They announce the date of beatification of the founder of the Sisters of the Cross

The Archbishop of Seville, Bishop José Ángel Saiz Meneses, has announced the date on which the beatification ceremony of Father José Torres Padilla, founder of the Company of the Sisters of the Cross, will be held.

Bishop Sáiz made the announcement in the Mother House of the institution co-founded by Saint Ángela de la Cruz, reading the letter that was delivered to him in Rome last week from the titular Archbishop of Telepte, Bishop Edgar Peña Ramos, substitute for General Affairs. of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

The letter, read by Bishop Sáiz, reads as follows: “The Holy Father has granted that the rite of beatification of the Venerable José Torres Padilla will take place on November 9, 2024 in Seville. Representative of the Supreme Pontiff will be Cardinal Marcelo Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.”

A great joy for the Company of the Cross and for our Archdiocese of Seville and for the universal Church. So I wanted to communicate it personally to each mother to share this moment of joy.

Now we must pray a lot so that this celebration of the beatification of Father José Torres is a moment of grace for the Company of the Cross, for the presbytery of Seville, the Archdiocese of Seville and for the entire Church. And let it be an incentive and a stimulus to take very committed and very intense steps forward on the path of our response to the call to holiness that the Lord also makes to us.

And here in this house, great joy. Santa Ángela de la Cruz, Santa María de la Purísima and soon San José Torres Padilla. Let us give thanks to God and to the Most Holy Mary.

Who was Father José Torres Padilla?

Father José Torres was born in 1811 on the Canary Island of La Gomera and carried out his ecclesiastical studies on the Peninsula. Ordained priest of the Archdiocese of Seville, he was confessor of Santa Ángela de la Cruz and who encouraged him from his adolescence to carry out an apostolate with the poor. Both are considered founders of the Company of the Sisters of the Cross.

The Canarian priest accompanied the entire spiritual process of Sister Ángela de la Cruz and dedicated a good part of his pastoral activity to the formation of new priests. In addition, he was part of the body of consultants to the First Vatican Council. He died in 1878.

In 2022, Pope Francis declared Father Torres Venerable. On March 14, 2024, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints made public the recognition of a miracle attributed to the priest, which had been being studied since 2019.

This is the “cure of a patient who, during the months of March and April 2018, was hospitalized in Seville due to bilateral pulmonary thromboembolism,” according to reports. the Archdiocese of Seville.