Ever wonder how a religious community gets started?
 

The Mercedarian Sisters trace their history to the year 1910, with the founding of a community that was inspired by a profound experience at a retreat in central Mexico.

In 1896, at the age of 29, Maria del Refugio experienced a spiritual renewal at a retreat in San Miguel de Allende, in central Mexico.  This was the silent beginning of what would eventually blossom into a new order.  Sometime down the road, she found herself praying before an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where she received the concrete inspiration for founding a religious institute devoted to spreading love for the Blessed Sacrament and making reparation for the sins of the world.  Thus was born a new community devoted to this very purpose on March 25, 1910.

Eventually, Mother Maria del Refugio sought approval from her bishop for the new Institute.  After several denials, Fr. Alfredo Scotti, a Mercedarian priest (of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy), was sent to investigate the possible approval of the nascent community, whereby the community gained its official approval in 1922.

Eucharistic and Marian

Because of her contact with Fr. Scotti, Maria del Refugio became attracted to the spirituality of the Order of Mercy, which was founded in 1218.  She wanted her Institute to be put under the protection and patronage of Our Lady of Mercy, thereby sharing in the graces and indulgences given to the Order.  As Providence would have it, a Eucharistic miracle occurred compelling her even more to make the decision.  On June 11, 1946 the Institute was adhered to the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy under the new name of the "Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament."

Through the assistance of Our Lady of Mercy, the main call of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament is to become one with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. "We are called to live the contemplation of divine things and an assiduous union with God in prayer. This is our first and foremost duty." (Constitutions of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Art. 41)

Thus, the charism of the Mercedarian Sisters is Eucharistic and Marian.