María Güell was born in Valls (Tarragona) on June 24, 1848, into a deeply Christian family. From an early age she was formed in faith, hard work, and attentiveness to others. She was baptized just hours after her birth and received First Communion at a very young age. At home the Holy Rosary was prayed; she attended Mass daily and had a special devotion to Our Lady of the Candela, patroness of Valls. In this simple, believing environment, her interior life began to grow, along with a keen sensitivity to the needs of those around her.

In her youth, she balanced household tasks with work in the fields and the care of her younger siblings. She later worked in a dressmaker’s workshop, where she stood out for her diligence, discretion, cheerfulness, and warm manner. People were struck by her deep piety and by the way she tried to lead souls to the Lord.
Her apostolic zeal opened her to a fuller gift of self. Little by little, the desire to belong entirely to God took root within her. Prayer, love for the Virgin Mary, participation in the sacramental life, and a trusting faith shaped her heart and prepared her to embrace God’s will. By the age of twenty-three, she already felt ready to follow the Lord’s call.

“Always trust in God; He will never abandon us.”

On April 21, 1872, she arrived in Cervera (Lleida) to enter a community of the Daughters of Charity serving in the hospital there. She adapted gently and gradually to her new surroundings. It was there that the longing for charity she carried in her heart began to take concrete form. She began her novitiate on September 14, 1872, and made her first profession on November 14, 1873.

In the early years of her religious life, her care for the victims of the war of 1873 stands out in a special way. The hospital received the wounded from the conflict, as well as those afflicted by smallpox. In those circumstances, Mother María Güell repeatedly asked to be allowed to devote herself to caring for the sick.
Her direct contact with the sick and the poorest decisively shaped her path. In them she recognized the face of Christ in His suffering and understood that her vocation would be lived through a charity expressed in concrete deeds, patience, and a spirit of sacrifice.

In His providence, God had chosen Mother María Güell to offer the Church a new Congregation. By then she was already superior of the community, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit and a heart made wide by love, she sensed that her charity had to be universal. She longed to leave the hospital to bring the consolation of charity to the sick and needy throughout the world.

With the desire to carry this mission forward, on September 14, 1899, she founded the Congregation of the Missionary Daughters of the Heart of Mary. This new religious family was born with a clear charism: to live humility, simplicity, and evangelical charity, after the example of the Heart of Mary.

“Love one another, bear with one another, forgive one another.”

Over the years, Mother María Güell devoted herself wholeheartedly to the growth of the Congregation. She passed on to her daughters a deep love for God and, through her simple and humble way of life, a model she wanted to be the very hallmark of the Congregation. She lived in a spirit of prayer and complete readiness to serve.

In the last years of her life, she lived with serene confidence in God, from whom she expected everything. She loved silence and interior life, practiced mortification, and had a deep devotion to the Heart of Mary. She consistently remained rooted in faith, hope, and a trusting abandonment to God.

María Güell died in Cervera on June 14, 1921, “happy to have consecrated her life to God and to Charity,” as she told those who accompanied her in her final days.
After her death, her example and her teaching have remained alive. The counsels she left behind have been gathered so that others may learn from them and follow them. Her life continues to be a model of holiness—simple, accessible, and close to the people.

“Everything for the love of God and of neighbor.”