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Josefa Naval Girbés was born on December 11, 1820 in the town of Algemesi, twenty miles south of Valencia, Spain, the eldest of six children. She attended the school of a neighbor. There, she learned how to read and write, and to embroider. In addition, she became very knowledge in her Catholic Christian Faith.
When Josefa was 13 years of age, her mother died. And because Josefa was the eldest of the children, she had to leave school to help her father raise the other children.
As she got older, Josefa chose her parish priest, Fr. Gaspar Silvestre, as her spiritual director. And when she was 18 years of age, she decided to take a vow of chastity so that she could devote her life to Christ in the single state.
By the age of 30, Josefa became deeply advanced in her spiritual life. This was not only because of the guidance that her parish priest gave her, but also because of her extraordinary virtues and knowledge of the Faith.
Josefa was also shaped by the writings of Discalced Carmelite saints such as John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Her attraction to these saints was due to the fact that sometime during her adult life, she had become a secular member of the Discalced Carmelite Order.
Although her name was Josefa, everyone called her Señora Pepa, or simply Pepa. And like many Catholic Christians who live in the single state, Pepa wanted to give her time and talent to others.
To do this, Pepa began by giving embroidery classes to young women in her town. In addition to teaching them how to embroider, though, she also helped them appreciate spiritual reading and conversation. Soon, Pepa’s house became a place not only to practice needlepoint, but also to learn about virtues. In addition, she encouraged the women to get involved in their parish, and she developed a basic catechism to teach the women about prayer. In short, Pepa’s place became known as sort of a novitiate to prepare young women to become wives, mothers, or members of religious orders. It is important to add, here, that all of these apostolic works that Pepa did was under the direction of her spiritual director, her parish priest.
Eventually, when her home became so popular it could no longer accommodate all of the women who wanted to learn from her, a family gave Pepa an orange grove. Gradually, more and more women came to the orange grove to learn from Pepa.
When she was 65 years old, Pepa and some of her followers dedicated themselves to help nurse victims of a cholera epidemic.
Pepa died from heart failure on February 24, 1893. The Discalced Carmelite Order granted her request to be buried in the habit of a Discalced Carmelite.
On September 25, 1988, Pope St. John Paul II beatified Josefa Naval Girbés.
Blessed Josefa’s feast day is February 24.
