a quiet child, accustomed to solitude. She took an interest in spiritual reading around age ten, and early understood that the purpose of all life is to follow God. When she was 13, her left leg became gangrenous and had to be amputated; there was no anesthesia for the operation, it never properly healed, and she was on crutches the rest of her life.
From 1885 to 1894 she lived at the Mercy Home run by the Carmelites of Charity, healing, learning to sew, and deepening her spiritual life. She wanted to join these sisters, but her health was not good enough. In 1894 she moved in with two other lay women who supported themselves and each other, living a poor but prayerful life. The desire to help poor women grew in Genoveva, and in 1911 Canon Barbarrós suggested she start a religious community for just such a mission. Shea established the first community of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels (Angélicas) in Valencia, Spain; they would receive papal approval in 1953. It immediately attracted many women, both those needing help, and those wanting to help, and other communities were formed around Spain. Genoveva spent the rest of her life working for these communities, overcoming her physical and health problems, and even tougher, her own desire for quiet solitude.
Born
3 January 1870 in Almenara, Castile, Spain
Died
5 January 1956 in Zaragoza, Spain of natural causes
Venerated
22 January 1991 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified
29 January 1995 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized
4 May 2003 by Pope John Paul II at Plaza de Colón, Madrid, Spain