Edel Quinn's Limitless Trust in Mary's Maternal Care

[On December 15, 1994, Pope John Paul II in a special assembly of the cardinals and other members of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints made the following solemn declaration: "It is certain that the Servant of God, Edel Mary Quinn, a secular virgin of the Legion of Mary, practiced to a heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity towards God and her neighbor and likewise the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude." Edel Quinn was born in Kanturk, County Cork, Ireland, on September 14, 1907. At the age of 20 she joined the Legion of Mary in Dublin. A few years later, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. In 1936, Edel was appointed Legion of Mary Envoy to Africa. She encountered great obstacles in this pioneering work, but was always joyful and never complained. As against every difficulty and her wretched health, she brought to her task an absolute faith in God's love and a limitless trust in the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin. When others faltered her invariable response was, "Why can't we trust Our Lady?" Although working alone and in a state of perpetual ill-health and exhaustion, she managed to establish hundreds of Legion branches and she mobilized thousands of Africans in the service of the Church. After eight years of heroic labor, Edel died in Nairobi on May 14th, 1944, at the young age of 36. The process of her canonization is open, but one miracle attributed to her intercession is still required for her Beatification.