Towards the end of World War ii, July the 16th 1943, American bombs hit the cemetery where
Mother Raphaela was buried which is in Campo Verano. During the cleaning up and rearranging
of her things her tomb was found preserved and was opened. This is where her body was found to
be Incorrupt and flexible as if she was sleeping. That caused a few people to get a little curious
as to who really was this sister. Now Saint Raphaela Mary Porras Allyon was born on March the
first 1850 in a well-to-do family in Pedro Abad, a small village in the province of Cordoba, Spain.
The youngest of nine children, her and her older sister Dolores joined a religious order in Cordoba
but left in 1877. Raphaela formed the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart in Madrid. This order is
dedicated to the education of children and the poor. Now when both the parents died,
she and her sister Dolores decided that their world would no longer revolve around themselves.
The world of poverty which surrounded them and needed them entered their lives. From then on
she dedicated herself completely to the most needy and there was not a need of pain in the
village that she did not comfort. In all this, she was accompanied by her sister Dolores.
The year was 1874 when they began their first steps in religious life which would lead them
to found the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart in Madrid, dedicated
to adoring the Blessed Sacrament and educating children and young people especially the poor.
Raphaela Maria and her sister Dolores made this the mission of the institute which they promoted
with their activity and gave life with their spirit. The name she adopted in religious life
'Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus' expresses her constant attitude of response to love. On January
the 29th, 1887, Pope Leo the 13 definitively approved the institute and temporarily the
constitutions for which they had fought so hard. The Congregation had spread quickly and Sister
Raphaela directed them with Maria del Pillar, the name her sister had adopted as treasurer general
until 1893. In this year Sister Maria del Pillar was convinced that her sister was very wrong in
economic administration. She campaigned and the religious councilors declared Mother Raphaela
incapable of governing the Congregation. They did nothing but get in the way of the healthy
running of the community. These sisters didn't understand canon law or their role as advisors.
They believed that they were better administrators than Mother Raphaela. Completely disobedient to
her as superior, Mother Raphaela compared them to four nails with which she was nailed to the cross.
She wrote: "There is no offence on their part. They were placed there just like the nails in
the crucifix of Jesus by the will of the eternal Father. I must live willingly nailed by them."
All those who from the beginning had supported her now abandoned her and blamed her for whatever evil
might befall the Congregation. Sister Raphaela had no choice but to resign his mother superior
at the age of 43. She ceased to have any part in the governing of the order which she had founded.
She believed it was her duty to be silent, to pray and to suffer.
Her sister, Sister Maria del Pillar became the new Mother Superior for the next 10 years.
Now Sister Raphaela spent these 10 years and the next 22 in a corner, forgotten and despised
but happy to have nothing more than to set a good example and continually dedicate herself to prayer
and humility without bitterness of heart, without criticism and without the slightest resentment.
She wasn't given any official job at her new location and the religious councilors continued to
spread rumors about her. Some had even forgotten who was the original founder of the order.
Her sister, Sister Maria del Pillar received the credit while others continued to say that Sister
Raphaela was deranged. Sister Raphaela suffered these outrageous injustices for over 30 years
but with patience and great humility. She continued to practice forgiveness,
not worrying about the things that others had said or thought about her
but she placed everything in the hands of God. Jesus reminds us to love our enemies and pray for
those who persecute us and this example was truly evident in the life of Sister Raphaela. She wrote:
"My life was always a battle but for the last two years, the sufferings have been so extraordinary
that only God's omnipotence, which miraculously supported me at every moment prevented my body
from falling to the ground. My entire being is in constant anguish and abandonment and
I am foreseeing that this will last for a very long time. Do I think for this reason that God
has abandoned me? No!" Amid so many sufferings, Sister Raphaela stood out in the community for
her constant readiness to help others, rescuing them from any plight. Despite her advanced age,
she was the servant of all so that her Lord would be fully served. Any affliction seemed
to her a consolation for she knew that the coming Glory would far surpass any misfortune.
Due to the long hours she spent kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, the center of her life,
she contracted a disease in her right knee that little by little consumed her. In the midst of
intense pain, the last eight months she spent in bed were one of bitter suffering. "Accept all
things as if they came from the hand of God" she repeated. On January the 6th, 1925, after terrible
sufferings heroically endured, she piously expired in the same way in which she had lived, humble
both in consolation and in abandonment and how sad is this, only three people attended her burial.
Now after having traversed many roads, she leaves us moments filled with flashes of color of
liveliness. Others where there is pain, suffering and then a Monotony of 30 years that must be
contemplated to be fully appreciated. She allowed herself to be captivated by the love of God
and she responded with all her love at every moment. "I belong completely to God.
I know by experience how much he loves me and looks out for me. Seeing myself small,
I am in my element because I see all that God does in me and in whatever pertains to me which is what
I want." She believed that communion is the true path to the kingdom and became like Jesus bread
and wine even to the point of giving her life. Saint Raphaela Mary Porras Allyon, pray for us.
The approval of two miracles attributed to her intercession allowed for Pope Pius Xll to preside over her beatification in 1952 and the approval of a third miracle allowed for Pope Paul V1 to canonize her as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1977; She is the patron of her order.
"My Lord Jesus Christ is living in me, and so my entire being and all that I do should reflect the life of Christ who lives in me." - Saint Raphaela Mary