María Inés Teresa Arias
Mexican religious (1904-1981)
Feast: 22 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Manuela de Jesús Arias Espinosa was born at Ixtlán del Río, Nayarit, Mexico, on 7 July 1904, one of eight children of deeply Christian parents. Courted by several suitors, she longed instead for the monastic life, and in 1929 was received by the Poor Clares of the Ave Maria monastery, then exiled in California by the persecution.
Professed by April 1931, she returned to Mexico with her community. In 1944 the Archbishop of Cuernavaca allowed her to found a monastery of Missionary Poor Clares of the Blessed Sacrament, which became a contemplative and missionary congregation; she also founded the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Poor Clare who joined contemplation to worldwide mission.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Maria Agnese-Teresa del SS.mo Sacramento
- Wikidata Q126165 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Manuela de Jesús Arias Espinosa (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.