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María Romero Meneses was born on January 13, 1902, in Granada, Nicaragua, one of eight children. Her father, Félix Romero Arana, was a government official, and her mother, Ana Meneses Blandón was a homemaker.
As a child, María was drawn to the fine arts. Her parents, therefore, made sure she had a solid education that included piano and violin lessons as well as drawing and painting. As she got older, María attended the school run by the Salesian Sisters of St. Don Bosco. However, in 1914, she was stricken with rheumatic fever and could not attend school for a year. For six months, she was even paralyzed. When she learned that her heart had been damaged, she simply put her confidence in St. Mary under her title, “Our Lady, Help of Christians.”
When she was cured, she was able to return to school. Her friends were amazed, for she looked like she had never been sick. She attributed her cure to the Saint Mary.
On December 8, 1915, she joined a Marian association called “Daughters of Mary.” Her Salesian spiritual director, Father Emilio Bottari, helped María discern her vocation and what she described as “mystical experiences.” In 1920, at age 18, María joined the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, more commonly called the Salesian Sisters (F.M.A.). Her spiritual director gave her a piece of advice that she always remembered in her vocation, “Even though difficult moments will come, and you will feel torn to pieces, be faithful and strong in your vocation.”
María did her novitiate year in El Salvador and received her Salesian Sister habit on January 16, 1921, On January 6, 1929, she made her final profession in Nicaragua. She did her best to live the spirit of Saint John Bosco, founder of the Salesians.
In 1931, Sister María went to San José, Costa Rica and in 1933 became a teacher in a school for daughters of rich girls. There, she taught music, art, and typing. While teaching the rich girls, though, she was busy planting seeds in the poorer parts of town to help the poor. First, she began catechism for the poor in the barrios and helped the poor learn practical ways to make living. She then enlisted some of the rich girls to become involved in missionary work with the poor in their communities. Thus, she taught the “haves” how to be good stewards by sharing their time, talent, and treasure with the “have nots” of society.
In 1945, Sister María began setting up recreation centers for the poor, and in 1953, she set up centers for food distribution for the poor. In 1961, Sister María opened a school for poor girls, and in 1966, she established a healthcare clinic where physicians and other healthcare providers could provide care for the poor. The health clinics also served as centers where people could contribute medicines and other supplies.
Sister María then took a piece of land outside the city and established a community for the poor. In 1973, the first seven homes were built and then a farm, a market with a space for religious formation and catechesis, and job training were built. On the land, she also had a church called Our Lady, Help of Christians.
Though Sister Maria eventually retired from full-time teaching, she never gave up catechizing both young and old.
On July 7, 1977, Sister María had a fatal heart attack in the Salesian house in León, Nicaragua at the age of 75. Sister María was beatified on April 14, 2002, in Vatican City. Blessed María Romero Meneses’ feast day is July 7.
