Saint María de la Purísima de la Cruz

María de la Purísima Salvat Romero (20 February 1926 – 31 October 1998), born María Isabel Salvat Romero, was a Spanish religious sister of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross. She assumed the religious name María de la Purísima of the Cross. Romero was the successor of Angela of the Cross of the latter's congregation and was known for her firmness in the progress of the congregation and in their role as servants of God and his people, also for her strong commitment to uphold the magisterium of the church. She was beatified on 18 September 2010 in Seville and canonised on 18 October 2015. María de la Purísima Salvat Romero was born in 1926 in Spain to Ricardo Salvat Albert and Margarita Romero Ferrer as the third of eight children. She was baptized the following day in the church of Our Lady of the Conception on Goya Street. As a child she attended the school of the Irish Sisters in Madrid and received her First Communion at the age of six. Romero and her family left Spain for Portugal from July 1936 to 1938 in order to escape the persecutions of the Spanish Civil War; they returned following the conclusion of the conflict. During her time in Portugal, she realized her true calling was to that of religious life. While her mother approved of this decision, her father ultimately attempted to suppress this, though later relented to the strong desire of his daughter. Romero joined the Sisters of the Company of the Cross, established by Angela of the Cross, on 8 December 1944 and was vested in the habit of the congregation for the first time on 9 June 1945. Romero later made her temporary vows on 27 June 1947 and her perpetual vows on 9 December 1952. In 1966 she was sent to the Mother House of the congregation in Seville where she, in 1968, was named the Provincial of the Mother House. She eventually ascended to the position of Superior General in 1977 and was reelected thrice, remaining in office until her death.