Sister Maria Ines Teresa Arias is one step closer to sainthood…

The Mexican nun, who founded the Congregation of Poor Clare Missionary Sisters, will be beatified at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to the Catholic Church.

Sister Maria Ines was born in Ixtlan del Rio in 1904 and dedicated her life to missionary work. Arias, who passed away in 1981 at the age of 77, now becomes the fourth Mexican woman to be beatified.

Those previously designated as “blessed” are Maria de Jesus Sacramentado (1868-1959), Maria Vicenta Chavez Orozco (1867-1949), founder of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, and Maria Anastasia Guadalupe Garcia (1878-1963), who was beatified in April 2004.

The process of beatification will be led by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Roman Curia and papal nuncio in Mexico.

The late Pope John Paul II pronounced to be true the “miracle” attributed to Arias.

Beatification is a first step toward sainthood, though all of those beatified do not necessarily become saints.