CONFHIC: Monthly Reflections
May 9, 2024
Sister Maria Clara do Menino Jesus (Libânia do Carmo Galvão Mexia de Moura Teles e Albuquerque) was born into a noble family on June 15, 1843, in Quinta do Bosque–Amadora, near Lisbon. Her parents were Nuno Tomás de Mascarenhas, Galvão, Mexia de Moura, Telles e Albuquerque, and Maria da Purificação de Sá Carneiro, Duarte Ferreira. She was baptized in the church of Nossa Senhora do Amparo, Benfica, on September 2, 1843.
Orphaned since the age of 13/14, Libania always showed an energetic and independent spirit, a strong temperament, a deep spirituality, and a solid firmness of character, cemented by the many difficulties and sufferings she had faced throughout her life:
Although treated as a daughter, especially by the Marchioness, a friend of her parents, Libania felt in herself a deep calling to a higher purpose in life. She was moved by the suffering and poverty she observed in society and desired to dedicate herself to serving those in need.
After a luxurious life, contrasting with the poverty and misery of the society of her time, she entered the Home of St. Patrick in 1867, as a boarder, where she encountered the Capuchin Sisters under the guidance of Fr. Beirão.
Perceiving the call of the Lord, in 1869, she took the Capuchin habit of Our Lady of the Conception and received the name of Sr. Maria Clara of the Child Jesus.
On February 10, 1870, at the request of Fr. Beirão, she left for the Convent of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, in Calais, France, to do the Novitiate, with the intention of beginning later, in Portugal, a new Congregation.
She professed on April 14, 1871, in France, returning to her homeland on May 1 of that year as Local Superior and with the faculty of establishing, in St. Patrick’s, a filial Novitiate of Calais, which she assumed three days later.
Thus, began the first Community, in St. Patricks – Lisbon, on May 3, 1871, and five years later, on March 27, 1876, the Congregation was already approved by the Apostolic See.
Over the course of 28 years, presiding over the destiny of the Congregation, she received about 1000 sisters and with them she became a pioneer of social action in her country, founding more than 142 works, distributed by hospitals, home nursing, nurseries, schools, care for children and the elderly, economic kitchens, among others. In these institutions, the poor, the sick, and the destitute of all kinds were able to know the love and care of women dedicated entirely to the service of the most needy, thus experiencing the tenderness and mercy of God.
The frequent exhortation: “Let us work with love and for love” was the synthesis of her life. Her entire existence was devoted to acts of charity, and her institutions provided care and support to those in need, reflecting the tenderness and mercy of God. This same action was progressively extended to Angola, Goa, Guinea, and Cabo Verde.
Sister Maria Clara’s life was guided by the motto “Let us work with love and for love.”
Sr. Maria Clara do Menino Jesus died at the Convento das Trinas, in Lisbon, on December 1, 1899, at the age of 56, a victim of heart disease, asthma, and lung injury. She was buried three days later, in the cemetery of Prazeres, accompanied by a huge crowd of faithful who recognized her holiness.
Her remains were transferred in 1954 to the Convent of Santo António, in Caminha, and from 1988, in the crypt of the Chapel of the Mother House of the Congregation, in Linda-a-Pastora, Queijas, Patriarchate of Lisbon, where countless devotees flock to implore her intercession with God.
