Row Patrocinio

"La nuja de las laguas" · la Virgen del Olvido (Madrid, 1831)

A 19th-century conceptual nun, famous and discussed, very influential in the court of Elizabeth II, to whom tradition attributes a vision of the Virgin next to the Great Way, from which was born the advocation of the Olvido, Triumph and Mercy.

Who was that?

María Josefa de los Dolores de Quiroga y Capopardo, in the religion of Sor María Rafaela de los Dolores y Patrocino, was born on April 27, 1811 in San Clemente (Cuenca) and died on January 27, 1891 in Guadalajara, where he rests. The Franciscan Conceptionist, Abbess and great founder, is attributed to the foundation or reform of 19 convents and the opening of schools for poor girls. Known as "the nun of the sores" by the stigmas attributed to her, she was a figure as venerated as controversial in the 19th century Spain, and maintained a close relationship of spiritual direction and friendship with Queen Elizabeth II and her husband. The Church considers her Servant of God - her process opened in 1907 - without being beatified or canonized.

The vision of the Virgin of the Forgotten

In 1831, Sister Patrocino was a young religious of about twenty years in the convent of the Knight of Gracia - in the heart of Madrid, next to the present Gran Via, where her famous oratory is still rising - an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It should be noted, with rigour, that this is a very widespread private devotion and not an apparition officially recognized by the Church in the way of Lourdes or Fatima; the stigmas and mystical phenomena of Sister Patrocino were also the subject of discussion and processes in their time.

The words of the Virgin

According to the pious account, Sister Patrocino addressed the Virgin with these words, full of love for Spain in an hour of play: "My Lady and Queen, do you not see Spain; do you not see the evils that afflict us?" The Virgin, showing herself as "tender and loving Mother," would have given her an image to be venerated under the advocation of Our Lady of the Forget, Triumph and Mercy, promising her mercy to the sinners and needy. Tradition adds that the Virgin announced to her that she would be persecuted and slandered in life and even after death. These phrases belong to devotional tradition, not to a critical ecclesial act.

Anecdotes and life

His closeness to the court placed him at the centre of the political intrigues of the reign of Elizabeth II, which served him as devotion as attacks, exile and a famous process around his wounds; however, he maintained an intense and charitable work. He spiritually accompanied the queen at difficult times and promoted female religious life in many cities. He spent his last years in Guadalajara, where he died with fame of holiness among his devotees.

Fruit

From that vision was born devotion to Our Lady of the Forget, Triumph and Mercy, whose image, after the avatars of deamortization and persecutions, is preserved today in the convent of the Franciscan Conceptists of Guadalajara, next to the tomb of Sister Patrocino. It is also due to numerous conceptual foundations that lived long after his death.