Wednesday’s Woman: Blessed Maria Barbara of the Holy Trinity

Note: For the next several weeks, I’m featuring women with a connection to the Americas.

The Basics: Born June 27, 1818, in Austria; died March 17, 1873, in Brazil; beatified November 6, 2010; feast day, March 17; woman religious, missionary.

The Story: The first thirty years of the woman born Barbara Maix were interesting, but perhaps not especially remarkable. She had health issues, but still managed to work as a servant at Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Palace, where her father also was employed. He and her mother both died when Barbara was fifteen or so, and a few years Barbara and one of her four sisters decided to open a home to help the poor, especially disadvantaged women. As she moved toward establishment of a religious community, nationalist uprisings hit the Austrian Empire in 1848, and as a result, Barbara and twenty-one companions found themselves facing expulsion. As they waited for a ship to take them to North America, she determined that they would instead go to Brazil, even though none of the women spoke Portuguese. So off they went, establishing the mother house for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary six months later in Porto Alegre.

The woman known in religious life as Maria Barbara of the Holy Trinity would stay in Porto Alegre until three years before her death, when she went to Rio de Janeiro to work in a school her community established for orphaned girls.

Maria Barbara’s Wisdom: “My Jesus, here I am. Make me what pleases you!”

What We Can Learn from Maria Barbara: Consider the faith–and fearlessness–with which Maria Barbara and her companions changed direction for their missionary work. Where is God calling you to do something you’re reluctant to take on?

To Learn More About Maria Barbara: Check out the site for her congregation, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre’s decree that the San Rafael Chapel, where Maria Barbara’s remains reside, would henceforth be a sanctury.

To Learn More About Other Women Saints and Blesseds: Come back next week, or consider buying my books, Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith or Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration.