Our Foundress
Saint Rafaela Maria

Rafaela Maria Porras y Ayllon is a gift to the world. She was born in Pedro Abad, Spain on the 1st of March 1850, into a profoundly Christian family. 150 years later, we celebrate her life with immense joy and gratitude.

Without claiming to be a Foundress, she began a Work which is still today, in many parts of the world, putting the grace which she received at the service of the People of God.

In 1875 she entered the Novitiate of the Society of Mary Reparatrix, together with her sister Pilar. The time spent there made a deep impression on their lives and was a preparation for God's plan over them. Generously open to this design of God, they welcomed it with love and fidelity, and in 1877 founded the Institute of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Rafaela Maria was a woman of a single love. Christ in the Eucharist was the center of her existence; she lived in profound communion with him, entering into his plan of universal reconciliation. She spent many hours of her life in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, allowing herself to be transformed by him, so that the world became for her a great temple, where she worshipped the Lord of History in spirit and truth.

This eucharistic dynamism led her to create communities founded on union and the joy of serving so great a Lord. She loved her Sisters tenderly, and never faltered in giving everything to build communion among them.

With her passion for the interests of Christ's Heart, she was determined that his saving and reparative love should reach everyone, the whole of humanity. So, from the very first moment, she wanted her Institute to be dedicated to education in the service of the Gospel, and to be "universal like the Church", always giving preference to the poor and simple.

While she was guiding the Institute, she based her government on love and respect for the Sisters, and on faithfulness to the mission received. Then, during the long years of hidden life in Rome, identified with Christ on the cross, she passed on the living spirit of her total gift of self, a genuine Handmaid of the Lord: free, humble, valiant, dedicated.

She died in Rome, on the 6th of January 1925. On the 23rd of January 1977, before the whole world, Paul VI proclaimed that this woman had lived the Gospel with all its consequences. From then on, we invoke her as Saint Rafaela Maria of the Sacred Heart.

"Inheritance and Commitment"

St. Rafaela's Biography is now available online!

Amar Siempre, Part I

Amar Siempre, Part II

Amar Siempre, Part III

Amar Siempre, Part IV

Magnificat of Saint Rafaela Maria

I see God very great and myself so small And I rejoice because then I see who God is and who I am.Seeing myself so small, I am centered I see what God does in me, and that is all I want.
God loves me very much. I feel especially privileged.
Truly, God has done marvels for me. God's mercy alone shelters me.
God's love reaches out to all peoples we, the beloved children! The Lord gives generously to us.
We are the ones who do not know how to welcome moments of grace. We are the ones who cut the thread of God's mercies with our lack of generosity and gratitude.
Yet the humble and simple person steals God's heart. The Lord makes use of little ones to teach the mighty because they have pleasing works.
The Lord makes use of unassuming persons to subject the proud so that everything may be attributed to God alone.
To God be glory forever and ever. Amen.