Early life and education
Laura Latorre Mendoza was born on August 17, 1877 in the barrio of La Paz, in the town of Lipa. She was the third child of Pantaleon Mendoza and Maria Latorre. Though considered wealthy by those days' standards, the couple lived a simple and pious life.
Lipa, officially the City of Lipa,, or simply known as Lipa City, is a 1st class city in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 332,386 people.
As an adolescent, like many other affluent young ladies of Lipa, she was sent as an intern at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion Concordia in Manila run by the Hijas de Caridad (more popularly known today as the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul). While with the Hijas de Caridad, she felt attracted to the religious life. But circumstances related to her health prevented her entry.
Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital of the Philippines. It is the most densely populated city proper in the world. It was the first chartered city by virtue of the Philippine Commission Act 183 on July 31, 1901 and gained autonomy with the passage of Republic Act No. 409 or the "Revised Charter of the City of Manila" on June 18, 1949. Manila, alongside Mexico and Madrid are considered the world's original set of Global Cities due to Manila's commercial networks being the first to traverse the Pacific Ocean, thus connecting Spanish Asia with the Spanish Americas, marking the first time in world history when an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circled the planet. Manila has been damaged by and rebuilt from wars more times than the famed city of Troy and it is also the second most natural disaster afflicted capital city in the world next to Tokyo yet it is simultaneously among the most populous and most wealthy cities in Southeast Asia.
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, called in English the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church. Its members make annual vows throughout their life, which leaves them always free to leave, without need of ecclesiastical permission. They were founded in 1633 and state that they are devoted to serving Jesus Christ in persons who are poor through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Married life
Back in Lipa, she was very active in the parish's catechetical ministry. Obeying the wishes of her relatives, she married Rufino Marave who was also very much involved in the catechetical apostolate.
Being childless and free from any maternal obligations, Doña Laura continued her work of catechizing in the parish. In 1919, Rufino died of cancer leaving the childless widow a good amount of material fortune.
Missionary career
Not long after the death of her husband, in the year 1920, Bishop Verzosa encouraged Laura to go to Bauan, Batangas to run a school there and to start a religious congregation of sisters. Laura, together with 5 other pious ladies from Lipa heeded the Bishop's invitation and set for Bauan to start the Colegio de Sta. Teresa de Jesus.
Bauan, officially the Municipality of Bauan,, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 91,297 people.
The teachers lived in community and followed a regular schedule and Doña Laura, who from then on had started to be addressed as Madre Laura, directed the "sisters" in their activities. On May 1, 1923, after being able to secure permission from the Holy See, Bishop Verzosa promulgated the decree of the canonical erection of the "Congregacion de Maria de la Ensenanza Cristiana" as a religious institute for women of diocesan right whose chief purpose is for the Christian instruction of the youth and the teaching of catechesis in distant barrios. In the same year, Bishop Verzosa invited the Augustinian sisters to provide formal religious formation to the newly established community.
In 1925, Madre Laura got sick and was advised to return to Lipa. Without a leader, the sisters in Bauan was later on dispersed. Some joined the Franciscans and the others the Augustinians.
The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders within the Catholic Church, founded in 1209 by Saint Francis of Assisi. These orders include the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary, among many others.
The term Augustinians, named after Augustine of Hippo (354–430), applies to two distinct types of Catholic religious orders, dating back to the first millennium but formally created in the 13th century, and some Anglican religious orders, created in the 19th century, though technically there is no "Order of St. Augustine" in Anglicanism. Within Anglicanism the Rule of St. Augustine is followed only by women, who form several different communities of Augustinian nuns in the Anglican Communion.
In Lipa, Madre Laura again involved herself in teaching catechism and in helping the Franciscan sisters at St. Agnes Academy. In 1927, she moved to an old "kamalig" (warehouse) where she took care of young orphans. She named the house Asilo de Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. Later on, three young catechists from barrio Lodlod were attracted to her work and volunteered to assist her in her mission of catechesis.
Catechesis is basic Christian religious education of children and adults. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the religion became institutionalized, catechesis was used for education of members who had been baptized as infants. As defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 5 :
Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life.
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