The Life and Works of Mother Ignacia
by Mona Lisa H Quizon

  She is one of the few Filipinas who made a mark in our history. As a religious leader she practiced her duty by spreading love and concern to people in need. Her presence is a lamp that illumines the path of those people during trying time.

 There was very few information about Mother Ignacia’s birth but according to some documents she was baptized on 4 March 1663 by Fray Alberto Collares, O.P. at the Iglesia de los Santos Reyes. Her parents were Jusepe Incua and Maria Jeronima both Chinese. She spent her young life in Binondo.

 During that time the prospects were not brighter for Filipina who wanted to enter the congregation. There were only two beaterios or religious houses for women-the Real Monasterio de Santa Clara and the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Sena and unfortunately these beaterios do not admit non-Spanish applicants.

    As time passed, Ignacia felt that she would have a hard time pursuing her vocation because her Chinese roots.

 At the age of 21 she was pressured by her parents to marry.  Distraught, Ignacia sought the advice of Father Paul Klein, Jesuit from Bohemia who was a family friend and spiritual director. She preferred to enter the Beatrio de Santa Catalina also known before as the Beaterio de Santo Domingo than to get married.  Further, Father Klein told her to go on a spiritual retreat before making the crucial decision.

      After the retreat she decided to establish a religious community for non-Spaniards. Her decision to form an institute was believed to blessed with divine intervention from God.  That time she founded the Beatas de la Compania which later became the Religious of the Virgin Mary. The Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary, the oldest and largest Filipino congregation, is the first all-Filipino religious congregation for women in the Philippines. The initial members were her niece, Cristina Gonzales and two young ladies, Teodora de Jesus and Ana Margarita. From the original four members the congregation added six more members and later on there were thirty-three members in all. Because of her devotion in her work, she was able to attract more members; by 1748 there were already fifty members. They considered the Virgin Mary as their model in following Jesus, and their community was dedicated to her. As the years moved forward, the sisters helped out the Jesuits in fscilitsting retreats by educating retreatants in the Spiritual activities. They also dedicated themselves to the education of young women who lived in the Philippines. They trained girls in various domestic skills and arts such as reading, sewing and embroidery.
     
 The Religious of Virgin Mary was created with its visions of “serving with humility and charity; live out our contemplation-in-action; live in the visible solidarity with the poor; promote justice and peace, empowerment of youth and women, and the evangelization of families; blaze new trails in our ministries; and collaborate with the lay in support of evangelization”. Mother Ignacia also showed nationalism and love for the country by establishing this congregation for her fellow Filipina. She saw that they were deprived of their rights to be part of congregations run by Spaniards, thus, initiated a plan to create a Filipinized congregation of servants of God. She is courageous enough to fulfill her visions. Mother Ignacia in a way was instrumental in strengthening the faith of many Filipino and fulfilling their vows of being a true Christian. 

 The house where the members had lived was called House of Retreat.  It was in there were retreats and recollections were held for women desiring to make themselves complete.  Mother Ignacia initiated this practice of spiritual recollection, and she herself started the retreat movement among women. She was a woman with distinct attitude and of rare qualities.

      After many years of serving the country through kind works, she died on 10 September 1748 at the age of eighty-five. She did not live to enjoy the day when King Ferdinand IV of Spain granted proteccion civil to the Congregation on November 25, 1755, a petition formally transmitted by Archbishop Arizala of Manila to the king two months before her death.
     
      By 1996, the National Council of Women in the Philippines posthumously gave Mother Ignacia an award that described her as a woman who "braved social disapproval to blaze a trail for women of her race to be free to live a life of voluntary poverty, chastity and obedience without the security of financial support from colonial society, but be the sweat of her brow. It was from this bold initiative that she formed the first indigenous community of women”
     
      Mother Ignacia's foundation for beatification began in the 1980s, and on 6 July 2007 Pope Benedict XVI declared her "Venerable
     
 Indeed it is a remarkable achievement of a woman in our history. It’s quite fitting to honor her deeds. As we celebrate the international women’s month this March, may we remember Mother Ignacia and her selfless works for the Filipino women and the unfortunate.