Saint Rosa Molas i Vallve

Rosa Francisca Dolors Molas Vallvé (24 March 1815 – 11 June 1876) was a Spanish Roman Catholic religious sister. Following her solemn religious profession she assumed the name of "Maria Rosa" and also established the religious congregation known as the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation. Vallvé decided that her order would be devoted to women and to service of the poor who most needed aid. Pope Paul VI beatified her in mid-1977 and she was canonized in late 1988 after recognition of three miracles attributed to her intercession. She is a patron saint of her congregation. Rosa Francisca Dolors Molas Vallvé was born on 24 March 1815 in Spain to Jose Molas and Maria Vallvé, and baptized the following day. As a child she was known for her intuitive and sensitive nature, with tenderness toward the poor and to those on the peripheries. She wanted to devote herself to alleviating the suffering of those peoples. With her First Communion came the birth of her religious calling and the determination to consecrate herself to God as a professed religious, assuming the name of "Maria Rosa". In January 1841 she entered the Corporation Sisters of Charity who served in a hospital in Reus. She remained in the city on 11 June 1844 to help people despite the bombardment of the city by the troops of General Zurbano. She later went with her fellow sisters to Tortosa in 1849 where the scope of her mission expanded. On 14 March 1857 she established her own religious congregation for women to assist in aiding the poor and outcasts. On 14 November 1858 she named the congregation the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation In May 1876 she could feel that her health was slowly declining and that her end was near. She remarked to her confessor: "The holy will of God be done". She died on 11 June 1876. Vallvé's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 12 December 1941.