Santa Maria Soledad Torres Acosta
Fundadora De Las Siervas De Maria

O Saint Maria Soledad whose great love of God irradiated in your loving devotion to the sick and poor, dedicating yourself to the relief and consolation of their sufferings, obtain for us from God. Help in all our sickness of body and soul, and patience and acceptance of His Holy Will in all our tribulations. Inspire in us great kindness twords the sick and the poor, in order that by our many works of charity done to them for Christ's sake, we may be worthy to receive with you in the end, the reward promised by Our Lord. In the name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

MARIA SOLEDAD TORRES ACOSTA 

Also known as 
Emanuela Tores-Acosta 

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Daughters of Francis Torres and Antonia Acosta, who ran a small business. From her youth, Emanuela felt a call to the religious life. When she was old enough to leave home, she applied to the Dominicans, but she was rejected due to poor health. She 
spent much time and prayer discerning her call to vocation, and in 1848 was asked by a Servite tertiary priest to head a new community of women dedicated to ministering to the sick poor. She took the name Mary Soledad, and dedicated herself 
 to the new community, which in 1851 still numbered only seven. 

In 1855 the community split into two groups, one founding a new house in Ferdinand Po. The half that remained with Mary Soledad became the foundation of the Handmaids of Mary Serving the Sick. Saint Mary was briefly relieved of her position, and the group nearly fell apart, but she was soon reinstated. The community received diocesan approval in 1861, and Mary Soledad spent 35 years as superior of the order, leading always by example. The group made a name for themselves working with victims of the Madrid cholera epidemic in 1865. By the time of her death, there were forty-six houses across the world.