Maria Güell Puig

As superior of the community at the Hospital of Cervera, Mother Maria Güell i Puig, supported by the Claretian father José María Naval, matured a project of greater scope. She wished to transform her local community into a structured religious institute. On September 14, 1899, she officially founded the congregation of the Sisters of Charity, Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (which would later become the Missionary Daughters of the Heart of Mary), following the approval of the first constitutions by the Bishop of Solsona. The mission of the new congregation was centered around the care of the sick and the education of children and young people. The first branch was opened in 1907 in Balaguer. On December 29, 1966, the congregation received definitive approval from the Holy See as an institute of pontifical right under the pontificate of Pope Paul VI.

Mother Maria Güell i Puig passed away peacefully on June 14, 1921, at the Hospital of Cervera, after a brief but painful illness. Her reputation for holiness prompted the Diocese of Solsona to initiate her cause for beatification. The ordinary informative process on her life, virtues, and reputation for holiness officially opened on May 22, 1952, and closed on June 19, 1955. Her spiritual writings were examined and approved by decree on January 25, 1961. The Positio super virtutibus was officially submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome in 1990.

On April 6, 1998, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic Christian virtues of Maria Güell i Puig, thereby conferring upon her the title of Venerable. Her cause for beatification is still ongoing, awaiting the official recognition of a miracle attributed to her intercession.

The spirituality of Maria Güell i Puig is deeply Christocentric, Marian, and characterized by an active charity lived in simplicity, humility, and discretion. Her spiritual motto was: "The heart to think of God and love Him, the hands for work." In 2001, the municipality of Valls proclaimed her an "illustrious citizen," making her the very first woman to enter the gallery of illustrious figures at the town hall. Her birthplace in Valls was acquired by the congregation in 1989 and transformed into a museum open to the public, housing her personal belongings and a portion of the congregation's archives.