Justa Domínguez de Vidaurreta was born in 1875 in Azpeitia, Guipúzcoa, Spain, during the exile and refuge of her parents at the house of Don Benito Gibert, a friend of the family. Her parents were prosecuted for being Carlists [supporters of Carlism, a traditionalist and monarchist legitimist Spanish political movement, which emerged during the first half of the 19th century in opposition to liberalism, parliamentarism and secularism] against the liberalism of king Alfonso XII. She was baptized in the parish of San Sebastián de Soreasu on the same day of her birth, November 2, 1875, and received the names of Justa, Manuela, Ignacia and Carlota. Before she was one year old, her parents returned to Tafalla, her hometown, where Justa lived with her family until she joined the Company of the Daughters of Charity. She received the sacrament of Confirmation on May 15, 1876 and, in 1888, she made her first communion in the parish church of Santa María de Tafalla.

She was the only daughter among eight siblings and occupied the third place among them.

She received a careful education in the family environment, completed by the Daughters of the Cross in the school of San José of Tafalla. In her adolescence and youth she was member of the Association of Daughters of Mary of the parish, took part in the charitable movement of the city by joining the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul for young ladies, visited the poor and sick, taught catechism to children and instructed young people from the countryside to read in Sunday school. She did all this while carefully cultivating her life of piety, guided by her spiritual director, Don Ricardo Jiménez.

Between 1894 and 1895 her vocation to the religious life came to her. She refused an offer of marriage to a young man of good social standing and decided to enter the Company of the Daughters of Charity after a profound discernment of God’s will. She began her postulancy on June 1, 1895 at the Civil Hospital in Pamplona, under the direction of Sister Cristina Sarasa Arrarás. During this time she stood out for her piety, willingness, hospitality and capacity for dedication and sacrifice to the sick women.

On September 4, 1895, she arrived in Madrid and entered the seminary, thus beginning her life of total dedication as a Daughter of Charity. During her formation she showed a remarkable level of understanding and assimilation of the charism. Her seminary director was Sister Cecilia Alvaro. At the end of this stage, she was assigned to the Provincial House as a collaborator and member of the formation team for the sisters entering the Company. On September 8, 1900, she ratified her total dedication to God through vows, in the tradition of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac.

During her first 26 years as a Daughter of Charity, she devoted herself to formation and education, being an example of virtue for the younger sisters. In 1921, she was named vice-director of the seminary and, at the end of 1922, director and principal in charge of formation, a position she held until 1932.

In her 36 years devoted to formation, her vocation was characterized by a radical capacity for dedication to God and to the sisters. She worked tirelessly to promote an authentic school of holiness, offering the young sisters a program based on the Rules of St. Vincent de Paul. Under her direction a remarkable spiritual renewal was experienced in the seminary, promoting an apostolic and missionary spirit with great availability and sensitivity to the service of the poor.

In 1932 she was appointed Visitatrix or Provincial Superior of the Spanish Province, the largest in the world at that time, with 628 communities and 8,300 sisters. Between 1932 and 1936 she was able to visit most of the communities, encouraging the sisters during the religious persecution and creating institutions in favor of youth to counteract the secularist influence of the “Clubes de los sin Dios” and the “Ateneos libertarios de Madrid” (libertarian Athenaeums of Madrid). He founded the Sons of Mary association for boys, after-school programs, the Vincentian Catholic Popular Library, the Literary Gallery for Catholic youth, soup kitchens and numerous schools in poor neighborhoods.

During the Spanish Civil War, she suffered the assault on the Provincial House and the dispersion of 400 communities. Despite being imprisoned and a refugee, she maintained an attitude of self-giving and submission to the will of God. She encouraged the sisters to keep their faith, even to the point of martyrdom if necessary. Released in September 1937, she reorganized the works and established aid networks for the sisters imprisoned or sheltered in the Republican zones.

At the end of the war, she moved the seminary back to Madrid and restored the lost works. In the following years she promoted missions in India, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Santo Domingo. He founded the Casa de Estudios, the magazines Hoja Pedagógica and Reina de las Misiones, and reorganized the Secretariat of Works. His apostolic zeal never waned, multiplying vocations and works.

She died on December 18, 1958, at the age of 83. She died practicing charity, whispering: “My Mother, may those who follow us be better than we are”. Her death was recognized as a testimony of faith and hope. Her legacy of committed love and formation of apostles of charity left an indelible mark. The province she led reached 11,500 members and 867 communities. His life was a reflection of the Vincentian charism and an inspiration of holiness for many generations.

After her death, the fame of her sanctity spread rapidly. Enrique Albiol Estapé, CM, in 1962, wrote: “Today there are hundreds and thousands of witnesses who live, who remember and speak of the always edifying facts of this holy woman, whose memory has for all the sweetness of the good odor of Christ.”

Four Facets of Venerable Sister Justa Dominguez de Vidaurreta, DC

Author: Sr. María Ángeles Infante Barrera, Vice-Postulator

On April 14, 2018, Pope Francis signed eight decrees related to the declaration of eight Servants of God as Venerables… among them was Sister Justa Dominguez de Vidaurreta, DC.  Sister was born on November 2nd, 1875 and died in Madrid on December 16th, 1958.  The Church’s recognition of her heroic virtue is the result of her life-long commitment to God revealed through the practice of charity on behalf of the poor … a life lived in accord with the mission that was entrusted to her by her superiors: formation of young women, spiritual animation, roles of leadership and missionary expansion.  I did not know Sister personally, but I consider it a special grace to have been able to work on the investigation into her life and virtues and to have been able to write her biography.  I want to highlight four facets of her life (facets that Pope Francis requests of all consecrated women and men): joy, discernment, contemplation, proclamation of the gospel through missionary outreach.

1. Joyful formator

From a very early age Sister manifested a special attraction toward the formation of young people as she was a Sunday School teacher in her parish.  At the age of twenty she entered the Seminary in Madrid where she began her formation as a Daughter of Charity.  Her first mission, which continued for thirty-six years, was the formation of the young seminary sisters … for the first twenty-six years she ministered as a collaborator and then for the last ten years was director and the individual responsible for the seminary.  Her joy was communicated as she taught classes pertaining to the gospels, sacred history, the biography and spirituality of St. Vincent and St. Louise. She expressed this sentiment in a letter that she wrote to a friend: we can aspire to nothing greater than to consecrate ourselves, as young women, to the Lord and to preserve throughout our lives the vows of religion: poverty, chastity, and obedience. 

2. An expert in discernment

In her youth she had to discern God’s call and chose between four different possibilities: marriage, a cloistered religious, a religious in the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, a religious in the Company of the Daughters of Charity. It seems that she knew how to apply the teachings contained in the catechism to this process of discernment and thus developed those attitudes relative to her vocation … attitudes that would also empower her to live her vocation in a faithful manner.  During the time of her youth her friends said: Like the Divine Master, her only goal was to lead people to God.

Sister wrote to a young woman who sought guidance while she was discerning her vocation: Today at the time of Holy Communion I prayed that you would come to know what God wants of you in order to fulfill God’s will and to live a holy life. I encourage you to entrust this matter of your vocation to our Blessed Mother and to her beloved husband, Saint Joseph.

3. A contemplative animator

Sister was appointed Vistatrix in 1932 and was seen as a strong provincial superior. She suffered persecution and imprisonment … she offered her own life in exchange for which the militia would cease murdering the Sisters.  God’s plan for her, however, was not one of bloody martyrdom  but rather one of daily sacrifice.  The source of her joy, serenity and deep interior life was her contemplative prayer.  Those whom she formed stated that she created a school of holiness through faithfulness to the Rule.  We have her notes in which she describes this path of holiness and her students, other Daughters of Charity, stated: When Sister taught us how to pray and how to deepen our relationship with the Lord she was very expressive.  In her daily activities she revealed a great love for Jesus Christ whom she viewed as the Spouse of her soul.

As Visitatrix she was very concerned about the community and spiritual animation of the Sisters: she was gifted in her ability to relate to all people, but especially to the Sisters who desired to talk with her about their concerns.  During so many of those encounters with the Sisters, there was no need for her to say anything, just her gaze was enough to calm the Sisters.

4. A missionary and evangelizer as Visitatrix

From 1932-1958 Sister Justa was Visitatrix and during the years of persecution (1936-1939) she looked for different ways to save the Sisters and their various ministries.  After the civil war she became a missionary of reconciliation, organized the Secretariat of Works and reorganized the various lay Vincentian associations: the Children of Mary, the International Association of Charity, Catholic Action, and other groups.  She promoted vocations to the religious life, motivating and providing help to those young men who were interested in the priesthood or brotherhood.  She established twelve minor seminaries to cultivate the vocation of those who aspired to follow God’s call.  She collaborated in the pastoral ministry of the bishop of Madrid, Lepoldo Eijo y Garay and sent Sisters to multiple parish health clinics and schools … parishes located in very poor sections of the diocese. Faithful to the proposal of the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, she sent Sisters to India (1940) and Santo Domingo (1952).  Through patient listening she encouraged faithfulness to the charism.  Her humble presence created an environment of unity and charity which attracted many vocations during the time of her leadership.