Rome (Italy). On 9 February 2026, the liturgical memorial of Blessed Eusebia Palomino Yenes, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians Beatified at Rome by John Paul II on 25 April 2004.
“The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds” (Sir 35:17). Perhaps this is the reason why so many people turn to the intercession of Blessed Sister Eusebia.
Born on 15 December 1899, in Cantalpino, in the province of Salamanca, Spain, she belonged to a large family (she was the third of eight children) that was very poor in resources but rich in faith, trust in divine Providence, and charity towards those in need. From a young age, Eusebia helped her parents in any way she could to find the necessities of daily life, even accompanying her father to beg for alms.
She herself recounts in her autobiography, “I was fortunate enough to go with him, because my mother feared that something might happen to him and sent me to keep him company, while my mother and my two little sisters prayed for us so that nothing would happen to us and the Blessed Virgin would protect us in everything… I enjoyed it very much. Everything seemed very beautiful to me, everything caught my attention: the birds, the bridges, the streams, the train which I was seeing for the first time. In short, everything was a source of joy for me. The villages, the churches, everything seemed more beautiful than in my own village. The little houses where the train flags are placed, the signalmen, the road workers, I liked everything very much and I said to my father, ‘How much I would like to live in these places, contemplating the fields and the birds and all these things that make me think of God’!”
Eusebia was seven years old, and until the end of her life she would bear witness to the blessedness of the pure of heart, the meek, and the humble. At the age of ten, she received her First Communion and at eleven, her Confirmation. The encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist was her joy. “Every time I received Communion, I felt a great joy within me because I possessed Jesus in my heart… I also felt deep in my heart that Jesus wanted me to give Him my whole heart. And this was true from the day of my First Communion.” Eusebia knew how to rejoice in the beauty of nature and in the little things that life offered her, and precisely because of this she was able to make her life a gift for everyone.
The “Decree on the Virtues” states that, “endowed with great virtues, she earned the praise of the community and the local people and of all who knew her. United with God, she advanced uninterruptedly in holiness and aroused particular admiration for her humility, the ease with which she made herself available to everyone, her simplicity, her charity, her profound spirit of prayer and sacrifice, her zeal for the salvation of souls and the Christian education of girls, and her diligent observance of the Rule and religious vows.”
Mother Antonia Colombo, the eighth successor of Mother Mazzarello at the head of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, wrote a month before the beatification of Sister Eusebia Palomino, “Having become a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, her place is in the kitchen. The most arduous tasks belong to her. Her surrender to God matures in her a total availability and an absolute indifference to whatever is asked of her. Sister Eusebia does everything with pleasure and joy. There is no discontinuity between work and prayer; from her life, continuous praise rises to God.
What is surprising about her, a woman with little education, is her ability to speak about the things of God. During the spiritual exercises in preparation for her perpetual vows held in the novitiate, Sister Eusebia was invited by the mistress of novices to address the community. ‘I will speak of the love of God,’ she declared without hesitation. Among those present was a novice who had read the works of Saint John of the Cross and other distinguished authors of spiritual theology. ‘What could a cook possibly say?’ she thought to herself. This same novice would later attest that, until that moment, she had known the love of God only through books, but she knew nothing of incarnate love, which, however, shone through in the words and life of Sister Eusebia. Yes, because the Lord reveals Himself to the humble, to children, and enables them to praise and bless His name, to radiate the joy of a life transfigured by the experience of His presence recognized in every creature” (Cir. 856 of 24 March 2004).
During the eleven years of her life as an FMA (1924-1935), Eusebia worked as a cook and house helper in Valverde del Camino. Despite having little formal education, in the Sunday oratory she dedicated herself to the youngest children and the poorest and simplest people. Gregoria Moya, who was very close to the FMA community and a witness in the Beatification process of Sister Eusebia, recounts that her catechesis aroused such admiration that many were moved by curiosity to see how someone so humble could communicate such profound doctrine about supernatural truths. She adds, “The Servant of God was sought out in a special way by the poorest and simplest people, while the wealthier ones remained somewhat bewildered in her presence.”
And Mother Antonia, in the same Circular, recalls, “She lives without complications, far from the self-consciousness induced by feelings of inferiority or shyness. She is at ease with young people; she even approaches the soldiers she meets, and she naturally interacts with ladies of high social standing who seek her out to hear her speak of God with words that touch deeply and inspire conversion. This is the case of the noblewoman Dolores Fleming, who was the first in Valverde to discover the greatness of Sister Eusebia’s soul, expressed in her very human and delicate manner, in her discreet and measured words, which could also become passionate and bold when it came to promoting the interests of the kingdom of God.”
Blessed Eusebia teaches and encourages us to believe that, “God exalts the humble” and through them changes history in unexpected ways.
