Bl. María del Carmen González-Ramos García-Prieto de Muñoz

María del Carmen González-Ramos was born in Antequera, Spain, in 1834. At twenty-two she married Joaquín Muñoz del Caño. For twenty years her husband lived a dissolute life, and she responded with patience and prayer. In the end he asked her forgiveness, and they had four good years together before he died.

Widowed at forty-seven, she founded the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Antequera in 1884 to teach poor children and care for the sick. She took the name Carmen of the Child Jesus. She died in 1899 and was beatified in 2007.

Her marriage was hard for two decades. She did not leave; she kept praying and forgiving until her husband changed.

María del Carmen González-Ramos García-Prieto de Muñoz was beatified in 2007.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.