Julia Navarrete Guerrero

In order to discern her vocation more deeply, Julia went to Mexico City at the end of 1898. There, she had a decisive meeting with the Jesuit father Alberto Cuscó Mir. On October 5, 1898, she joined the "El Oasis" community, where she received the religious habit in December and pronounced her first vows on May 3, 1901 (or October 7, 1900). Having become the head of the community, she officially founded the congregation of the Missionary Daughters of the Most Pure Virgin Mary on September 12, 1903, in Aguascalientes. The foundation received diocesan approval from Bishop José María de Jesús Portugal y Serratos on July 12, 1904. Despite the Mexican Revolution and anti-clerical laws, she deployed remarkable energy to establish schools and missions, extending as far as Texas to help Mexican emigrants. She established more than forty apostolic works during her lifetime.

Mother Julia Navarrete Guerrero passed away peacefully on November 21, 1974, in Toluca, in the State of Mexico, at the age of 93. Her reputation for holiness led the Church to open her cause for beatification. The diocesan inquiry process into her life and virtues was officially opened on June 30, 1985, in the Diocese of Aguascalientes, following the granting of the nihil obstat from the Vatican on March 1, 1985. The diocesan inquiry was closed on August 21, 1992, and validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on March 6, 1993. The Positio was published in 1997.

On June 22, 2004, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thus conferring upon her the title of Venerable. For her beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession is required. Although numerous favors have been reported, no miracle has yet been formally approved by the Vatican to this day, and her cause for beatification remains active.

The spirituality of the Venerable Julia Navarrete Guerrero is deeply Christocentric and Marian, summarized in her motto: "to love and console the Heart of Jesus through those who suffer." She nurtured an intense devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Holy Spirit, and the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Today, her legacy continues through her congregation, which manages more than twenty schools and missions in Mexico, the United States, Peru, and Africa.