María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray

María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray (25 November 1848 - 10 October 1918) - in religious María Desposorios - was a Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious and a professed member from the Siervos de María Ministros de los Enfermos. From her adolescence she worked to comfort and tend to the old and ill and her religious call manifested while doing this work; she entered the order where her work increased.

Her beatification was celebrated on 29 October 2011 in Madrid.

Life María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray was born on 25 November 1848 as the last of eight children to Tiburcio Irigoyen (his house was related to Francis Xavier); she was a twin with the seventh child. The formal introduction to the cause came on 14 February 1962 under Pope John XXIII and she became titled as a Servant of God. An apostolic process was also held in Madrid from 21 February 1963 until 18 January 1964 while the Congregation for Rites later validated the processes on 15 January 1966. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints and their consultants approved this cause on 10 December 1980 as did the C.C.S. alone on 24 February 1981. Pope John Paul II titled her as Venerable on 30 March 1981 after confirming her heroic virtue.

The process for a miracle took place in La Paz in Bolivia from 9–21 June 2006 and concerned the healing of a surgeon from a cerebral complication. The C.C.S. validated the process on 31 March 2007 and a medical panel of experts approved this on 20 May 2010. Theologians also approved the cause on 5 October 2010 as did the C.C.S. on 15 February 2011. Pope Benedict XVI approved the beatification after confirming the miracle on 2 April 2011.

Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the beatification on the pope's behalf on 29 October 2011. In his remarks the cardinal praised her "generous care and human closeness" to the ill. Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela and Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera were also in attendance at the beatification as was Archbishop Renzo Fratini. Archbishop Edmundo Abastoflor Montero and Bishop Oscar Aparicio were also in attendance.

The current postulator for the cause is Julia Josefa Castillo Ibáñez.