IFTTT Autopost 
This week’s missionary hero is a woman who did her work during troubled times in her native land of Mexico. Her name was Anastacia.
Anastasia Guadalupe García Zavala was born on April 27, 1878 in Zapopan, a city in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Her father had a religious store in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan, and Anastasia frequently visited the basilica. As a child and young person, Anastasia had the reputation of always being ready to help people in need.
Although she wanted to get married, Anastasia also wanted to enter the religious life. Specifically, she felt God wanted her to care for the poor and sick of the world. Therefore, when she was about 23-years old in 1901, she called off her engagement to be married.
On October 13, 1901, Anastasia founded a new religious community with her spiritual director, Fr. Cipriano Iñiguez Martín del Campo. The new order was named the Handmaids of Santa Margherita Maria and the Poor. (Fr. Cipriano is now a Servant of God). The charism of the order was to serve the sick and the poor.
Anastasia took the name María Guadalupe in religious life and was elected first Superior General of the order. More commonly known as “Mother Lupita,” she served as a nurse. Not only did she do clinical nursing in Guadalajara, she also was a fundraiser for the hospital, begging in the streets for her patients and the hospital in general.
During the time Mother Lupita served, the Mexican government was exercising an anti-Catholic program. Many priests were martyred for the faith, and many went into hiding. Mother Lupita did her part for the cause by hiding priests in the hospital, including the Archbishop of Guadalajara himself.
Mother Lupita’s order was formally approved on May 24, 1935.
In 1961, Mother Lupita began to suffer an illness, and at the age of 85, she died in Guadalajara on June 24, 1963. She was canonized on May 12, 2013 and is a patron saint of nurses and the Handmaids of Santa Margherita Maria and the Poor.
St. María Guadalupe García Zavala’s feast day is April 27.
