Venerable Ignacia del Espíritu Santo

Ignacia del Espíritu Santo luco, also known as "Mother Ignacia" (February 1, 1663 – September 10, 1748) was a Filipino religious sister of the Catholic Church. She was known for her acts of piety and religious poverty and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Religious of the Virgin Mary, the first native Filipino female congregation with approved pontifical status in what is now the Republic of the Philippines. Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on July 6, 2007. Ignacia was the eldest and sole surviving child of María Jerónima, a Filipina, and José Yuco, a Christian Chinese migrant from Xiamen, China. Her birthdate is piously celebrated as February 1, 1663, based on the cultural customs of the Spanish Era. Only her baptismal record is preserved, which occurred on March 4, 1663. Ignacia was christened in the long-gone Church of the Holy Kings in the fifth Parián de Chinos by Fray Padre Alberto Collares, OP Expected by her parents to marry at 21 years old, Ignacia sought religious counsel from Father Paul Klein, a Jesuit priest from the Kingdom of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic). The priest directed her through the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, from which Ignacia drew her apostolic devotion and piety. After this period of solitude and prayer, Ignacia 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 Father Murillo Velarde, her eyewitness biographer, Ignacia left her parents' home with only a needle and a pair of scissors. At that time, there were only two religious houses for women in the Philippines: the Beatero de Santo Domingo and Santa Clara Monastery, and they only permitted to admit those of pure Spanish ancestry. Ignacia felt strongly against the Spanish law that prohibited native Filipinos from entering priestly or religious life.