Today, January 22, marks the anniversary of the death of the martyr Blessed Laura Vicuña, who was only 13 when she died in 1904.
There is nothing more virtuous than bringing those living in sin back to God’s grace- St John Bosco
Laura was born on April 5, 1891, in Santiago, Chile, three months after the outbreak of a civil war. Her father, José Domingo, a soldier from a noble family, escaped with his family to the south of the country where his wife Mercedes gave birth to her second child, Julia.
Eventually, ill and worn out, he died, leaving his wife with two infants, without any money, and still in great danger.
Mercedes had to flee with her daughters to Las Lajas, a border town in Argentina, hoping to find work there. There she met the prosperous Argentine landowner Manuel Mora, who fell in love with the young pretty widow, even though he had a wife from whom he had children. Mercedes, won over by Mora’s promises to provide her with a good income, accepted to become his mistress and that he moves in to live with her and her daughters.
Laura and Julia were sent to the boarding school ‘Hijas de Maria Auxiliadora’ in Junin, run by the Salesian Sisters.
To maintain his mistress’ affection, Mora paid the fees of the two sisters. Laura was very happy there, and with the love and care of the nuns, she discovered God.
To get to know Christ better, she would read a passage from the New Testament every day, and whenever she did not understand it, she would turn to her confessor to explain it.
Laura realised the immoral life her mother was leading by living in adultery with a married man. During her First Holy Communion on June 2, 1901, Laura remembered Jesus’ words: “There is no one greater love than that one gives his life for others”, and she resolved to dedicate her life for her mother’s conversion.
Whenever they would be alone together, she would lovingly admonish her mother, encouraging her to leave Mora and return to God’s grace. But one day Mora overheard Laura, beat her and threatened the girl.
He stopped paying for the schooling of Laura and her sister but the Salesian nuns continued teaching the two girls for free.
He attacked her, verbally and physically, as often as he could, even in front of her own mother, but Laura remained determined to persevere to work for her beloved mother’s conversion.
In late 1903, Laura became severely ill. Her mother begged her to come home and the nuns urged Laura to return to her mother, but it was only when Mercedes finally left Mora and moved into a cottage near the school, that Laura accepted to return to her mother.
On January 14, 1904, Mora, drunk and out of control, rode to the cottage, pursued Laura on horseback, whipped her mercilessly and kicked her until she was unconscious on the roadway, and rode off. Though she recovered consciousness, Laura never recovered her health, dying eight days later.
At Laura’s deathbed, Mercedes broke down, and fell on her knees sobbing intensively and bitterly, promised to her daughter and to God to no longer be an adulteress and to change her life. Before she died, Laura smiled and died happily.
Immediately after the young girl’s death, widespread devotion to the young martyr quickly spread throughout Argentina and Chile.
Laura was beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1988, on the 100th anniversary of the death of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesian Order, for whom Laura was a testimony of these words: “One can only have happiness in life if one is with peace with God and in His Grace. There is nothing more important in life than being in God’s Grace. And there is nothing more virtuous than bringing those who are living in sin back to His Grace”.