María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray
Spanish Dominican nun
Feast: 10 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray was born in Pamplona on 25 November 1848, the last of eight children, and was schooled by the Dominican sisters, where she grew to love long adoration before the Eucharist.
Longing to join the Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick, she waited, because of her parents' early deaths, her brothers' illness and the advice of St María Soledad Torres Acosta, until 31 December 1881. As Sister María of the Espousal she nursed the sick, weak in body but ever stronger in spirit, until her death in October 1918.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A nursing sister who waited years for her vocation and then gave herself to the sick.
Connected on this site
- Soledad Torres Acosta Saint“Longing to join the Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick, she waited, because of her parents' early deaths, her brothers' illness and the advice of St María Soledad Torres Acosta, until 31 December 1881.” — this site's research
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Maria dello Sposalizio Irigoyen
- Wikidata Q11768945 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — María Catalina Irigoyen Echegaray (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.