Maria Bernarda Bütler

María Bernarda Bütler (28 May 1848 – 19 May 1924), born Verena Bütler, was a Swiss religious sister. She founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Sinners and served in the missions in Ecuador and Colombia. Bütler worked for the care of the poor in these places until her exile from Ecuador and entrance into Colombia where she worked for the remainder of her life. The congregation moved there with her, and continued to expand during her time there until her death.

Bütler was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 29 October 1995, and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 12 October 2008.

Life

Verena Bütler was born in mid-1848 in Switzerland as the fourth of eight children to the farmers Henry and Catherine; she was baptized right after her birth. She made her solemn profession on 4 October 1871. She served as novice mistress from 1879 to 1880 and the superior of her house from 1880 until 1886. Her remains were later relocated in 1956. In 2005 there were 788 religious in a total of 125 houses.

Canonization

The sainthood process opened in Cartagena in an informative process that opened in 1949 and later concluded in 1952 while a team of theologians collated and approved all of her spiritual works and other writings on 8 May 1959; the formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Paul VI on 15 July 1974 and she was titled as a Servant of God. An apostolic process was held from 1976 until 1977 and these processes received validation from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 26 February 1982.

The C.C.S. received the Positio in 1988 and it led to theologians approving its contents on 5 April 1991 while the C.C.S also voted in favor of the cause on 15 October 1991. Pope John Paul II named her as Venerable on 21 December 1991 after confirming her heroic virtue. The miracle for beatification was investigated and then validated on 4 May 1992 while a medical board approved it on 17 June 1993; theologians also approved it on 26 November 1993 as did the C.C.S. on 18 January 1994. John Paul II approved this miracle on 26 March 1994 and later beatified her on 29 October 1995 in Saint Peter's Basilica. The beatification miracle was the rebuilding of missing cranial bones of the 15-day-old Liliana Sanchez in 1969. Rosmarie Wicki-Bütler and Burkard Bütler – her grandniece and grandnephew – represented the family at the 1995 beatification.

The second miracle was investigated in 2003 in Cartagena and later received validation on 15 October 2004. The medical board approved it on 23 March 2006 as did theologians on 1 December 2006 and the C.C.S. on 17 April 2007. Pope Benedict XVI approved it on 6 July 2007 and later canonized her as a saint on 12 October 2008 in Saint Peter's Square. The miracle was the 2 July 2002 cure of Myrna Jazime Correa from severe respiratory complications.