Today May 19

Today is the feast of St. Joaquina (1783 - 1854). This saint was both a laywoman and, later in life, a consecrated religious. She was given in an arranged marriage to a young lawyer 10 years her senior. She was one of a bevy of daughters of Don Lorenzo de Vedruna and had made the mistake of telling Don Teodore (the visiting young man) that she liked candy. He was soon back with the sweets . . . and a marriage proposal. They were soon married, but the lovely little 16-year-old bride acted depressed. Her husband tenderly asked her what was wrong and she revealed that it had always been her wish to become a nun. She got the surprise of her life when Don Teodore sighed and revealed HE'D always wanted to be a PRIEST. And then, as she later told her six (6!) children, "We comforted one another."

Soon four children graced the wealthy household. Teodore was the oldest in his family and had inherited most of the family wealth -- but, of course, had also been expected to marry and raise up heirs. His life was not all roses. The vagaries of war hit the little family hard -- Teodore had to go to war and came back wounded -- and Joaquina, very pregnant, had to flee the country with the four kids. But even on top of all that, Teodore had to endure the jealousy and financial demands of all his siblings, and Joaquina their scorn (for his so-called "marrying down.")

Two of their children died (including the infant born during the war), but three more were born in short order after Teodore's return. His health, however, had been seriously compromised and he soon died. Joaquina mourned him in black for two years and then for the next eight wore a rough brown "sack" tied with a string like a Franciscan habit. She even took to riding a donkey. All the Barcelona townspeople thought she was mad. But she was living out a call she still heard, and when the stubborn donkey stopped in front of a Capuchin church, the priest, Father Stephen, who came out to talk to her, perceived it too. He asked her to start a new order of sisters to combine the contemplative life with active charitable service. "But where shall I find the nuns?" she asked. "They will come," he replied. Thus began the Carmelites of Charity, an order that still is going strong, despite losing many sisters in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 - 39.

St. Joaquina herself was plagued with strokes, which eventually paralyzed her the last five years of her life, and even, at the end, robbing her of speech. She received the Eucharist humbly and with reverence, a lesson for others even in silence. She was beatified in 1940 and canonized in 1959. St. Joaquina, pray for us.