Saint Who?
Saints Who Founded Communities
Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida
Married laywoman († 1937)Feast: March 3
“She will be of great importance for the universal Church” (Congregation for the Clergy, 1937). María Concepción Cabrera Arias de Armida was born in 1862 to well-off Mexican landowners. Conchita, as she was called, began to have mystical experiences as a child, becoming intensely aware of God’s great love for her. She gave her heart completely to Christ.
At thirteen she was betrothed to Francisco “Pancho” Armida. They married eight years later. “Courtship never disturbed me in the sense that it made me belong less to God,” she wrote. “It was easy for me to join both things.” Over the next fifteen years the couple welcomed nine children into their busy household, which Conchita managed with love and generosity. It is said she always had a joke to tell her guests.
After Conchita was widowed at thirty-nine, her mystical life intensified. She founded four apostolic groups, known collectively as the Works of the Cross. Her special concern was for priests, in expression of her deep union with Our Lady: “I feel that my mission is being a mother…. I wish to encompass in my soul the love from all of heaven and earth, the immense and maternal love of Mary.” She died in 1937 and was beatified in 2019.
Compassionate Father, through the prayers of
Blessed Conchita, keep all priests close to the merciful Heart of Mary.
