Isabel Lete Landa

Who they were

Born Regina Lete Landa in the Basque village of Osintxu in 1913, she lost her father to an epidemic in 1918, after which her mother, in despair, was committed to a psychiatric hospital; Regina was raised for a time by an aunt and uncle with ten children of their own, and educated with her cousins at the school of the Slaves of the Sacred Heart. She entered the novitiate of the Mercedarian Sisters of Charity at Zumarraga in 1929 and made profession in 1931 as Sister Maria Isabella of Jesus.

Cheerful and devoted to others, she lived for two great ideals: praying for priests and offering everything for the missions. Like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, she offered herself as a victim to Merciful Love, and when she fell seriously ill with tuberculosis in 1939 she saw it as God's acceptance of that offering, living her final two years of illness with joy. She died at the age of 28 on 13 October 1941, and since 1972 her remains have rested in the convent church at Zumarraga.

The miracles

The Church has not yet approved a miracle in this cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

Mercedarian sister who offered herself, like St Thérèse of Lisieux, as a victim to Merciful Love, and accepted her final illness as its fulfilment; died 13 October 1941 aged 28.

The cause

Connected on this site

• Thérèse of Lisieux Saint
  “Like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, she offered herself as a victim to Merciful Love, and when she fell seriously ill with tuberculosis in 1939 she saw it as God's acceptance of that offering, living her final two years of illness with joy.” — this site's research