Santa Laura Montoyaalso known as Laura de Santa Catalina de Siena, she was a Colombian teacher, missionary and founder. He devoted his life to education and evangelization among indigenous peoples, seeking to approach their cultures with respect and with a pedagogy born of love. He died in Medellin in 1949 and was canonized in 2013.
Where is he?
The tab is located in Medellín, Antioquia, in an area mapping reference associated with Mother Laura. OpenStreetMap identifies node 4951647242 with that name and Nominatim responded HTTP 200. The precision is locality: the point is directed towards the urban area of his memory, but he does not claim to be the exact GPS of a sanctuary, of his tomb or of every place of his mission.
Documented history
Laura Montoya was born in Jericho, Antioquia, on May 26, 1874. He formed as a teacher and worked in several villages of Antioquia. Her educational experience led her to wonder how to announce the Gospel to people who lived in cultural and geographical contexts very different from urban centres. He did not just move schemes: he sought to know and approach indigenous peoples with a patient presence.
In 1914, with the support of Monsignor Maximiliano Crespo, he founded the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and Saint Catherine of Sena. The first group left Medellin for Dabeiba on 5 May of that year. The mission took place in the jungle, with poverty, tiredness, misunderstandings and communication difficulties. The congregation sought to form women able to live together with the peoples they served, share their conditions and proclaim Christ without reducing the dignity of people to a cultural label.
His Autobiography and other writings reflect his way of understanding the mission. The expression "pedagogy of love" summarizes a method that sought to enter the culture and heart of the other, and not just to transmit knowledge from the outside. The Vatican source also retains its confidence in the Church and its desire to unite contemplative and apostolate life. For nine years he remained in a wheelchair without abandoning the service of word and writing.
Laura died in Medellín on October 21, 1949. At his death, the congregation had ninety houses in three countries, according to the biography consulted. It was beatified in 2004 and canonized by Francisco on May 12, 2013. Canonization recognizes his holiness and missionary witness; it does not make all the inner experiences narrated in his writings supernatural facts.
Marian Tradition and Devotion
The Virgin Mary occupies an explicit place in the name of her congregation: Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and Saint Catherine of Sena. In the documentation of her life, Mary appears as Mother and Teacher of the missionary work. This relationship is expressed in veneration and in the request for intercession, not in worship, which corresponds only to God.
There is no public Marian apparition associated with Laura Montoya in the consulted sources. His experiences of prayer and his expressions about the Immaculate belong to his personal spirituality. The document presents them with respect and prudence, distinguishing the history of a religious from an ecclesial declaration on supernatural phenomena.
Ecclesial State
Santa Laura Montoya is of the Catholic Church. It was beatified in 2004 and canonized on 12 May 2013. The Church recognizes her holiness and her missionary work, without that it means approving as an apparition every spiritual experience described in a biography.
Anecdotes and stories
His decision to make the jungle the place of his apostolate helps to understand the scope of his vocation. There the mission could not be based on large buildings or abundant means: it needed coexistence, learning cultures, perseverance and a personal relationship. The long wheelchair stage also shows that his activity did not end when his body could no longer move as before; he continued to write and accompany the expansion of his congregation.
Prayer
Santa Laura Montoya, pray for missionaries, teachers and indigenous peoples. He asks the Virgin Mary to teach us to approach each person with respect, patience and love, and help us to proclaim Jesus Christ with works of service. Amen.