Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena Montoya

Laura Montoya Upegui, known in religion as Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena, was born on 26 May 1874 in Jericó, in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, the daughter of Juan de la Cruz Montoya and María Dolores Upegui. When she was about two years old her father was killed during the Colombian civil war of the mid-1870s, and the family lost its property and fell into poverty. Laura spent part of her childhood in the household of her maternal grandmother and at times lived apart from her mother. The insecurity and want of those years left a lasting mark on her, as did the Catholic faith in which she was raised.

She trained as a teacher at the Escuela Normal de Institutoras in Medellín and taught for a number of years in towns of Antioquia. Teaching both supported her family and expressed a vocation of service, yet she also felt drawn to consecrated life. After considering a contemplative Carmelite vocation, she became convinced that she was called instead to missionary work among Colombia’s indigenous peoples, who were widely marginalized and often treated as inferior. In May 1914 she left Medellín with a few companions for Dabeiba, to live among indigenous communities, to teach, and to share the Christian faith.

That year she founded the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and Saint Catherine of Siena, whose members became known as the Lauritas. The sisters worked in remote forest and mountain districts, combining education, catechesis, and material help. Madre Laura wrote on the spiritual life and on the missions and insisted that indigenous people possessed the same dignity as other Colombians and must not be regarded as savages. Her congregation obtained ecclesiastical approval and expanded its work in Colombia and later beyond.

In her later years she suffered grave illness and from about 1940 was confined to bed, remaining an invalid until her death while still directing her sisters by letter and counsel. She died in Medellín on 21 October 1949. Pope John Paul II beatified her on 25 April 2004, and Pope Francis canonized her on 12 May 2013, making her the first saint born in Colombia. Her feast is kept on 21 October. She is remembered as a teacher, foundress, and missionary who devoted her life to the evangelization and defense of indigenous peoples and of the poor.