February 21, 2010. Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1837. She was born to a family of artisans. In 1874 she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph along with her spiritual director, the Jesuit Francisco Javier Butinyà, in order to help working women.

These “Nazareth Workshops” they created employ impoverished women and fight against prostitution.

Certain priests of Salamanca and superiors of the community sowed doubt among the sisters which forced Boniface out of the Congregation. She then founded another community in the town of Zamora, where she died in 1905.

John Paul II beatified her in November of 2003. Today the Sisters of St. Joseph are in 13 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America where they have offices and art schools, youth prevention workshops, pastoral parishes and houses of spirituality.


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