MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa

All Saints
St. Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa
January 10, 1889 AD, Madrid, Kingdom of Spain — July 6, 1943 AD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Spanish-Bolivian foundress; Missionaries of the Papal Crusade
Convent of the Missionary Crusaders, Oruro, Bolivia — mother-house, Bolivia
Feast
July 6
Canonized
Canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis
Life

Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa was born on January 10, 1889 at Madrid. In 1908, at the age of 19, Nazaria entered the Sisters of the Order of Discalced Little Old Women (a Spanish elderly-care congregation).

In 1912, Nazaria undertook the Latin American mission — travelling to Mexico and then to Bolivia. In Bolivia, Nazaria undertook the ministry to the Bolivian elderly and orphans.

In 1925, at Oruro in Bolivia, Nazaria founded the Missionaries of the Papal Crusade (Congregación de las Misioneras Cruzadas de la Iglesia) — the Bolivian congregation dedicated to the Catholic education, hospital ministry, and social apostolate.

In 1933, Nazaria organized the first Catholic women's labor union in Bolivia — the Catholic-social-labor movement in Latin America.

She died at Buenos Aires on July 6, 1943 at the age of 54. Canonized October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The first Bolivian saint

    St. Nazaria Ignacia's canonization on October 14, 2018 by Pope Francis — the first Bolivian saint canonized — established the 20th-century Bolivian-Latin American Catholic tradition.

  • The first Bolivian Catholic women's labor union (1933)

    Nazaria's 1933 organization of the first Catholic women's labor union in Bolivia — established the 20th-century Bolivian Catholic-social-labor movement.

Relics
  • Body
    Relics of St. Nazaria Ignacia
    Convent of the Missionary Crusaders, Oruro, Bolivia — mother-house

    Her relics rest at the Convent of the Missionary Crusaders at Oruro.

Iconography
  • Nazaria with the Bolivian orphans

    The early-20th-century Spanish-Bolivian foundress in Missionaries of the Papal Crusade habit with the Bolivian orphans at Oruro — the iconography of Catholic 20th-century Latin American Catholic tradition.

Patronages
Congregation of the Missionaries of the Papal Crusade (Congregation founded 1925)Bolivia (patron of Bolivia)Catholic Latin American Catholic tradition
All SaintsBack to Home