| Venerable Ignacia del Espíritu Santo | |
|---|---|
| Virgin, Religious Sister, Foundress, The Religious of the Virgin Mary | |
| Born | February 1, 1663 Binondo, Manila, Philippines |
| Died | September 10, 1748 Intramuros, Manila, Philippines |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz, RVM Motherhouse |
| Feast | September 10, March 4 |
Venerable Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, also known as Mother Ignacia (1 February 1663 – 10 September 1748) was a Filipino Religious Sister of the Roman Catholic Church. Known for her acts of piety and religious poverty, she entered the religious life in 1684 and later founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Religious of the Virgin Mary, the first convent with approved pontifical status in the Republic of the Philippines[1]. Espiritu Santo was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.
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Ignacia del Espíritu Santo was born on February 1, 1663 and was the eldest and sole surviving child of María Jerónima, a Filipina and Jusepe Iuco, a Christian Chinese migrant from Xiamen, China. Expected by her parents to marry at 21 years old, Ignacia sought religious counsel from Father Paul Klein, a Jesuit priest from Bohemia. The priest gave her the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola from which Ignacia drew her religious devotion and piety. After this period of solitude and prayer, Ignacia finally decided to pursue her religious calling, to "remain in the service of the Divine Majesty” and “live by the sweat of her brow.” According to a popular Filipino tale, Ignacia left her parents' home with only a needle and a pair of scissors.
Ignacia felt strongly against the Spanish prohibition that native Filipinos could not become religious nuns or priests at the time. In hopes of changing this ecclesiastical limitation, Ignacia began to live alone in a vacant house at the back of the Colegio Jesuita de Manila, the headquarters of Jesuits in Manila. She devoted a life of public prayer and labour which attracted other Filipino lay women to monasticism at a time when Filipinos were barred from pursuing the religious life. Ignacia accepted these women into her company, and though they were not officially recognised as a religious order at the time, together they became known as the Beatas de la Compañía de Jesús. They frequently received the sacraments at the old church of St. Ignatius, performed many acts of public devotion there and went to the Jesuit priests for spiritual direction and confession.
This penitential spirituality sustained the other women in hardship, especially during times of extreme poverty, when they had to beg for rice and salt and scour the streets for firewood. The lay women (known as beatas) continued to support themselves through manual labour and requesting alms from other laypeople. Eventually, the growing number of laywomen called for a more stable lifestyle and a set of rules. A daily schedule was drawn up and community practises were defined. The association only admitted young girls and boarders who were taught catechism and given manual work.
In 1726, Ignacia submitted the constitutions of the Congregation to the Archdiocesan Office of Manila for ecclesiastical approval which was granted in 1732 by the Fiscal Provisor of Manila. Ignacia decided to resign as Superior and lived as an ordinary member until her death on September 10, 1748.
King Ferdinand IV of_Naples granted civil protection to the Congregation on November 25, 1755, a petition formally sent by Archbishop Pedro Arizala to the King two months before Ignacia's death. The Spanish King did not recognize them as an official convent of religious sisters, rather as a pious association of faithful lay women. In 1768, the Jesuit priests were expelled from their convent which the sister's considered hurtful to their congregation.[2]
In 1732, the Archbishop of Manila approved the Rules then in use among the other religious women. Ignacia had the consolation of seeing the steady growth of her small band of members. Del Espíritu Santo died on September 10, 1748 at the age of eighty-five. She died on her knees after receiving Holy Communion at the communion rail of the old Jesuit church of St. Ignatius in Intramuros.
On 17 March 1907, Pope Pius X promulgated the Decree of Praise in favour of the congregation's Rules and Constitutions. The Decree of Approbation was granted by Pope Pius XI on 24 March 1931 which elevated the Congregation to Pontifical status.
On 12 January 1948, the 200th anniversary of the death of del Espíritu Santo, Pope Pius XII issued the Decree of Definitive Papal Approbation of the Constitutions.
In a papal decree dated 6 July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the findings of the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and declared that
| “ | ...the Servant of God, Ignacia, foundress of the Religious of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is found to possess to a heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity toward God and neighbor, as well as the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude. | ” |
On February 1, 2008, Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales presided over the promulgation which officially accorded to Ignacia the title "Venerable" at the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz in Binondo, Manila
A well-known street in Manila called Madre Ignacia Street is named after Del Espiritu Santo due to being centralized within the commercial grounds of ABS-CBN network communications.
The municipal city of Santa Ignacia in Tarlac, Philippines is also named in honor of Del Espiritu Santo.
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