In the town of Fuencarral near Madrid in Spain, Blessed Maria Ana Mogas Fontcuberta, virgin, who, for the education of girls and the care of the poor and the sick, founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd.
Lifespan: 1827–1886
Beatified: 6 October 1996 by Pope John Paul II
Memoria liturgica: 3 July
In the city, the sisters came to be known as “the teaching ladies.”
The daughter of Lorenzo Mogas and Maddalena Fontcuberta, prosperous landowners, Maria Ana Pellegrina Mogas was born at Corró de Vall (Granollers, Barcelona) on 13 January 1827. Raised in a family of consistent Christian life, she attended primary school with distinction.
The family’s tranquility was shattered in 1834 by the death of her father, followed in 1840 by that of her mother. Left an orphan, she was taken in by her aunt and godmother, Maria Mogas, who brought her to Barcelona, where she continued the studies her parents had begun, in full accord with her aunt.
Around 1848, Maria Ana, who was drawn to religious life and parochial apostolate, joined a group of Capuchin novices who had been forced out of their convent by the anti-religious persecution of the time, and who intended to establish a school for the Christian education of the young.
With the counsel and spiritual direction of Father José Tous, who was likewise living outside the convent, the three friends founded at Ripoll (Gerona) the Institute of the Capuchin Tertiaries of the Divine Shepherd. On 27 May 1850 the house at Ripoll was opened, and on the following 13 June Maria Ana Mogas, having received the consent of her parish priest and her aunt, joined her companions, becoming the first superior, even though she was still a novice. In the city, the sisters came to be known as “the teaching ladies.”
On 25 January 1851 she made her profession, fully assuming the office of Superior, and in March 1853 she obtained her teaching certificate, enabling her to take charge of the school as well. One of her companions chose to withdraw into an enclosed convent, and with Father José Tous appointed as director general but residing in Barcelona, the whole burden of the work fell upon her shoulders; yet through wise and prudent governance she was able to lead the Institute to extraordinary growth.
In the early years she devoted herself to consolidating the work of the house at Ripoll. The sisters, growing in number, refined their religious conduct and observance; the method of teaching improved, as did discipline, to the great benefit and advantage of the pupils.
Maria Ana Mogas resolved to found a community in its own right, not merely in service of others’ plans. She sought the counsel of Archbishop Antonio Claret, who helped her find a house and benefactors and at the same time directed her to work in the poorer districts, where need was greatest; in 1868 Mother Mogas succeeded in opening a school in Madrid.
Mother Maria Ana also encountered difficulties arising from conflicts over the governance of the Institute, caused by the distance between the communities in Barcelona and Madrid. The co-foundress turned to Cardinal Cirillo Alameda, Primate of Toledo, to entrust him with the direction previously held by the deceased Father Tous, but the sisters in Barcelona opposed this and no longer recognized her as superior.
This gave rise to a rupture between the two communities and the formation of two distinct religious branches: the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd, comprising the sisters who followed Mother Mogas, and the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd, comprising those who remained in Barcelona. The two institutes were formally constituted on 26 November 1872, with houses in Madrid and Barcelona respectively, and all attempts at reunification proved fruitless; this caused the foundress great moral and physical suffering.
The constitutions of both institutes were approved on the same day, 26 November 1872, by their respective dioceses. In the following years, Mother Mogas opened no fewer than seven houses in various Spanish cities, and began negotiations for a mission in Tangier, in Africa.
Mother Maria Ana Mogas Fontcuberta suffered a first stroke in 1878, and her physical condition deteriorated progressively thereafter; having spent her entire life in the service of her sisters and of the young, she died on 3 July 1886 at the house in Fuencarral (Madrid).
The cause for her beatification was introduced in Rome on 11 June 1977; she was proclaimed Blessed by Pope John Paul II on 6 October 1996.