A cross is empty…
On November 1, 1871, at the foot of the cross of Christ, Angelita made a private vow to live the evangelical counsels. Two years later, while she was praying, she had a vision of herself that would change her life forever. She saw an empty cross right in front of the crucifix she was praying in front of. She understood that this was the key to understanding her new mission: God asked her to climb that empty cross, and for her to become “poor with the poor to bring them to Christ.”
While she continued working in the shoe store, and under the authority of Father Torres, the saint began to write a spiritual diary, the so-called ‘Papers of Conscience’, in which she wanted to capture her ideals of religious life. On December 8, 1874 she consecrated herself to the Lord by making her perpetual vows. María de los Ángeles then officially took the name “Ángela de la Cruz”. On August 2, 1875, the ‘Mother’, as they would begin to call her, and three other women began community life in a rented room in Seville.
The next day the work of relief for the poor, destitute and dying began.