Maria Giselda Villela was born in 1909, in Maria da Fé, MG, Brazil. Fiery and restless, intelligent and stubborn, she wanted to mount a wild horse, which caused her to fall off onto the ground and, kicking her in the groin, caused her a wound that would degenerate into cancer. She availed herself of all the scarce resources of the medicine of the time, but her life would be, from now on, marked by the cross of illness.

 She studied with the Sisters of Providence of Gap, in Itajubá, graduating in teaching. She taught in this College, and little by little, during this period, she matured her religious vocation. Her choice fell on Carmel. The young Giselda had discovered the mystery of the infinite love of God who wanted to dwell in the human heart. The Superior of the Carmel of Campinas had glimpsed in that young woman of worrying health a vigorous, strong and determined spirit. Shortly after her solemn profession, she was elected Sub-prioress and helped Carmel a lot, making available to God and the Sisters all her human and spiritual gifts.

At the age of only 34 she was chosen to go to Pouso Alegre, as Prioress, to found the Carmel of the Holy Family, with 3 other sisters. These gradually returned to the Carmel of Campinas, so much so that, in less than seven years after foundation, Mother Maria Imaculada found herself alone with a group of happy and inexperienced novices who, seeing their Prioress carrying out not only formation, but also cooking, poultry pen, assistance to the parlour and administration, gave her the nickname of "Mãezinha" (Mummy), shared not only by the sisters,  but by the entire population of Pouso Alegre. She took care of each one and prayed. «Mummy» watched over every daughter that God had entrusted to her, and above all over the atmosphere of the Community. Her only request to God, on the day of the foundation, was that this nascent Carmel be a new home of Nazareth: that love reign there and, if not, that he put an end to this Carmel.

Wanting to spare the sisters, who were preparing to found a Carmel in Campos, RJ, she hid, as long as she could, the cancer that had silently progressed. Suffocating from difficulty in breathing, yet serene, she died on January 20, 1988.