[1] Desmaisières grew up around several European monarchs since her brother - whom she travelled with - was an ambassador to such courts though she later decided to take care of girls and women of a poorer socio-economic background which extended to the care of the ill.[2] The sainthood cause opened on 19 August 1902 under Pope Leo XIII - she was titled as a Servant of God - while Pope Pius XI named her as Venerable on 11 June 1922.

Her father was a high-ranking officer in the armed forces and her mother was an attendant to Queen Maria Luisa de Parma.

Her heart was both sensitive and compassionate and her mother guided her towards charitable works towards the poor and the ill; she alternated between this apostolate and the normal life that her social class imposed upon her.

She was also fond of spending time before the Blessed Sacrament and it was her love for Jesus Christ in this that it inspired the future of her work.

[1][2] In 1844 she paid her first visit to the Saint John of God Hospital in Madrid on 6 February 1844 where she met a girl - a banker's sole daughter - who had become drawn into prostitution through deception and was now marginalised and facing economic hardship.

Desmaisières died in Valencia on 25 August 1865 when she fell victim to the cholera epidemic whilst attending to some of the women - and fellow sisters - in the area infected.