The founder of the first and oldest religious women's congregation in the Philippines - the Religious of the Virgin Mary - is "venerable". The president of the Filipino bishops conference, Archbishop Jaro Angel N. Lagdameo, read during the solemn Mass celebrated yesterday the decree conferring the title of venerable on Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo.
Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila celebrated the Mass at the shrine of Lorenzo Ruiz, in Binondo .
Mother Ignacia was born in Binondo in 1963, to a Chinese father and Filipino mother. Instead of marrying, Ignacia worked as a seamstress and led a life of prayer, meditation, and apostolic service. Her life was an example for other Filipino women, who at the time could not formally enter religious convents, which were reserved for those of Spanish descent.
She started the first religious institution for Filipino women, known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary. The congregation, which today is one of the largest in the Philippines, with more than 700 members, directs schools, retreat centres, and centres for social and health assistance.
The proclamation of Mother Ignacia as venerable came on her birthday, which according to her baptismal certificate falls on February 1st. The promulgation of the decree is an important step toward beatification.
In the decree that goes back to July 6th, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the conclusions of the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and declared that "the Servant of God, Ignacia, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters 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".
Mother Ignacia is the second person of Filipino origin to receive the title of "venerable", after Isabel Larranage Ramirez, the founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who was proclaimed venerable in 1999.
If she is canonized, Mother Ignacia could become the second Filipino saint. The first, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, was martyred during the persecution of Christians in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1637. According to the documents presented in Rome for the cause of beatification, it must be ascertained that Mother Ignacia led a life of holiness and that at least one miracle has been obtained through her intercession.
The case presented to the conjugation is the healing of a diabetic. Victoria Peña-Utanes suffered from a serious infection of her left foot, which her doctor was planning to amputate.
In desperation, Utanes invoked the intercession of Mother Ignacia, and in an act of faith the sick woman placed a photo of Mother Ignacia on the wound and bandaged the foot. When she arrived home in the evening, the wound had been healed, and according to her doctor the healing could not be explained in scientific terms.
Cardinal Jaime Sin, Rosales's predecessor, began the cause of beatification in 1986. The Vatican guaranteed the "nihil obstat", giving permission to proceed with the investigation the same year, and an archdiocesan tribunal was created.
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