Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – This October 12, the Holy Father Benedict XVI will canonize Ecuadorian Narcisa of Jesus Martillo, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992, along with three other people. She will become the third saint from Ecuador, joining Marianita of Jesus and Brother Miguel.
At the Pontifical Missionary Societies in Ecuador, they are promoting the story of her life, as a means to raise spirits amidst preparations for World Mission Day.
Narcisa of Jesus was born on October 29, 1832 in Nobol, Archdiocese of Guayaquil (Ecuador), in a simple farming family, with a strong Christian faith. When she was 15 years old, she learned to be a seamstress and worked in various family homes in the area. From a young age, she received a gift from the Holy Spirit: a great love for prayer. Many times she would escape from playing games and her friends so she could go and pray. She spent her life in her family, performing household tasks and sewing, creating an environment of charity, joy, and peace among her four brothers and four sisters. As a child, she lost her mother, which is how she ended up taking her place in the care and education of her younger brothers and sisters. At that time, she came across the life of Saint Marianita of Jesus, who had recently been beatified, and whom she would later imitate in her own life, so much so that one of her spiritual directors wrote “it is enough to read the life of Saint Marianita of Jesus to learn of the virtues of Narcisa.” She is remembered for her charity, her joy, her great love for prayer, and the great importance that she gave to spiritual direction. When she was 18, her father died and she moved to Guayaquil. There, she worked as a seamstress and began visiting Fr. Luis Tola for spiritual direction. He would later become Bishop of Portoviejo.
In Guayaquil, she worked intensely on apostolate, especially with children, teaching catechism. She also worked with abandoned youth at a refuge house and visited the sick and dying. Later, she moved to Cuenca for some time, to care for Monsignor Amadeo Millan, who was her spiritual director and who had tuberculosis. When he died in 1867, she returned to Guayaquil, to the refuge house, where she joined Blessed Mercedes of Jesus Molina.
At the beginning of 1868, she traveled to Lima, Peru as she could not find a new spiritual director in the city of Guayaquil. Her last spiritual director in Peru is the one who says that she practiced harsh penances. Narcisa died at 37 years of age, on December 8, 1869 in Peru. Her body was transferred from Peru to Guayaquil in 1955. In 1972, her remains were laid to rest in her hometown of Nobol. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 10/10/2008)
