Blessed Ana Josefa Pérez Florido

Ana Petra Pérez Florido (6 December 1845 – 16 August 1906), religious name Petra of Saint Joseph, was a Spanish religious sister. She established the Congregation of the Mothers of the Forsaken and St. Joseph of the Mountain (Madres de los Desamparados y San José de la Montaña) to care for the abandoned as well as the elderly and infirm. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 16 October 1994. Ana Petra Pérez Florido was born on December 6, 1845, in Spain and was the last of five children to José Perez and Maria Florido; she was baptized with the name of "Ana Josefa". Her mother died when she was three and her paternal grandmother, Teresa Reina, was interested in her education and so assumed control of her education. From her she learnt about the importance of the Eucharist as well as a devotion to the Mother of God as well as a special devotion to Saint Joseph. Twice two men of good families asked her for marriage but her father rejected such proposals for political reasons. It was all to her relief for she said: "I have no vocation for marriage". True to her word she declined all future opportunities for marriage and her parents did not respond well to her refusals and were even harsher when she informed her parents of her desire to join religious life as a servant of God. Her parents attempted to prevent her from responding to her vocation and she could not enter the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor due to their interference. In 1872 her father relented and gave her his blessing for joining the religious life; her father died on 11 January 1875. Florido at once began catering to the needs of the old and the abandoned and soon town officials requested that she open a house for the old which she did this on 19 March 1875; the home was named "The Porch of Bethlehem". She entered a convent of the Mercedarians and received their habit on 1 November 1878.