Narcisa de Jesus

 Today I have chosen a Blessed from South America known for he charitable and strict devotion to Jesus Christ.

Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran was born in Ecuador in 1832. Her father was a landowner who worked hard and amassed a considerable amount of wealth. He mother died in 1838. Narcisa took up many of the domestic chores of the family while her elder sister and teacher taught her to read, write, sing and play the guitar. She turned a small room in the house into a domestic chapel and frequently used a small wood near her home for contemplation and solitude. 

The death of her father in 1852 prompted her to relocate to Guayaquil, where she lived with prominent nobles, and it was here that she began her mission of helping the poor, the sick and abandoned children. She took a job as a seamstress in order to fund her mission and support her siblings. She soon moved and for some months went from home to home, living with whoever would take her in to allow herself more time for silent contemplation and penance.

In 1868, she relocated to Lima, Peru, where she lived in a Dominican Convent. Here she followed a demanding schedule of eight hours of reflection offered in silence and solitude. She devoted hours of the night to various forms of mortification and fasted on bread and water. With such a regime, I don't find it surprising that little more than a year later she developed a high fever for which medical remedies could do little. She died on December 8, 1869. 

Her feast day is August 30.