St. Maria Soledad

Maria Soledad was named Vibiana when she was born to farming parents.  She had 4 brother and sisters.  She loved Jesus and His mother Mary from the time that she was a little girl.  She used to organize processions for Mary with all the kids in her neighbourhood.  When she grew up, she would visit the lonely and sick people in her community, sharing her faith and her joy.  She wanted to join a convent and heard that Fr. Michael, a priest in her city of Madrid, was starting an Order of sisters and was looking for girls to join.  The Order would be devoted to helping the sick who could not afford to go to hospitals.  Fr. Michael accepted her and she joined the new Order, taking the name Maria Soledad.  Fr. Michael asked her to lead the new Order of Sisters and she worked hard to take care of the sick, as well as the sisters in the Order.  They became known as the Handmaids of Mary Serving the Sick.  The sisters were very poor and they didn’t always have much to eat, but they spent their time caring for the sick and praying and, slowly, their Order grew and spread all over Europe and in Latin America.  After 35 years of serving the sick and leading the Handmaids of Mary, Maria Soledad became sick and died on October 11, 1887.  Five years after she died, they wanted to move her tomb to the Chapel; when they opened up her casket, they realized that her body had not decayed like normal.  All who were there could smell a beautiful smell coming from her body.  In a few years her body did decay, and they buried her bones in the Chapel.