Luiza Andaluz

Luisa Andaluz (12 February 1877 – 20 August 1973) was a Portuguese Catholic nun and founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Our Lady of Fátima. She is styled The Venerable by the Catholic Church. Early life Luisa Andaluz came from a deeply religious family. At the age of 14, Cardinal José Sebastião de Almeida Neto, moved by the young girl's faith, asked her to join a group of pious women who worked with poor children, and she did so.

Career In the anti-clerical atmosphere that prevailed in Portugal at the time, Luisa launched pastoral projects, taught catechism, and founded schools. At the age of 38, she felt called to religious life and tried it with the Carmelites. In 1915, she felt that she did not belong there and that she needed to create a new religious community, one that would adapt to the challenges of the time. So, in 1923, Luisa and her companions founded a small community in Santarém.

After her pilgrimage to Fátima, Luisa Andaluz established a house for missionary work near the shrine. In 1939, she named her sisters the Servants of Our Lady of Fátima, and that same year, the congregation received its first canonical approval. Since then, the number of ecclesiastical houses in Portugal has increased, and Luisa served as Superior Major of the congregation until 1953, when she retired to Fátima. In 1972, the first community was founded in Mozambique. Luisa died on 20 August 1973 at the age of 96.

Canonization The cause for the canonization of Luisa de Andalus began in Lisbon in 1997. After the completion of the diocesan investigation, she was sent to Rome in July 2000 for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

On 19 December 2017, Pope Francis recognized the heroic nature of her virtues, thus granting her the venerable title.