RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, a Catholic laywoman who lived in 18th-century Santiago del Estero has become the first female saint from Argentina in a ceremony at the Vatican.
Commonly known as “Mama Antula”, she was born in 1730 into a wealthy family and joined the Jesuits at 15, saying she did not want to marry or be a nun.
She went on to establish the Daughters of the Divine Saviour, worked with parents in the education of children, and helped the sick and those in poverty.
She refused to acquiesce when Jesuits were expelled from the country, and restored the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, holding popular retreats.
She was not widely recognised until Pope Francis, also from Argentina, took on his office. Her path to sainthood followed two miracles, the healing of a nun in a religious house and a Jesuit seminarian in intensive care, who improved after a picture of Mama Antula was stuck onto his vital signs monitor.