María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa
Catholic saint of the River Plate
Feast: 7 March (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 3 March 2016 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2016)
- 24 October 2023 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2023)
Who they were
María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, known as Mama Antula, was born in Santiago del Estero, in what is now Argentina. When Charles III of Spain expelled the Jesuits in 1767, she set out to keep their Spiritual Exercises alive, organising retreats from place to place.
In 1779 she reached Buenos Aires, where the retreats began in 1780 with great success and the support of the Archbishop. She died there on 7 March 1799, aged 69. She is Argentina's first woman saint.
The miracles
Sister María Rosa Vanina, a religious sister aged 31
A sister of the Daughters of the Divine Saviour was healed of acute gallstone inflammation of the gallbladder with septic complications.
Claudio Perusini, a father of a family aged 60 — Argentina — July 2017
He suffered an ischaemic stroke with bleeding into the brain. Doctors did not expect him to survive, or if he did, to remain in a vegetative state. Within a few days he recovered his vital functions, and over time he made a complete recovery.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of Sister María Rosa Vanina, a religious sister aged 31 was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 3 March 2016, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 27 August 2016 by Cardinal Angelo Amato, for Pope Francis. The case of Claudio Perusini, a father of a family aged 60 was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 24 October 2023, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 11 February 2024 by Francis.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - decrees of 3 Mar 2016 and 24 Oct 2023
- America Magazine, Feb 2024 - Pope Francis names Argentina's first woman saint
- L'Osservatore Romano - Mama Antula, wayfarer of the Spirit
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q6003369 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.