María Josefa Recio: Rediscovering the Roots of Hospitality

On the 143rd anniversary of her death, we reflect on María Josefa Recio’s legacy through the words of Superior General Sr Idília Maria Carneiro

On 30 October, the Sisters Hospitallers commemorate the 143rd anniversary of the death of Venerable María Josefa Recio Martín, one of the Foundresses of the Congregation. To mark the occasion, Superior General Sr Idília Maria Carneiro has shared a reflection on her life and the importance of keeping her legacy alive in today’s Hospitaller communities.

María Josefa Recio Martín died on 30 October 1883, just two years after the foundation of the Congregation of the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She was only 37 years old, yet her brief life left a lasting mark on a mission that continues today in communities and healthcare centres around the world.

Born in Granada in 1846, María Josefa joined St Benedict Menni and María Angustias Giménez in establishing the Congregation in Ciempozuelos, Madrid, in 1881. At a time when women experiencing mental illness were often neglected or excluded from society, they sought to offer them care rooted in dignity, compassion and Christian love.

As the Congregation’s first Superior, María Josefa played a fundamental role in shaping the spirit of its earliest community. Her dedication extended beyond caring for the sick. She was also deeply attentive to the Sisters who shared her vocation, encouraging unity, supporting them through difficulties and fostering an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding.

In her letter for this year’s anniversary, Sr Idília Maria Carneiro, Superior General of the Sisters Hospitallers, invites the Congregation to look again at this aspect of María Josefa’s life.

“Her simple and noiseless presence was special in welcoming, caring, accompanying, listening, forgiving, helping to grow,” she writes.

For Sr Idília, these qualities are central to understanding the legacy of the Foundress. María Josefa helped build a community in which relationships mattered, differences could be overcome and care for others began with the way the Sisters treated one another.

Her commitment to this way of life is particularly evident in the words she left to the Congregation in her spiritual testament:

“My daughters, love one another, love one another sincerely, bearing one another’s faults for the love of the Lord…”

More than a century later, this message continues to speak to the realities of community life and the daily challenges of caring for others.

An invitation to return to our roots

The Superior General’s letter, places María Josefa’s example within the Congregation’s current journey of revitalisation and restructuring, following the XXII General Chapter.

Rather than looking at the Foundress simply as an important figure in the Congregation’s history, Sr Idília encourages the Sisters to consider what her life can teach them today.

“What do we need to rediscover and relearn from our Foundress?” she asks.

Throughout her reflection, she returns to the importance of communion, forgiveness and a love expressed through practical acts of service. She also draws attention to the distractions of modern life, inviting the Sisters to recover the silence and attentiveness needed to recognise what truly matters.

María Josefa’s example, she suggests, offers a way of understanding Hospitality that goes beyond individual acts of care. It is also about the relationships that sustain a community, the willingness to listen and the ability to respond to others with patience and compassion.

This understanding of Hospitality remains relevant across the Congregation’s different missions. Within the Delegation of England, whose centres are located in England, Ghana and Liberia, the needs of the people receiving care and the circumstances of each community may be very different. Nevertheless, the commitment to recognising the dignity of every person and offering compassionate, individualised care continues to unite them.

It is a commitment that can be traced back to the first Hospitaller community and to the example set by María Josefa herself.

A life that continues to inspire

Sr Idília takes inspiration from the Gospel of John, particularly the image of the vine and its branches, to describe a life whose influence continues long after death.

In her reflection, María Josefa is presented as a woman whose deep relationship with God was reflected in the way she lived alongside and cared for others. Her faith was not separate from her everyday responsibilities but expressed through them.

The Superior General concludes with a wish for the whole Congregation:

“May the fruit of abundant life that we recognize in her teach us to be generators of life, fruitful in love and service.”

As the Sisters Hospitallers remember María Josefa Recio on the 143rd anniversary of her death, her story remains closely connected to the present. The communities and services that have developed since 1881 are very different from those of the first foundation, but the essential purpose remains the same: to accompany people with compassion, especially those who are most vulnerable.

This anniversary is an opportunity not only to remember María Josefa’s life, but also to recognise how her values continue to shape the work of the Sisters Hospitallers and everyone who shares in their mission.

Venerable María Josefa Recio Martín, pray for us.