View source for Saint Mariana de Jesús de Paredes

{{Saints
|SaintName=Saint Mariana de Jesús de Paredes
|SaintStage=Saint
|FeastDay=May 26
|SaintBirthPlace=Quito, Audiencia of Quito, Spanish Empire
|SaintBirthCoordinates=-0.220200, -78.512300
|DeathPlace=Quito, Audiencia of Quito, Spanish Empire
|SaintDeathCoordinates=-0.220200, -78.512300
|SaintCauseOfDeath=natural causes (illness)
|NotableAddress1=Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Calle García Moreno, Quito, Ecuador
|NotableLabel1=Family home turned Franciscan convent; tomb
|NotableCoordinates1=-0.220200, -78.512300
|AssociatedCountries=Ecuador
|AssociatedDioceses=[[Archdiocese of Quito]]
|Beatifier=Pope Pius XII
|Canonized=Yes
|CanonizationDate=1950-09-07
|Canonizer=Pope Pius XII
|SaintMiracle1=Healing of a child from terminal illness
|SaintMiracle2=Multiplication of food during famine
|Profession=tertiary
|ReligiousAffiliation=Third Order of Saint Francis
|Patronage=Ecuador; Quito; the sick; those rejected by religious orders
|Attributes=lily; skull; Franciscan habit
|PrimaryShrine=Church of La Compañía de Jesús (adjacent to her tomb), Quito, Ecuador
|ReviewLevel=0
}}
'''Saint Mariana de Jesús de Paredes''' (31 October 1618 – 26 May 1645), known as the '''Lily of Quito''', was an Ecuadorian virgin, mystic, and Franciscan tertiary, the first canonized saint of Ecuador.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_04071950_mariana-de-jesus.html |title=Canonization of Saint Mariana de Jesús |publisher=Holy See |access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref> Born in Quito to noble Spanish parents Captain Don Jerónimo de Paredes y Flores and Doña Mariana Jaramillo de Granobles, she was orphaned at age seven and raised by her elder sister Jerónima and brother-in-law Cosme de Caso. From childhood she practiced extreme penance, wearing a hairshirt, fasting, and dedicating her life to prayer and care of the poor and sick.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=211 |title=St. Mariana de Jesus de Paredes |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref> Refusing marriage and religious life in a convent (due to ill health), she became a solitary in her family home, living under the Jesuit spiritual direction of Father Juan Camacho and taking vows as a Third Order Franciscan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-mariana-de-jesus-de-paredes/ |title=Saint Mariana de Jesús de Paredes |publisher=Franciscan Media |access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>

During epidemics and earthquakes in 1645, Mariana offered herself as a victim soul for Quito; she died on 26 May 1645 at age 26 after intense mystical suffering. Beatified on 20 November 1945 and canonized on 9 July 1950 by Pope Pius XII—the first saint of Ecuador—after authenticated miracles, her feast is 26 May. Patroness of Ecuador, Quito, the sick, and those rejected by religious orders, she is called the “Lily of Quito” for her purity.