Luz Casanova

Luz Rodríguez-Casanova y García San Miguel (Avilés, August 28, 1873; Madrid, January 8, 1949), simply known as Luz Casanova, was a Spanish laywoman and Fundress of Apostolic Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus congregation.
==Life==
Luz Casanova was borned on the (no longer existing) building N°30 of La Cámara street, in the breast of an aristocratic family: his father Florentino Rodríguez-Casanova (which died when Luz was only five years old) was the civil governor of Oviedo, his godfather, his uncle Julián García San Miguel y Zaldúa (Spanish politician and writer, minister of Gracia y Justicia during the Regency of Maria Christina of Austria); and her mother, Leónides, was the Marquise of Onteiro and the son of José García-San Miguel y López (First marquis of Teverga).
She were baptized on the Church of San Francisco of Avilés, on August 30th, 1873, and confirmated at the age of 4 by the Archdiocese of Manila en Madrid.
After the death of his father and grandfather, which Luz were so close, her family moves definitively to Madrid on 1885. A few time after his coming the capital city of Spain, Luz was shocked by the suffering of the poorest and the more helpless ones of the society, specially the women which walks through the streets. That's why in 1888, she decides to dedicate his life for helping to the more helpless ones. After a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes|Sanctuary of Our Lady Lourdes in the year of 1897, she decided to found the “Patronage of the Sick” (Spanish: Patronato de Enfermos).
Luz's work was never an individualist work, but from begginings, she tried to involucrate in her vision and “mission” all who had a special sensibility for the most needfull ones. That's why she used all the sources she had, even those which at that time were close to the women, like the people from Social comunication, for implicate other people, for create a movement and a social consciousness -which fighted for a more equitative re-distribution of the richness.
Luz Casanova was a precursor of social volunteering, it could be seen that her work was supported by “assistants and collaborators”, that helped to develope plurality and extend what later became the religious congregation of the Apostolic Ladies.
Thanks to all of this support and collaboration, on the year of 1902 she opened her first school “Obra de la Preservación de la Fe y Educación popular” which will be followed by many others on the next years, which formed a network of small educational centers located in marginal neighborhoods to help educate the poorest children and young people.
In 1910 it is founded the “Patronage of the Sick”, a project that tried to create a network of medical and spiritual assistance for the poorest working classes. The work were so succesful, that since 1924, Luz and her mates decide to live in community, while they ask for the creation of “Apostolic Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” (Spanish: Damas Apóstolicas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús) which after became the "Apostolic Sisters of the Heart of Jesus" (Spanish: Apóstolicas del Corazón de Jesús), and was approved by the Madrid's bishop on 1927.
In 1929 the architect Críspulo Moro Cabeza does the works of the Novitiate of the Apostolic Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 198 Paseo de La Habana of Madrid. And in 1930, her group does its religious proffesion.
From that moment, the congregation expands geografically and opens houses in Granada, Barcelona, Valencia and even Rome.
The Spanish Civil War was hard moment for the congregation, but as soon was the war ended, they restarted their social work. On the year of 1943 the pope Pius XII temporaly approves (until the definitive approvation on the year of 1950) the Constitutions of the congregation.
==Bibliography==
* Biografía de Dª Luz Casanova. Fundadora de las Damas Apostólicas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús . María de Echarri. Editorial: Artegrafia, Madrid, 1951
* Luz R. Casanova: El amor dijo sí. Iturbide, E. Ediciones Marianas. 1961. 22 cm. 360 p
Category:Spanish people
Category:1873 births
Category:1949 deaths
Category:People from Avilés
Category:Catholic lay organisations