Blessed Concepción Cabrera
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Blessed Concepción CabreraLaywoman, Mystic, and Apostle
1862-1937
Read or download Conchita's Diary: -
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The beatification of Concepción Cabrera was celebrated on May 4, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico
We invite you to discover this extraordinarily ordinary woman, wife and mother.
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Concepción Cabrera de Armida, affectionately known as Conchita, lived and sanctified all the states of Christian life: fiancee, wife, mother of nine children, grandmother, widow and by a special indulgence of Pius X, without being deprived of her family status, died canonically as a religious in the arms of her children. She was born December 8, 1862 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. She died March 3, 1937 in Mexico City.
The most outstanding characteristics of her life were: purity of heart, a true spirit of sacrifice, humility and great love of Jesus Crucified.
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Conchita was the instrument chosen by God to give the Works of the Cross to the Church, all of which contain the special characteristics of the Spirituality of the Cross. These Works seek to spread in the Church the Reign of the Holy Spirit, which is the Kingdom of Love expressed in the Cross of Our Savior.
Conchita was also a mystic and a spiritual writer. For more than forty years, on the advice of her spiritual directors, she faithfully kept a spiritual diary that numbered sixty six handwritten manuscripts which equals in amplitude the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas. She addresses to all the People of God: to single and married people, to priests and to bishops, to religious and to all consecrated lives.
As a mystical writer she heard God telling her: "Ask me for a long suffering life and to write a lot... That's your mission on earth". At the time her canonization process began in 1959, about 200 volumes of her writings were presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
On December 20, 1999, she was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II.
Her Beatification was held May 4, 2019, in Mexico City.
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"I carry within me three lives, all very strong: family life with its multiple sorrows of a thousand kinds, that is, the life of a mother; the life of the Works of the Cross with all its sorrows and weight, which at times crushes me until I have no strength left; and the life of the spirit or interior life, which is the heaviest of all, with its highs and lows, its tempests and struggles, its light and darkness. Blessed be God for everything!"
– Blessed Conchita
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Resources
- From the Superior General of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit
- Decrees of Beatification - Vatican News
- Promulgation of Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
- Beatification of Concepción Cabrera, Videos Fr. Alfredo Ancona, MSpS (Spanish)
- One of the Great Mystics of the 20th Century
- The Venerable Conchita, by Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins
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Important Dates in the Life of Concepción Cabrera
December 8 1862 Birth December 10 1862 Baptism December 8 1872 First Communion September 16 1881 Desire of perfection November 8 1884
1889Marriage
First spiritual retreatJanuary 14 1894 Inscription of the Holy Name of Jesus - Birth of the Works of the Cross January 23 1894 "Total self-surrender" - Spiritual nuptials May 3 1894 Erection of the first Cross of the Apostolate - Birth of the Apostleship of the Cross, first of the five Works of the Cross, which bring together the People of God: to unite her own suffering and labors to those of Christ for continuing His salvific work in the world February 9 1897 Spiritual marriage May 3 1897 Founding of the Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, second Work of the Cross: contemplatives nuns of perpetual adoration who offer their lives for the Church, especially for priests September 17 1901 Death of her husband February 4 1903 Meeting with Father Felix Rougier March 25 1906 Grace of the mystical incarnation November 30 1909 Founding of the Covenant of Love with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, third Work of the Cross, for persons who in their own state of life commit themselves to seek perfection according to the spirituality of the Cross January 19 1912 Founding of the Fraternity of Christ Priest, fourth Work of the Cross, for bishops and priests who want to live in this spirituality and help other works of the Cross August-December 1913 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and to Rome November 17 1913 Audience with Pius X April 10 1914 Founding of the Dominical Communion on behalf of priests December 25 1914 Founding of the missionaries of the Holy Spirit, fifth Work of the Cross: a clerical religious Congregation specially devoted to priestly works and dedicated to the spiritual direction of souls February 2 1917 Last state of her life: meditation in depth and special devotion to the "solitude" of Mary during her own solitude October 31 1935 Founding of the Crusade of victim souls on behalf of homes: in their own state of life they offer themselves, in the same spirituality of the Cross, for the glory of the Father and for expiating sins in marriage and in society March 3 1937 Holy death September 29 1959 Canonical opening of the Process of Beatification in Rome December 20 1999 She was declared Venerable by John Paul II June 8 2018 Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree concerning her beatification May 4 2019 Beatification in Mexico City, Mexico
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