Where do we come from?
We, the MMB, are grateful to God for weaving our history with us. We return to it to recapture our initial enthusiasm and passion.
Convent – Cloister
It all began in the mid-16th century (1540)> ) three simple women from Bérriz (a small town among the green mountains of Vizcaya) form the Beaterio de la Vera-Cruz, linked to the Order of Mercy, whose ideal is: LIBERATION .
Despite the difficulties, the extreme poverty in which they lived, even the times when the nuns were reduced to two, they remained… nothing can overcome the life that God inspires! As Mercedarian nuns, they had committed themselves to “follow Jesus by loving our sisters and brothers, even at the risk of losing our lives” (4th Mercedarian Vow).
In 1740 they adopted the Cloister, throughout the 19th century the number of nuns increased, in 1873 they were able to open a small school, which grew progressively.
Margarita María López De Maturana and The Transformation
A woman with a universal heart and deep faith, one of those women who inspires, encourages, and takes risks.
In 1884, twins Pilar López de Maturana and Leonor were born. Pilar entered the boarding school in Bérriz in 1901, where she discovered her calling to live from God: “I want to live consecrated entirely to my God,” a God she discovered as true life, as an unfathomable mystery of love that drew her in. “Christ is life, and in Him I must found mine.”
In 1903, at the age of 19, she resolutely entered the Vera Cruz convent in Bérriz, taking the name Margarita María. For 20 years she dedicated herself to the education of girls, becoming a great educator. “My life is the girls…” she would say.
Margarita is cheerful, open, and communicative, always attentive to the needs of others. Both at school and in the community of sisters, she fosters a family spirit. A woman of deep prayer, with a universal perspective and heart, sensitive to the realities of her time, she soon felt a missionary calling.
Margarita carried deep within her the ideal of the Mercedarian Order: the liberation of captives. Driven by this ideal, she discovered in the missions God directed them to a new path of dedication and a new way of embodying the liberating charism: sharing the Good News of Jesus where it was unknown… This missionary zeal was contagious, spreading to the girls at the school and the sisters at the convent.
Today it's hard for us to imagine what it meant to travel from a village in Bizkaia to China. The first group of Mercedarian nuns arrived there in 1926.
These women, who had entered a cloistered convent to dedicate their lives to contemplation, saw in the needs of the impoverished and those who did not know the Good News of Jesus that God was calling them to go beyond their walls and borders. This meant a radical change: leaving the cloistered convent for a fully missionary life. This change required a vote, and unanimously, the 94 nuns joyfully embraced the new impulse of the Spirit that was leading them beyond what was familiar to them.
Today it’s hard for us to imagine what it meant to travel from a village in Bizkaia to China. The first group of Mercedarian nuns arrived there in 1926.
In a few years the Mercedarian nuns also reached the islands of Oceania and Japan.
Margarita accompanied the missionaries on two occasions and thus was able to get to know the lands and people she had dreamed about so much.
On July 23, 1934, at the age of 49, he died leaving behind a new missionary institute.
Her profound trust in the God of life led her to take risks, inspire, encourage, and open new paths and horizons for that community of women, updating the Liberating Charism and carrying its seed to the five continents.
Our Today
The Mercedarian Missionary Sisters of Bérriz continue this dream, sharing our lives with other peoples: the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, the United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Peru, Ecuador, Japan, Micronesia, Taiwan, and Zambia. The communities of sisters, together with the lay communities, form the MMB family.
"Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to all creation."