History & Life of Mother
Ignacia Del Espiritu Santo
M. Igancia del Espiritu Santo was born, lived, and died during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines. The precise date of her birth is not known. Her baptsimal record mentions only the date of her baptism, March 4,1663. This confirms the statement  of Pedro Murillo Velarde that Ignacia was 21 years old in 1684. Ignacia was the eldest and the sole surviving child of Maria Jeronima, an yndia, and Jusepe Luco, a pure Chinese immigrant from Amoy, China, who was converted to the Catholic faith in 1652 and resided in Binondo, Manila.

When Ignacia was 21 years old, her parents wanted her to marry. Heeding a call deep within but not wanting to diappoint her parents, Ignacia sought counsel from Fr.Paul Klein, a Jesuit priest from Bohemia who arrived in Manila in 1682. The priest gave her the Spiritual Excercises of St. Ignatius. After this period of solitude and prayer, Ignacia decided to "remain in the service of the Divine Majesty" and to " live by the sweat of her face." She left home and brought with her only a needle and a pair of scissors. She started to live alone in the house located at the back of the Jesuit College of Manila. Her life of prayer and labor attracted yndias who also felt called to the Religious life but could not be admitted into the existing congregation at that time. M. Ignacia accepted these women into her company and the first community was born. They became known as the Beatas de la Compania de Hesus because they frequently received the sacraments at the Church of St. Ignatius, performed many acts of devotion there and had the Jesuit Fathers for their spiritual directors and cofessors.

M. Ignacia centered her life on the suffering of Christ and tried to imitate him through a life of service and humanity. She prayed earnestly to God  and performed penances to move God to have mercy on them. Her spirituality of humble service was expressed in her capacity to forgive, to bear wrongs patiently and to correct with gentleness and meekness. This spirituality was manifest in peace and harmony in the community, mutual love and union of wills, witnessing to the love of Christ and the maternal care of the Blessed Mother.

The spirituality sustained the beatas in their moments of difficulties especially during times of extreme poverty, when they even had to beg for rice and salt and scour the streets for firewood. The beatas continued to support themselves by the labor of their hands and sometimes received some financial help from pious people. In all these, they did not cease to thank God and to trust in divine providence.
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