Madre Laura, founder of the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate

Laura Montoya Upegui was born on 26 May 1874 in Jericó, Antioquia, Colombia, the second of three children to Juan de la Crux Montoya and Dolores Upegui.

Following her father's death, Laura was sent to live with her grandmother. She suffered greatly from misunderstandings and the lack of affection, feeling she had been "orphaned." However, she accepted with love the sacrifices and loneliness she experienced and sought refuge in God.

When Laura was 16, she began teaching in different parts of Antioquia. She did not limit herself to educating the students simply in academic knowledge, but sought to diffuse Gospel teaching and values. She also felt called to the religious life, her heart set on God alone, and dreamed of one day becoming a cloistered Carmelite nun. At the same time, though, she felt growing within her the desire to spread the Gospel to the farthest corners of the earth, to those who had never met Jesus Christ.

At one time during her teaching career, Laura felt decidedly drawn to helping the Indian population in South America and wished to insert herself into their culture, to "become an Indian with the Indians to win them all for Christ." In 1914, she went to live among the native Indians and founded the "Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and St Catherine of Siena."

Mother Laura died on 21 October 1949 in Medellín, after a long and painful illness. Today her Missionary Sisters work in 19 countries throughout America, Africa and Europe.

Homily of John Paul II (Adapted)

Vatican News