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Today’s mission hero was an extraordinary woman who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her name was Genoveva Torres Morales.
Genoveva was born on January 3, 1870 in Almenara, Castellón, Spain, the last of 6 children from a poor family. Before she was 8 years old, she lost her parents and four of her six siblings. Her 18-year-old brother José was then responsible for her care. José was a very quiet young man and did not speak much, so Genoveva grew up in a quiet home most of the time. As she grew older, she was nicknamed “Angel of Solitude.”
From the age of 10, Genoveva came to the conclusion that to be truly happy she had to dedicate her life to the Lord.
In 1882, she developed a tumor in her knee, which caused her leg to be amputated. Two years later, she fell ill and in 1885 she entered a hospice run by the Carmelites. A “hospice” in those days was not necessarily for the terminally ill; it was more like a convalescent center. There, she stayed for almost a decade, growing in spirituality.
During her convalescence, she came to the conclusion that she would serve God by helping women. So, in 1911, she established a home for needy women in Valencia. Later, she established houses in Barcelona and Santander. She then established a General House and a novitiate, and soon had the beginnings of a new religious congregation that she called the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Holy Angels. All of Mother Genoveva’s missionary work was done “at home” in Spain.
In the early 1950s, her physical condition began to deteriorate and she lost her hearing. Pope Pius XII approved her congregation in 1953, and a year later, Mother Genevieve resigned as Mother General of her order.
Mother Genoveva died on January 5, 1956 at the age of 86.
Pope Saint John Paul II canonized her on May 4, 2003. The feast of Saint Genevieve is on January 5.
