TORRES MORALES, GENOVEVA, BL.

Religious, foundress of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels (Angelicas); b. Almenara, Castile, Spain, Jan. 3, 1870; d. Saragossa, Spain, Jan. 5, 1956. Young Genoveva endured many tragedies during her lifetime: by the time she was eight, four of her siblings and both her parents had died, and her left leg was amputated to the thigh (1883). Spiritual reading and prayer strengthened her fortitude. Because of her disability, she was barred from joining the Carmelites of Charity, in whose Mercy Home she had lived from 1885 to 1894. Canon Barbarrós encouraged Genoveva and the two women with whom she lived to form a religious community to assist needy women. Thus, Genoveva founded the Angelicas in Valencia (1911). Despite the numerous obstacles of a new enterprise, the community soon spread to other parts of Spain: Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Pamplona, Santander, and Saragossa. Several years before Mother Genoveva's death, the institute of the Angelicas received papal approval (1953). Mother Genoveva was beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II, Jan. 29, 1995.

Bibliography: Escritos personales de la Rdma. Madre Genoveva Torres Morales, ed. b. llorca (Barcelona 1973). b. llorca, Angel de la soledad: la madre Genoveva Torres Morales fundadora de las Hermanas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y de los Santos Angeles (Zaragoza 1970). m. a. marrodÁn, Loores a la madre Genoveva (Tarragona 1996).

[k. i. rabenstein]