María Isabel Zapata de Calatayud was born in Gandía (Valencia), Spain, on December 27, 1907. She lost her mother at the age of three and her father two years later. The Christian formation received from her parents and then cultivated by the guardians to whom she was entrusted, made her a young woman of strong faith and profound values.
In the midst of a marriage project in which she was eager to participate, she was strongly driven by Jesus' call to the Teresian Carmel, entering the monastery of Manises (Valencia) in 1928 and receiving the name Mary Isabel of Merciful Love. In 1956 she took part in the foundation of the Carmel of Olla de Altea, where she carried out various duties serving the community.
Returning to her civil name and receiving the documents from the Vatican II Council with a spirit of joy, she soon had in her heart the desire to found another monastery and in 1973 she moved with a group of nuns to Orito, where she would spend the rest of her life. In 1987 she began to feel that her health was deteriorating and was hospitalized. On her sick bed she was visited by many people and one day a priest asked her: "Mother, tell us something about paradise. What is paradise?” She took a moment to reflect and replied, "Heaven is the centre of love. Heaven is the place where you always love".
Finally, on the morning of October 31, 1987, Mother Mary Isabel of Merciful Love died, at the time the conventual Mass was being celebrated, approximately during the recitation of the Lord's Prayer.
The Diocesan Inquiry into her "life, virtue and reputation for holiness" was opened on July the 1st, 2006 and closed on June 19, 2011 at the Orihuela-Alicante diocese.
