Blessed Rafaela Ybarra de Vilallonga

Rafaela Ybarra Arambarri de Vilallonga (16 January 1843 – 23 February 1900) was a Spanish Roman Catholic widow and the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Guardian Angels. Vilallonga was part of Bilbao's upper-class and she mothered seven children with her husband José Vilallonga. Her beatification was celebrated on 30 September 1984. Rafaela Ybarra Arambarri de Vilallonga was born in Bilbao on 16 January 1843 to affluent parents part of the upper-class. Her baptism was celebrated in her local parish church on 17 January and she was baptized in the name of "Rafaela María de la Luz Estefanía de Ybarra i Arambarri. Her parents were Gabriel Ybarra y Gutiérrez de Caviedes and María del Rosario de Arambarri y Mancebo. Her Confirmation came on 22 May 1844 and she made her First Communion on 21 May 1854. Arambarri married José de Vilallonga y Gipuló (b. 1823) on 14 September 1861. The couple had a total of seven children but two died as infants while another suffered a serious illness in their life. Ybarra suffered a serious illness while in Paris and she was healed on a trip to Lourdes. But her mother died at that same time - both instances fell on 24 September 1883 - and her father later followed on 10 August 1890. Her husband later died on 7 May 1898. The Jesuit priest Francis de Sales Muruzábel was her spiritual director. In 1890 - with spousal permission - she made private vows to remain chaste and obedient to God. Bilbao experienced a rapid industrialization process and she set up a series of homes for working-class children and teenage girls as well as workshops for their proper training. Vilallonga promoted a number of institutions for the welfare of women in Bilbao. The premature death of her sister Maria de Rosario prompted her to raise and take care of her half-orphaned nephews which included the Basque linguist Julio Urquijo Ibarra.