Blessed María Guggiari Echeverría Santos

María Guggiari Echeverría, OCD (María Felicia de Jesús Sacramentado in religion; 12 January 1925 – 28 April 1959), was a Paraguayan Discalced Carmelite who served in her adolescence as a member of Catholic Action. Guggiari Echeverría's cause for sainthood commenced under Pope John Paul II in 1997 after she received the title Servant of God, and the confirmation of her heroic virtue led to Pope Benedict XVI declaring her venerable on 27 March 2010. Pope Francis confirmed her beatification and it was celebrated on 23 June 2018. María Guggiari Echeverría was born in 1925 in the Guairá Department as the first of seven children to Ramón Guggiari and María Arminda Echeverría. Her father often called her "Chiquitunga". Her siblings included her brother Federico Augusto Ramón Guggiari Echeverría and sisters María Teresa Arminda and Mañica González Raveti; there were four others. She was baptized on 28 February 1929 and received her First Communion on 8 December 1937. In 1941 she became a member of the Catholic Action movement – despite her parents' opposition to it – and she dedicated herself to the movement and the care of the poor and those who suffered while also serving as a catechist for children. She met her spiritual director Father Julio Cesar Duarte Ortella in February 1941. It was during her time with the movement that she met and fell in love with the medical student Saua Angel and she began to wonder if God wanted her to wed like the parents of Thérèse of Lisieux, who made vows to remain chaste in the married life. Echeverría waited for the Lord's will to manifest itself, and Angel later told her in May 1951 that he felt called to the priesthood. She decided to offer whatever assistance he needed and helped Angel hide it from his father, a Muslim. She bid farewell to Angel who departed for Madrid for further studies and to continue to discern his vocation. She made a vow to remain chaste in October 1942.