Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado

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Servant of God

Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado

O.P.
La Siervita (The Little Servant)
Servant of God; Virgin
Born23 March 1643
El Sauzal, Tenerife, Spain
Died15 February 1731(1731-02-15) (aged 87)
San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Canary Islands, Spain, & the Dominican Order
Major shrineMonastery of St. Catherine of Siena,
San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
AttributesDominican religious habit, a rosary, the image of the Baby Jesus with laurel
PatronagePeople who are abducted, against child labour, suffering from skin diseases, against fire, lost and impossible causes and sickness

Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado (Spanish: Sor María de Jesús), was a 17th-century Spanish Dominican lay sister, a mystic and visionary, known popularly as "La Siervita" (the Little Servant) in the Canary Islands. She lived a life that was austere and simple. Many miracles were attributed to her, such as levitation, ecstasy, bilocation, stigmata, and clairvoyance and healing.

De León died with a reputation for sanctity. She is one of the most revered of the native people of the Canary Islands, together with Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur and José de Anchieta. The cause for her canonization has been submitted to the Holy See for review. She is designated as a Servant of God.

Early life[edit]

De León was born on 23 March 1643, to Andrés de León y Bello and María Delgado y Perera, in the town of El Sauzal, on Tenerife, of the Spanish Canary Islands. Her family was said to be humble but of noble origin. She was the youngest child, and had two sisters and a brother. She may have been of Guanche ancestry.[1]

After De León's father died in 1646, poverty overtook the family. Three years later, a couple from mainland Spain, who had relocated to the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, where the husband was to practice medicine, decided that they wanted another child in addition to their first to care for. The doctor's wife appealed to María Delgado to give up her youngest daughter to give her a better life. Two years later, the couple made plans to move to New Spain, intending to take Mary with them. But her birth mother recovered the girl.

Delgado died shortly after and a good friend, Inés Pérez, took her in. She lived in La Orotava.[2]

When De León was a youth, two local women, who had the reputation of leading simple lives, came to her foster mother with a letter supposedly from the girl's maternal aunt, Catalina Delgado. It said that Delgado and her husband wished to care for the girl, and the bearers should accompany her to their farm. When they took her back to the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, one of the women approached a man in a back alley of the city. De León realized that she was in danger and escaped. She reached her aunt's home, where Catalina and her husband cared for her.[2]

Her uncle was a lagoon farmer and wealthy landowner. De León gradually assisted in household duties and helped her uncle manage the estate. She rose at dawn and worked all day without signs of fatigue. Drawn to religious life, she declared her intention to enter a monastery as a lay sister, a decision which her aunt and uncle accepted.[2]

Initially De León's guardians wanted her to enter the local monastery of the Poor Clares as the servant of their daughter, a choir nun in that community. But she chose, to enter the monastery of the nuns of the Dominican Second Order.[3] She had originally wanted to belong to the Order of Discalced Carmelites, as she was devoted to their foundress, St. Teresa of Jesus. No monasteries of the Discalced Carmelite nuns had been founded in the Canary Islands, so De León entered the Dominican Order.[4]

Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena, where Sister Mary of Jesus' remains lie

Entrance to the monastery[edit]

In February 1668, De León was admitted as a lay sister to the Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena in San Cristóbal de La Laguna. There she was to care for an elderly nun, Sister Jacobina de San Jerónimo Suárez, O.P.

From that point on, De León lived within the monastery walls until her death. It was during this time that many miracles were attributed to her. For instance, a devotional medal of hers, with the image of Our Lady of Solitude, was broken into pieces. It reassembled spontaneously after several days. In another incident, other nuns described her as having a possible episode of levitation. D

De León was a mystic known to experience ecstasy, during which an emission of light could be seen coming from her face. Reportedly nuns noticed a marked heat emanating from her body, especially when she received the Eucharist.[3]

De León was said to be friends with the noted corsair Amaro Rodríguez Felipe, popularly known as the "Amaro Pargo," whose sister was shared a cell with De León.

The privateer claimed to have undergone a great miracle through De León. He recounted having been assaulted by a man while in Cuba. When the attacker would have stabbed Pargo with his dagger, the figure of De León appeared, interceding and preventing the pirate's death. This phenomenon, known as ubiquity or bilocation, and associated with many saints, is the capacity to be in two places simultaneously.[3]

De León also had a great friendship with the Franciscan friar and mystic Juan de Jesús, who was her spiritual director. He counseled her in pursuing the spiritual life.

De León died in monastery cloister on 15 February 1731, having lived within its walls for 63 years without leaving. Before her death, she fell into an ecstasy and died keeping a pulse and the pupils of her eyes clear for more than 24 hours. In her side, next to her heart, was found a wound, such as the one which would have been left in the side of Christ. Three years later her body was exhumed and was found incorrupt, whole and flexible. Her palate and tongue were preserved fresh and rosy, and jasmine-scented blood issued from her mouth.[3]

Veneration[edit]

Incorrupt body of religious, Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena.

De León's incorrupt body is still preserved in the Monastery of St. Catherine, where she lived out her life. Every 15 February (the anniversary of her death), her body is placed on public display in a glass-covered coffin, which was donated by the corsair Amaro Pargo, who was present at the exhumation. Because of the numerous pilgrims and devotees who want to see her incorrupt body, the coffin is also displayed on the following Sunday.[3]

A formal inquiry into De León's life for possible canonization was begun in the 19th century, but ceased. The cause was reopened in 1992 and has been submitted to the Vatican. It is pending. Supporters of her cause are dismayed by this lack of progress, despite a document from 1771 that lists 1,251 miracles attributed to her intercession.[5]

Although she has not been officially canonized, veneration of Sister Mary of Jesus has become the equivalent in the Canary Islands of cults of Saint Teresa of Jesus in continental Spain, Saint Catherine of Siena in Italy ,and Saint Rose of Lima in Peru and Latin America.[6]

Miracles[edit]

Miracles associated with De León are:

  • Levitation: The ability to maintain stable suspension in the air; it was described by several nuns of the monastery.[3]
  • Ecstasy: Experience of the divine, and presence of God. La Siervita was said to have this miracle several times, even as she lay dying.[3]
  • Bilocation: The ability to be in two places simultaneously. De León was credited with saving the life of the privateer Amaro Rodríguez through her appearance during an assault on him while he was in Cuba.[3]
  • Hyperthermia: A remarkable elevation of body temperature and the emission of light from the head or face.[3]
  • Clairvoyance: The nun prophesied her own attempted abduction, a great flood, and an eruption of the Teide volcano, among other events.[7]
  • Stigmata: When she died, a wound as if by a lance was found near her heart.[3]
  • Psychokinesis: Ability to move objects by an invisible force.[3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Análisis iconográfico del retrato de sor María de Jesús "La Siervita de Dios"
  2. ^ a b c "Brief biographical data of Sister María de Jesús de León Delgado, OP, Dominican nuns of the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena, La Laguna, Tenerife
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Notas sobre la Siervita de Dios Archived 15 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine(in Spanish)[unreliable source?]
  4. ^ "Cuadros históricos de la admirable vida y virtudes de La Sierva de Dios: Sor María de Jesús de León Delgado". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  5. ^ Barbuzano, D. (15 February 2011). "Sor María de Jesús aún espera por el milagro que la beatifique". El Día (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  6. ^ Síntesis del Proceso de Beatificación de la Sierva de Dios Sor María de Jesús de León Delgado
  7. ^ La Candelaria de sor María de Jesús, la Siervita(in Spanish)

Sources[edit]

  • García Barbusano, Domingo (1990). Sor María de Jesús: la monja incorrupta del convento de Santa Catalina de La Laguna. Edited by the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena in La Laguna. ISBN 84-4046-866-0.
  • Rodríguez Moure, José (2005). Cuadros históricos de la admirable vida y virtudes de La Sierva de Dios: Sor María de Jesús de León Delgado. Editorial Artemisa. ISBN 84-9637-415-7.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to María de León Bello y Delgado.
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