CatholicSaints.Info

Also known as

• Nha Chica
• Nhá Chica of Baependi

Memorial

• 14 June

Profile

Lay person of the diocese of Campanha, Brazil. Her mother died when the girl was 10, and she gave herself over to the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Never learned to read or write, never joined a congregation, but lived an impoverished, celibate life like a modern anchoress in Baependi, Brazil, devoting all her time and effort to the construction of a church dedicated to Mary.

Born

• 1810 in São João del Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Died

• 14 June 1895 in Baependi, Minas Gerais, Brazil of natural causes
• entombed in the church she helped build
• the smell of perfume reported at her tomb at the time of burial and again when it was opened in 1998

Venerated

• 14 January 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI (decree of heroic virtues)

Beatified

• 4 May 2013 by Pope Francis
• beatification recognition celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato at the Santuário Nossa Senhora da Conceição em Baependi, Minas Gerais, Brazil

MLA Citation

• “Blessed Francisca de Paula de Jesus Isabel“. CatholicSaints.Info. 11 July 2023. Web. 23 April 2024. <>