Blessed Margarita María López de Maturana

Blessed María Pilar López de Maturana Ortiz de Zárate (25 July 1884 – 23 July 1934), also known by her religious name Margarita María, was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Bérriz. The religious made several international trips in order to serve in the missions as her order often dabbled in and undertook these trips despite a serious ulcer that transcended into stomach cancer but nevertheless she continued to promote the charism of the missions. The beatification cause commenced on 25 October 1961 under Pope John XXIII in which she was titled as a Servant of God while Pope John Paul II later named her as Venerable on 16 March 1987. Pope Benedict XVI approved her beatification and it was celebrated on 22 October 2006 in which Cardinal José Saraiva Martins presided on the pope's behalf. Her twin sister Leonor was named as Venerable on the path to sainthood. María Pilar López de Maturana Ortiz de Zarate was born in 1884 in Bilbao as a twin – her twin sister was Leonor (1884–1931) – and the last of five children to Vicente López de Maturana and Juana Ortiz de Zárate. She was born on the third floor of a building at 52 Tenderia Street. Her twin sister later became a member of the Carmelite order. On 10 August 1903 she entered the novitiate with the Mercedarians at the convent of Vera Cruz and assumed the religious name of "Margarita María". She would later teach and serve as a principal though suspended this for a brief period in 1922 when she developed a duodenal ulcer that would continue to plague her for the remainder of her life. In September 1924 the order's house where she was stationed in requested the Superior General of the order to establish a group that would prepare and collaborate with missionaries since Sister Margarita María was fond of them and herself wanted to go to the missions.