Film “La Misionera de San José” arrives today in theaters in Colombia

This November 24, the film “La Misioera de San José” will be released in Colombia, which narrates the life of Blessed Mother Petra, a religious who founded the first sanctuary in the world dedicated to the adoptive father of Jesus and whose congregation, dedicated to the care of the most destitute, arrived in the South American country in 1969.

The film comes through the Cinemark cinema chain and narrates the life of the blessed from her youth, the initial opposition of her father and the triumph of her vocation “of dedication to God and care for those most in need.” In addition, it relates how during the Spanish Civil War the freemasons wanted to burn the remains of it.

“The film is super interesting, first because it is about a woman who had a very simple life, fell in love, was about to get married, and found that God was calling her to serve the poor,” said Mother Marissa, superior at Colombia of the Congregation of Mothers of the Abandoned and San José de la Montaña, founded by the Blessed.

Blessed Mother Petra was born on December 6, 1845 in Malaga (Spain), and was baptized with the name of Ana Josefa. Her father was called José and her mother was María de ella, who died when the future nun was three years old.

“So, this is how she felt that the Virgin told her ‘I will be your mother.’ From a very young age she cultivated the spiritual life. She was a girl like any other, mischievous, playful, very pretty, but she always grew up with a grandmother, who instilled in her love for the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph,” Mother Marissa told ACI Prensa.


The role of Saint Joseph in the vocation of Mother Petra

The superior said that Blessed Mother Petra “felt in her vocational process how Saint Joseph helped her” when her father did not want her to continue religious life. “There was a moment when Saint Joseph presented himself to his father, surrounded by the poor, where he saw that his daughter was really for the poor,” she said.

But in addition, Mother Marissa recounted, the blessed “had a spiritual movement” at Christmas 1881, when “Saint Joseph gave the Child Jesus to Mother Petra.”

“Saint Joseph had a lot to do with the life of Mother Petra because he has been the patron, the provident in our homes. Most of them have the name of San José, because he is a very important reference in our congregation”, he affirmed.

The devotion of Mother Petra led her to build the first sanctuary in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph in Barcelona.

The place where it is located made the inhabitants always say “we are going to visit San José, the one on the mountain”, an expression that would be added to the name of the congregation.

Mother Marissa affirmed that the construction of the sanctuary “was a great providence”. “San José has a beautiful spirituality, the father of faith, he is the patron of families and the patron of workers,” and he helped raise the building overcoming all economic difficulties.


They try to burn remains of Mother Petra

The founder of the Congregation of Mothers of the Homeless and Saint Joseph of the Mountain died in Barcelona on August 16, 1906, at the age of 60 and in the odor of holiness. In 1920 her remains were deposited in the sanctuary at the feet of San José.

However, in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, “the Freemasons, who went against everything sacred, planned three things to do in their demonic activities, and one of their objectives was to rob and burn the remains of Mother Petra”, Mother Marissa pointed out.

The sanctuary was looted, the images burned and the coffin was left on the esplanade. For decades the nuns believed “that the remains had been burned because we found nothing but ashes.”

But as the tape relates, when the congregation celebrated its first centenary, a nun from another order informed them that the remains of Mother Petra had not been burned.

“Now we have the remains of Mother Petra. That has been a miracle and the film shows that plot. The remains have been in a field in Valencia, 47 years in silence, ”she indicated.

Mother Petra was beatified by Saint John Paul II on October 16, 1994.


The work of Mother Petra in Colombia

The Congregation of the Mothers of the Abandoned and San José de la Montaña arrived in Colombia in 1969. “God brought us (to Colombia), because God is the one who rules the roost, the one who prompted us to come here,” said Mother Marissa.

The superior of the congregation in Colombia indicated that in this country they have “four houses: two here in Sabanita – a house for spiritual retreats and a home for girls. In Chocó we have older adults, and we also have children with severe malnutrition; and in Guamo, (department of Tolima), we have older adults”.

The nun said that the first house in Colombia “had the name of San José Formation House, and it belonged to a priest who was no longer going to continue with the work”, so for the congregation it was to give “continuity to the work of Saint Joseph”.

The superior in Colombia pointed out that we are all “thirsty for God”; For this reason, “I invite everyone to go to the movies, see Mother, her story, her life, how impressive God makes the lives of people who are called by Him to serve, to serve the poor, to the helpless.”

The movie “La Misionera de San José” can be seen in Bogotá in the Cinemark theaters in La Floresta, Colina, Multiplaza and Ensueño.

Likewise, in the Arboleda (Pereira), Multicentro (Ibagué), Arkadia and Tesoro (Medellín), San Pedro (Neiva), Unicentro (Armenia), Caracoli (Bucaramanga), Gran Plaza (Florencia), Gran Plaza del Sol ( Soledad/Barranquilla), Unicentro (Palmira), Pacific Mall (Cali), Buenavista (Montería), Primavera Urbana (Villavicencio) and Unicentro (Pasto).

To know the schedules, you can enter HERE.



Film “La Misionera de San José” arrives today in theaters in Colombia