Our History

A Religious Family is Born

The life of Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament is no ordinary story. It is a story filled with that complete trust in God which makes life a daring adventure, the kind of adventure one encounters when one dares to love God above all things and to place one’s life completely in His hands. It is a story where trust in God and obedience to His manifest designs bursts forth into great sanctity. Mother Luisita is a model of holiness in the single, married, widowed and religious state.

Maria Luisa de la Pena was born in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco Mexico on June 21, 1866, the first surviving of fourteen children. Although she felt drawn to the religious life, at the age of fifteen in obedience to her parents, she married Doctor Pascual Rojas, a prominent physician who was twice her age. Their life together was happy, a mutual growing in love of God and neighbor. God did not grant them children. They trusted and decided together that the poor would be their children. They built the little Hospital of the Sacred Heart to serve those less fortunate. After fourteen years of married life Maria Luisa was left a widow. On his deathbed, Doctor Rojas told her that he had no doubt what she would do after he had died – she would serve God as a religious.

Eight years later Maria Luisa entered the Cloistered Carmelites and became immersed in the spirituality of Carmel. After seven months she was asked by the Archbishop to return to her work at the hospital which needed her guidance. Again, she trusted God’s manifest designs. Along with the hospital she opened a school and orphanage. Many others attracted by her spirituality and love for our Lord began to join her.

The Archbishop re-appeared and told her that she would have to join an existing religious Congregation. Obediently she left all her works behind and joined the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Four years later the Archbishop asked her to return, she was needed at the hospital and with the children. She obeyed. More women joined her. This time the Archbishop himself suggested that she found a Religious Congregation and the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart were established on February 2, 1921. On that same day, Mother Luisita and five sisters received the Carmelite Habit and began to live the Carmelite rule. Her charism “to unite the spirit of Carmel to the active apostolate” unfolded.

Persecution & A New Home

Six years later, a dangerous and terrifying storm erupted – religious persecution in her beloved Mexico, there were now fifty-five Sisters in Mother Luisita’s community.

Ordered to disband in 1926, the fledgling community hid in private homes, carrying on their loving services quietly and secretly. Mother Luisita’s correspondence had to be written in a code which she devised to protect all concerned. In 1927, the situation was so bad that she and two other Sisters, Mother Margarita Maria and Sister Teresa Navarro, fled Mexico as religious refugees. Welcomed by Archbishop John Cantwell of Los Angeles, they planted new roots in new soil. About the same time the Archbishop of Guadalajara went into hiding. The local people, shouting “Viva, Cristo Rey!” gave their lives for the cause of religious freedom. Catholic Churches in Mexico were closed. Tabernacles were empty. The sisters in Mexico remained in hiding.

In 1929 Mother Luisita returned to Mexico and continued the work she had begun there, as well as guiding, visiting and directing the Sisters in California. Initially, the sisters in the United States worked solely in parishes, going door to door taking the census, tutoring the children of Mexican families who were, themselves, refugees, and teaching catechetics. In 1930, Santa Teresita Tuberculosis Sanatorium was established in Duarte, California, and flourished under the administrative care of Mother Margarita Maria and the sisters.

Mother Luisita spent the remainder of her life in hiding, ill and living in extreme poverty, often without sufficient food. Her faith was unwavering and her love for our Lord increased and lit a flame of love in the hearts of her spiritual daughters. On February 11, 1937, God called His faithful servant home to Himself.

Mother Luisita was a light during those dark days, traveling between Mexico and the United States. She began schools, orphanages, hospitals, and clinics. She found ways to teach the children, support the parents, and bring the good news of the Gospel to God’s people. Wherever she went, she explained doctrine and helped people in their prayer life. People still remember her recollection during prayer and her long hours before the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1940, the sisters opened the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra, California. This was a deep desire of Mother Luisita – to open a retreat house in which souls could find rest, refreshment, and time with our Lord in silence and prayer.

Establishment as a Pontifical Institute

The years following Mother Luisita’s death bore fruit for the Kingdom and a growth in the community, both in Mexico and the United States. The sisters in the United States continued to grow in their apostolic works. With the discovery of penicillin, tuberculosis was now under control and the sanatorium transitioned into a full-service hospital for the San Gabriel region. The sisters opened schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and were invited to step in to assist as teachers and administrators in other schools.

In 1983, Cardinal Timothy Manning set off to Rome to speak to the His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, regarding the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart who were working in Los Angeles. Though the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico had ended years earlier, there were still certain laws on the books which did not allow the sisters in Mexico to live the same freedoms nor the same life as the sisters in the United States. At the personal decision of Pope John Paul II, on February 2, 1983, Mother Luisita became a foundress for the second time with the birth of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, the name given by Pope John Paul II himself. The sisters in the United States were now a Pontifical Institute, which means that they are directly under the Holy Father’s jurisdiction. Together with the Carmelite Sisters of Mexico they share the richness of her legacy.

90 Years of Prayer & Service

In 2017 the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles celebrated serving 90 years in the United States, specifically in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in healthcare, education, and retreat work. The sisters had ventured to other states to teach in schools: Florida, Ohio, Arizona, and California. They were serving in two skilled nursing facilities, Santa Teresita in Duarte, California, and Marycrest Manor in Culver City; and two Assisted Living Cottages were constructed on the campus of Santa Teresita.

The Charism Continues

Currently, 120 Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angles serve in the spirit of Mother Luisita, with joy and love, all ages, from pre-K children through our precious elders who are on the threshold of eternity. The sisters teach with the Mind and Heart of Christ in elementary schools and high school. They accompany teens, young adults, adults, and families, promoting a deeper spiritual life in the hearts of all through retreat work. The sisters are at the service of life through the healthcare apostolate at Santa Teresita and Marycrest Manor.

In all their apostolates of service, the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles strive, with unwavering faith, to stand in the presence of the living God, and with Mary, to make known the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.