Ignacia del Espíritu Santo
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Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, born in Manila, Philippines, as Ignacia Iuco, the daughter of Giuseppe Iuco, a Chinese man from Xiamen, and María Jerónima, a Filipina or India, as the Filipina was called then, was the eldest of four children. She was baptized on March 4, 1663 at Holy Kings Parian and spent her childhood in Binondo, the place in Manila for Chinese converts to Catholicism. She refused her parents' request to marry and sought the spiritual direction of a Jesuit.
At a retreat, she was convinced of her calling to a spiritual life of virginity in the service of God and the church. Living alone, she spent her days in prayer and charitable works. Her example attracted other women who joined her and formed the Beaterio de la Compañía de Jesús (known today as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary) in the Intramuros district of Manila. Their name derives from the place they gathered for prayer in the Intramuros, the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. In accordance with her community's rule promulgated in 1726, Mother Ignacia relinquished her position as superior to Mother Dominga del Rosario in 1737. She died on September 10, 1748, and was interred at the Church of Saint Ignatius.
