God Above All: The Life of Venerable Mother María Félix / Pilar Abraira

Meet the brilliant, fiery, and heroic Ven. Mother María Félix Torres of Spain (1907–2001), whose life is compared to St. Ignatius of Loyola’s and who desired to belong to a Society of Jesus for women. Surmounting great obstacles, she founded the religious institute Company of the Savior and Mater Salvatoris Colleges — with convents and schools in Europe, Africa, and the Americas — following the steps of the saints and missionaries of the Society of Jesus. 

Even as a child, María was gifted with an aptitude for learning and bore a great capacity to love. She was full of life in her close-knit family, and experienced God’s presence powerfully with her First Communion, developing from that moment a special devotion to our Lord. As she began reading spiritual books and practicing devotions at boarding school, María’s life was transformed. She sought from there to live for “the greater glory of God,” even as a chemist in the world of academia. 

In these fascinating pages which read like a novel, you will gain: 

• Gratitude and joy, realizing how deeply you are loved as a child of God
• Fortitude, in seeing how María overcame her resistance in following God’s call
• Serenity, in regarding the peaceful way she dealt with her sufferings and imperfections
• Inspiration, through María’s apostolic fervor among atheists at her university
• Encouragement, in how God guided María on the tortuous road of discerning her vocation
• Courage, in seeing how she practiced the Faith clandestinely in a time of persecution
• Zeal, via María’s tireless desire to set others afire for the glory of God
• Rekindled faith, through her mysticism and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

Your passion for evangelism will soar when you read María’s accounts of bringing the knowledge and love of Christ to others during periods of political instability in Venezuela and severe religious persecution in Spain, when many faithful were martyred and convents and religious schools were looted and burned. 

By her witness through daily financial struggles, health issues, and times of incomprehension and trouble that deeply pierced her heart, Mother María’s example will spur you on in the pursuit of holiness. And through her heart-pounding and harrowing real-life adventures, you will see how she cherished and protected the greatest secret of all.