María Antonia París was born on 28 June 1813 in Vallmoll (Tarragona), Spain. She spent her childhood and youth in Tarragona, in the family home. Her religious vocation began in adolescence, during a mission.
In 1841, she entered the Company of Mary in Tarragona as a postulant. She remained there for nine years, due to the civil prohibition at the time preventing the admission of novices.
In 1842, God began to reveal to her the work he desired to accomplish through her. In 1850, she met Antonio María Claret, a missionary priest, to whom she confided her desire to found a new order dedicated to apostolic mission.
In 1851, she left the Company of Mary and, together with a group of young women who had joined her, made a vow never to separate and to cross the seas if God so desired. Called by Antonio María Claret, then Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, she embarked with her companions in 1852 to carry out with him the work inspired by God. The following year, a school for poor girls began operating in Santiago de Cuba.
A great ideal inspired them: “to live faithfully the evangelical counsels and to work to teach every creature the Gospel, the law of the Lord”.
On 25 August 1855, Archbishop Claret signed the Decree of Foundation of the Apostolic Institute of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a name which, over time, would become the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian Missionary Sisters.
The living out of evangelical poverty and the preaching of the Kingdom of God are essential elements of this Institute, contributing to the renewal of the Church.
In 1859, María Antonia returned to Spain, where she founded other communities. She eventually died on 17 January 1885, in Reus, where her tomb is located. Her reputation for holiness has spread throughout the world. Many people invoke her, asking for God’s help and grace through her intercession.
She is, for the young people of all times, an example of evangelical simplicity, missionary proclamation of the Word wherever she may be, and love for Jesus above all things, even pain and death. She was a witness of love in the silent offering of daily life, with the deep joy that comes from knowing oneself totally of God and for God and neighbour.