María Cándida of Saint Augustine

María Cándida of Saint Augustine (1804-1861) was an Augustinian nun and mystic noted for her close relationship with the Lord.

Cándida Córdova was born in 1804 in Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, Spain. She was raised in a family which lived comfortably. According to local tradition, she enjoyed an intimate relation with the Lord from a very young age.

She wanted to become a nun, but delayed her entry so she could stay home and care for her father. She entered the Augustinian monastery of Alcalá de Henares when she was 22 years old and professed her vows in 1827, taking the religious name María Cándida of Saint Augustine.

María Cándida lived a simple and virtuous religious life, but also experienced some extraordinary religious phenomena, such as a keen awareness of the Lord's presence, the gift of prophecy and the ability to read the hearts of others.

It is said that she was able to bilocate and that she was observed on the battlefield helping wounded soldiers.

She was deeply devoted to the Cross and Passion of Christ and to the Eucharist.

She was elected superior of her convent in 1850. Three years later she was transferred to the Monastery of the Gaitanas in Toledo. She helped found a new monastery in Valdepeñas where the nuns dedicated themselves to teaching young people.

Because the political atmosphere of the times was hostile to the Church, founding this monastery was not an easy task. María Cándida did not hesitate to seek the help of both civil and religious authorities. These included Queen Isabel II of Spain and Pope Pius IX.

María Cándida died in Toledo in 1861. Her body was moved to the new monastery at Valdepeñas in 1976.

The cause for her beatification and canonization began in 1932. Josef Sciberras, O.S.A., the Augustinian Postulator of Causes, oversees the progress of the cause.