Angela of the Cross

Angela of the Cross Guerrero y González, HCC ( or María de los Ángeles Guerrero González; 30 January 1846 – 2 March 1932 ) was a Spanish religious sister and the foundress of the Sisters of the Company of the Cross, a Catholic religious institute dedicated to helping the abandoned poor and the ill with no one to care for them. She was canonized in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

Early life Born in Seville on 30 January 1846, at 5 Plaza de Santa Lucia, she was baptised on 2 February in the Church of Santa Lucia under the name María de los Angeles.

The family was humble. Her father, Francisco Guerrero, was a wool carder from Grazalema who had moved to Seville. Her mother, Josefa González, was from Seville, a daughter of parents born in Arahal and Zafra. She was one of 14 children, of whom only six reached adulthood.

Both of Guerrero's parents worked in a priory of the Trinitarian friars in Seville, her father as a cook and her mother as a laundress and seamstress. Her schooling was limited, as was typical of young girls of that social class at the time. She received her first communion when she was eight years old and confirmation when she was nine. At 12 years of age she went to work in a shoe repair shop to help the family income, and remained there almost continuously until she was 29.

Religious awakening Guerrero's supervisor at the shoe repair shop was Antonia Maldonado, a devout lady who encouraged her employees to pray together, recite the rosary, and read about the lives of saints. Through Maldonado, when Guerrero was 16 years old, she was introduced to José Torres y Padilla, a priest from the Canary Islands with a reputation for holiness, who was Maldonado's spiritual director. He became Guerrero's spiritual guide and confessor and came to have a major influence on her. but Guerrero finally had to leave the convent during her novitiate and returned to work in the shoe factory. During this time she kept a detailed spiritual diary which revealed the style and life ideals that she felt called to live.

Foundress

On 2 August 1875, Guerrero (now 29 years old) left the shoe shop and was joined by three other women, Josefa de la Peña, who was wealthy, and Juana María Castro and Juana Magadán, both from poor families like Guerrero's, who established themselves as a religious community. Torres assumed the position of director of the new institute and appointed Guerrero as the sister superior of the community. At that time, they began to wear a religious habit and Guerrero took the religious name of Mother Angela of the Cross.

The community received official approval on 5 April 1876 from Luis de la Lastra y Cuesta, the cardinal archbishop of Seville. In 1877 a second community was founded in Utrera, in the Province of Seville, and later another was founded in Ayamonte. Torres died in the same year and his place as director of the institute was taken by his protegee, José María Alvarez y Delgado. That same year, Guerrero took her perpetual religious vows under him.

Canonization Guerrero's cause was formally opened on 11 July 1952, granting her the title of Servant of God. She was declared venerable on 12 February 1976 by Pope Paul VI, and beatified on 5 November 1982 by Pope John Paul II in Seville. Finally she was declared a saint on 4 May 2003 by Pope John Paul II in the Plaza de Colón in Madrid.