Venerable Camila Rolón

Camila Rolón (religious name Camila of Saint Joseph, 18 July 1842 – 16 February 1913) was an Argentine religious sister and the founder of the Poor Sisters of Saint Joseph. Rolón survived a cholera outbreak in Buenos Aires in the 1870s that claimed her mother and brother and after this made attempts to enter either the Capuchin Poor Clares or the Carmelites. In 1880, she moved to Mercedes where she founded an orphanage that would later evolve into a religious congregation. This congregation spread to the point that the motherhouse relocated to Rome as did she and it was there that she died. Her beatification process opened in 1950 despite the fact that the cause was not introduced on a formal level until 1975. In 1993, she became titled as venerable after Pope John Paul II confirmed that Rolón had practiced heroic virtue during her life. Camila Rolón was born in San Isidro on 18 July 1842 to Eusebio Rolón and María Gutíerrez; her baptism was celebrated on 22 July and she was baptized "Corina Camila". Her parents took Camillus de Lellis as her patron saint. Rolón received the sacrament of confirmation when she was seven from Bishop Mariano Escalada and had her First Communion in 1854. In 1867, a cholera epidemic broke out in Buenos Aires and after it disappeared the Yellow Fever spread throughout the region. This new outbreak claimed the life of her mother in 1870 while her brother Andrés died not long following this. From the age of eighteen Rolón had felt a strong call to the religious life and wanted to join the Capuchin Poor Clares in Buenos Aires. Rolón tried entering in 1886 but failed. This came after a previous and failed attempt to join the Discalced Carmelites. Rolón entered on 21 April 1875 and assumed the religious name Dolores de San José, but ill health forced her to leave the convent on 20 May to spend five months recuperating at her home. Her father died not long after this in mid-1877.