Antonia Maria de Oviedo Schöntal (16 March 1822 – 28 February 1898) was a Swiss-Spanish Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-founder of the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer, an order that she established with the Benedictine Bishop José María Serra.

Antonia received in her childhood and youth a solid preparation in history, culture and geography of her small and beloved country, Switzerland.

[4] After that experience, Antonia received a job offer from the Spanish ambassador in Bern, who requested her services to be the governess of the three daughters of Queen Maria Christina de Borbón from her marriage to Don Agustin Fernando Muñoz, the Duke of Riánsares.

In January 1848, Antonia travelled to Madrid and lived with the royal family and dedicated herself to the education of the three princesses: Amparo, Milagros and Cristina.

For 12 years, she worked as governess to the royal children where she displayed her rich cultural background, exquisite training, special sensitivity to the arts, music, literature, languages and showed her solid faith and personal maturity.

Her departure came in October 1860 with the marriage of the last daughter: Maria Cristina Muñoz Borbón (19 April 1840 – 19 December 1921).She later moved to Rome, where she remained for two years.

Between 1836 and 1855, she developed her literary facet and wrote poems, dialogues and comedies, historical and travel pieces, sea stories as well as on eucharistic, ecclesial and missionary themes, novels and autobiographical texts.

With the desire to put into practice the teachings, warnings, and examples that I have received until today, I propose before starting a new lifestyle, never to separate myself from the path of virtue, of religion, turn to Jesus and Mary in all situations, however difficult they may be, to obtain from their sacred hearts, the consolations and strength I need.

For this, I made the firm resolution to faithfully follow the rule of life that I have drawn for myself in order not to live, if not for God, to inspire the girl that will entrust me with these same feelings even amid this world.

When I wake up each morning, to offer Jesus and to His Blessed Mother, my thoughts, words and deeds and ask them for the grace to fulfill my duties well during the day.

I want to spend it with greater recollection, devoting more time to the exercises of piety, examining my behavior during that month to better understand the state of my soul.

Once a year during Advent or Christmas, I will make 2 or 3 days of spiritual retreat to delve into myself and thoroughly examine my soul, so that I can give an account to my director, if he deems it convenient.

Antonia then went out to the street, listened to the women saying: "I do not have anyone in the world", she prayed, discerned, and finally visited Our Lady of Good Counsel in the cathedral of Saint Isidore, where she decided to accept and commit herself to the project.

She took the name of Antonia Maria of Mercy, an expression of the new charism that led her to express herself before the reality of the women: "I want you to see in them the image of the Redeemer" For 34 long years, Antonia walked with women in prostitution, a way of liberating evangelization and feels so identified with her call that she expressed: "I'm happy and sure that God called me to this work, so peaceful in my vocation, that my only desire is to be faithful"..[8] In the night of February 28, 1898, Antonia Maria of Mercy at 75 years old gave up her life in total oblation to the Father and after living fully the mystery of mercy and been place of Encounter with Life for so many women who opened themselves to hope.

Her mortal remains rest in the Chapel of the Spirituality House of the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer in Ciempozuelos, Madrid, Spain.

The fame of holiness that accompanied Antonia when she was still alive after death takes root and begins to spread and propagate for the graces and favors that God grants through her intercession.

She was proclaimed to be Venerable on 7 July 1962 after Pope John XXIII confirmed that the late religious had lived a model life of heroic virtue.

Today, we remember the Venerable Mother Antonia Maria de la Misericordia, who was a gesture of great humanity for her participation in the Redemptive Work of Christ.

She felt your call and shared the Good News of the gospel to women in the contexts of prostitution, and creating horizons of dignity and hope together.

On March 16, 2022, the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer in the places where they are commemorated the Bicentennial of the birth of Mother Antonia Maria of Mercy.

It kicked off with the Virtual Bicentennial Jubilee Year Celebration on March 9, 2022, the Feast of St. Joseph, that was attended by over 200 members of the Congregation and the whole Oblate Family all over the world.

The Superior General of the Oblate Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer, Lourdes Perramon Bacardit, opened the celebration with few words of welcome and thanksgiving.

[6] As a climax to the celebration of the Oblate Family, we were able to enjoy two wonderful dances performed by women from the project in Angola and from the formation community in the Philippines.

Synopsis If all doors are closed” tells the story of three women, apparently separated in time and space, but who end up coming together in their process of finding themselves.

Rebeca lives in Madrid and works as a teacher in a private school while she is studying for the public exams to secure a permanent position.