Venerable
Concepción (Conchita) Cabrera de Armida
Conchita met her future
husband at a family party when she was thirteen.
A short time later they were
engaged.
Her courtship with Francisco
Armida lasted nine years.
Of her engagement she says: “I
loved him with a great simplicity, as wholly enveloped in my love for Jesus.
I did not see there was any
other pathway to God...” (p. 15).
On November 8, 1884, at
twenty-one years of age, she married Francisco who she called Pancho.
At the wedding banquet she
asked Pancho to promise her he would do two things: allow her to attend Mass
and receive Communion daily, and never to be jealous.
Conchita and Pancho were a
model couple.
Their love for each other grew
with their love for Christ.
She found that marriage set
her free to pray better and to practice little sacrifices.
At times, life was strained
between Conchita and her in-laws and those around her.
She had many humiliations but
accepted them with charity.
Conchita and Pancho had their
first child, Francisco on September 28, 1885.
Their son Carlos was born on
March 28, 1887.
He lived only six years and
died of typhoid.
She shares in her diary, “His
death was heartbreaking for me, and I felt such pain as I had never felt
before” (p. 18).
On January 23, 1889, Manuel
was born.
Manuel later joined the
seminary and then became a Jesuit priest.
Maria de la Concepción, born
on September 29, 1890, was their first daughter.
She entered the convent of the
Sisters of the Cross (which Conchita herself founded).
Conchita and Pancho had five
other children: Ignacio, Pablo, Salvador, Pedro, and Lupe.
Very tragically, Pedro drowned
when he was a young child in the pool of their garden.
Her home was filled with joy.
Her children said of her:
“Mama always smiled...she was the greatest mother that ever lived!” (P. 38).
She was always aware that her
place as mother and educator was most important.
She says: “I must form the
hearts of my eight children, fight against eight temperaments, keep them out
of harm...a great deal of patience, great prudence and a great deal of
virtue are necessary for carrying out this mission of mother in a holy way”
(p. 36).
By the time her youngest
daughter Lupe was old enough to go to school, the Mexican government’s
persecution of the Catholic Church was reaching its peak.
Conchita decided to
home-school Lupe.
Conchita wanted to make sure
that Lupe would receive a proper Catholic formation.
When she was twenty-seven, she
attended her first retreat.
It was there that God showed
her vocation as a lay apostle:
“Your mission will be to save
souls”.
Conchita’s apostolate grew
from the circumstances of her family and social life.
She founded the Works of the
Cross which consists of five different apostolates for different groups.
The Apostolate of the Cross is
for large groups of faithful.
The Sisters of the Cross of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a contemplative order of sisters who offer
their lives for the Church, especially for priests.
For specially gifted souls,
she founded the Covenant of Love.
Persons in their own state of
life commit themselves to spirituality of the Cross.
The Fraternity of Christ the
Priest was for priests and bishops who want to live in the spirituality of
the Cross.
The last work is The
Missionaries of the Holy Spirit.
This was a clerical religious
congregation specially devoted to priestly work and spiritual direction of
souls.
Conchita offered herself as a
victim for priests, knowing the impact that holy priests can have for the
Church.
At the age of thirty-nine,
Conchita was left a widow with eight children.
Pancho contracted typhoid and
died on September 17, 1901.
She writes: “I helped him to
die at peace.
Three of our children were
present when he died, and I, at that instant consecrated myself to God for
always in the presence of him who had been such a prefect companion for me”
(p. 53).
Her husband’s death abruptly
changed her life.
On March 26, 1906 God granted
Conchita the grace of the “mystical incarnation”.
Christ filled her soul.
He wanted in her an extension
of his incarnation.
God especially emphasized the
priestly offering of Christ crucified for the salvation of men and the glory
of the Father under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Her teaching has its source in
the Gospel and in the mystery of the Salvation of the world through the
Cross.
Conchita wrote extensively for
all:
married life, family life, for
religious, for priests, for all the laity in the world.
For more than forty years, on
the advice of her spiritual directors, she faithfully kept a diary that
numbered sixty-six handwritten manuscripts which equals in number the Summa
of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Conchita died a holy death on
March 3, 1937.
The last years of her life
were difficult.
Conchita offered herself in
sacrifice for the Church, for priests, for homes, and for the renewal of the
world through the Cross.
On December 20, 1999, she was
declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II.
Conchita’s education in
sanctity began in her home where her parents educated her from the time she
was nine years old.
She grew to become a devoted
wife and mother of eight children, the youngest of which she home-schooled.
Conchita is a model of
holiness in the home and especially a model for all home-schooling mothers
and families.
Philipon, M.M. O.P.
(Ed.).
(1978).
Conchita A Mother’s Spiritual
Diary.
New York:
St. Paul’s Alba House.
Find out more about Venerable Conchita and "A Mother's Spiritual Diary"
