Blessed Maria Clara of the Child Jesus

Blessed Maria Clara of the Child Jesus was born on June 15, 1843 in a noble family. She was orphaned at the age of 14 and in the desire of a religious life consecrated to God and the service of the poor, she entered the Capuchin Sisters in 1867. In 1870 she was sent to the novitiate in France and a year later, on her return to Portugal, she founded a new religious congregation, which would be approved by the Holy See in 1876. She died on December 1, 1899, her feast day. She was beatified on May 21, 2011.

Bread and lamp

Being the “Sister of the poor”, Blessed Maria Clara spent her life bringing light and warmth. Like the lamp, one of the emblems of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the bread is a symbol of her charity.

Prayer

Good and omnipotent Lord, 
who made your holiness shine forth in the simple and humble life
of Blessed Maria Clara of the Child Jesus,  
make the brightness of your light shine upon us, so that,
living in the spirit of the Beatitudes, 
we may practice the works of mercy
in fidelity to the holy Gospel, 
and be a sign of them  at WYD Lisbon 2023. 
Through Christ our Lord. 
Amen.   

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