To Love and To Suffer - The Development of The Religious Congregations For Women in The Philippines During The Spanish Era (1565-1898)

University of San Carlos Publications
"TO LOVE AND TO SUFFER": THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS

FOR WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE SPANISH ERA (1565-1898)
Author(s): Luciano P.R. Santiago
Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 24, No. 3/4, SPECIAL ISSUE: THE
PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION OF 1896 (September/December 1996), pp. 216-254
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
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Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society
24(1996):216-254
"TO LOVE AND TO SUFFER": THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN IN THE
PHILIPPINES DURING THE SPANISH ERA (1565-1898)
Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago^
PART III
INTRODUCTION
Parts I and II of this article have discussed the first three overlapping
stages in the development of the religious congregations for women in the
Spanish Philippines (1565-1898): 1) The Transitional Stage: From Priest?
esses to Beatas (1565-1650); 2) The Eremitic Stage (1600-1800); and 3)
The Communal or Monastic Stage (1634-1898).
The present, Part III, goes into the last two stages: 4) The Missionary
Stage (1858-98); and 5) The Advent of the International Congregations
(1862-92).
IV. THE MISSIONARY STAGE (1858-1898)
A, The Missionary Beatas of Sta. Catalina (see Table 1).
The first Filipino nun, Sor Marta de San Bernardo was also the first
Filipino missionary (1634). The first Filipino missionary priest was
Bachiller Don Ignacio Gregorio Manesay (ca. 1675-1732) of San Roque,
Cavite. A Chinese mestizo, he was ordained by Archbishop Diego
Camacho y Avila in 1699. He entered the Order of St. Augustine as Fray
Ignacio de Sta. Teresa OS A, in 1701 and was sent to China as a missionary
Luciano P.R. Santiago, M.D. is affiliated with the Medical Center Hospital, Greenhills, Metro
Manila, and his address is Medico Building Room 409, San Miguel and Lourdes Road, 1600 Pasig,
Metro Manila.
This paper is a continuation of Part I and Part II: "To Love and to Suffer," Philippine Quarterly
of Culture and Society, June 1995, vol. 23, pp. 151-195; March/June 1996, vol. 24, pp. 119-179, re?
spectively.
RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS FOR WOMEN 217
and writer of religious books in Chinese. The first Filipino missionary

priest to his own people was Bachiller Don Alfonso Baluio y Garcia
(ca.1679-ca.1722) of Pampanga. He was also ordained by Camacho in
1703 and was assigned as the missionary to Abra de Vigan in Northern
Luzon.1
It was only a century and a half later, in the middle of the 19th century,
that the opportunity for Filipino beatas to serve as missionaries knocked at
their door. At that time, a spiritual-social upheaval rocked the mission ter?
ritory of China. Because of overpopulation and famine, it became a ram?
pant practice for needy families to abandon their baby daughters since only
boys were valued in the patrilineal society. Missionary nuns found them?
selves in a position to save as many girls as possible from exposure and
certain death and raise them up in asylums as new Christians. For this pur?
pose, the Dominican missionaries appealed for volunteers from the Beate
rio de Sta. Catalina in Manila. Mission work, however, was not part of the
original plans laid down by the foundresses of any of the beaterios. And
yet, interestingly enough, it still corresponded properly to their lofty objec?
tives. Inevitably, the beaterios, starting with Sta. Catalina, were in the
process of evolving. And now, they struggled to forge a new sense of spiri?
tual identity and purpose. Since the Spanish beatas of Sta. Catalina were
the choir sisters involved in the contemplative observance and education,
only the Filipino sisters of obedience were available for the apostolic task
at hand. Ironically, the humble positions of Filipino beatas in their commu?
nity for the previous century and a half prepared and freed them for
launching the fourth stage in the historical development of religious con?
gregations for women in the Philippines - the missionary stage.
The First Filipino Missionary Beatas
Though unacknowledged in the history of Chinese missions, the Beate

rio de Sta. Catalina was the first religious congregation for women to ar?
rive on the Chinese mainland in 1858. The first two Filipino missionary
sisters were: 1) Sor Ana del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jesus (1840-1881), the
former Liceria Mateo y David of Sampaloc, Manila, a sister of obedience;
and 2) Sor Pascuala Bir?n del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jesus (1821-1912), of
Binondo, Manila, who was then a lay tertiary working as a maid in the
beaterio. Endowed with a singing voice, Sor Ana was then only 18 years
218 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
old, being the youngest and newest addition to the beaterio. She had just
pronounced her vows on the vigil of the feast of the Transfiguration of Our
Lord, 5 August 1858. Before the end of the year, the two brave souls
founded the Asilo de la Santa Infancia (Asylum of the Holy Childhood) in
Foochow, Fujien Province. Sor Pascuala took her vows as a sister of obe?
dience a year later becoming the first beata to profess in the missions.
They were also the first missionary sisters to adopt the Sacred Heart as de?
votional names. Pope Pius IX had just instituted the Universal Feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1856. Both by name and by witnessing, the two
Filipino beatas introduced the fresh symbol of Divine Love to the mis?
sions.3
They first took a crash course in Mandarin. Apparently of Chinese
mestizo background, they were disguised as Chinese women to be able to
do their work effectively. They picked up abandoned girls, baptizing, rear?
ing, and educating them in the Catholic way of life in the asylum. On the
average, they saved more than 3,700 girls a year. Sor Ana and Sor Pas?
cuala were the first full-time Filipina social workers. They were assisted by
Chinese lay tertiaries, some of whom, together with some of their wards -
moved by their example - applied for admission to the beaterio and were
sent to Manila for their novitiate. Other girls were adopted by prominent
families in Manila in the 19th century. Completely dedicated to their apos
tolate, the two foundresses died in the Holy Infant Asylum, surrounded by
their assistants and the girls they had saved. Sor Ana died at the age of 40
on 14 January 1881 and the hardy Sor Pascuala at 91 on 30 May 1912 after
laboring in the field for 54 years - the longest on record in the beaterio.4
The beatas established three more orphanages with schools in China
before the close of the 19th century in the following cities: Aupoa (1889);
Amoy (1890) and Kamboe (1890). In the early 20th century, they opened
six more asylums and five colleges for girls in China, Taiwan and Japan.5
There is nothing more radiant than a spiritual concept whose time has
come. In the footsteps of the two Filipina pioneers in China followed other
native missionary sisters who professed in the 19th century. There was, in
fact, a resurgence of vocations for Filipina lay sisters to the beaterio, as in
the 18th century, once its missionary activities got under way. Previously,
there were only a handful of energetic legas at the service of the commu?
nity. By the turn of the century, their humble ranks had swelled to 32, half
of whom worked in the missions. (Those who professed after 1898 are not
included in the following list.) After 1. Sor Ana and 2. Sor Pascuala
came:6
3. Sor Regina del Inmaculado Coraz?n de Maria (1846-1905), the former
Regina Granada Samson of Sta. Cruz de Malabon (now Tanza),
Cavite, professed as hermana de obediencia in 1865. After the death of
Sor Ana, she worked as her replacement at the Asylum in Foochow
(1881-82). She assisted in the foundation of the Asilo de la Santa In
fancia de Kamboe in 1890 where she served as the sacristana of the
house. Returning to the beaterio gravely ill in 1905, she died here
shortly after.7
4. Sor Catalina del Santisimo Sacramento (1848-1925), the former Juana
Javier y Rodriguez of Binondo, Manila took her vows as a lay sister in
1869. She helped found the Collegio de Nuestra Senora del Rosario in
Lingayen in 1894. During the Revolution of 1898, since they were
identified with the Spanish Dominicans, she and the other sisters in this
town decided to transfer their work to the Asilo de Sta. Catalina de Au
poa Sur in Fujien Province. She remained there for five years returning
to the Philippines in 1904. She again co-founded the Colegio de Jesus,
Maria y Jose in Sta. Rita, Pampanga in 1909 where she worked as por?
ter, sacristan and infirmarian. Instead of retiring in her 60s, she went
back to mission work in China for some more years before she died of
old age in the beaterio "with resignation and serenity of soul."8
5. Sor Josefa de San Andres (1850-1905), the former Andrea Adem
Reyes of San Roque, Cavite, professed in 1876 as a sister of obedi?
ence. She went to China as one of the foundresses of the Asilo de
Santa Catalina de Aupoa Sur in 1889. She also inaugurated and was
named the first superior of the Holy Childhood Asylum of Takao in
Formosa on 2 August 1904. She died there almost exactly one year
later on 25 August 1905.9
6. Sor Nieves de San Benito (1852-1902), was the former Benita Sarcia y
Alvendia of Guagua, Pampanga. As a sister of obedience, she declared
her vows in 1883. She was a co-founder of the College in Lingayen in
1894. As mentioned earlier, the local community transferred to the
mission house in Aupoa during the Revolution of 1898. She died there
four years later.10
7. Sor Milagros de la Paz (1857-1935), the former Victoria Cardenas y
Dantes of Candaba, Pampanga took her vows as a beata of obedience
in 1883 serving thereafter as infirmarian of students in the beaterio.

From 1891 to 1912, she worked in the same capacity in the Asylums of
Kamboe and Aupoa.11
8. Sor Magdalena del Rosario (1858-1939) was the former Dolores del
Rosario y San Jose who belonged to a brilliant family of Intramuros,
Manila. Her father, Don Antonio Vivencio del Rosario (1828-84) was
a Doctor of Laws graduate of the University of Santo Tomas in 1871
and became the alcalde mayor of Laguna. Her younger brother, Dr.
Salvador (1864-1928) was one of the first Filipino Doctors of Medi?
cine (University of Madrid, 1889). Another brother, Dr. Mariano
(1869-1943) was the second Filipino Doctor of Pharmacy (University
of Madrid, 1893). Despite her social background, Sor Magdalena chose
to apply as a sister of obedience at the Beaterio where she professed in
1883. She was one of those who opened the Asylum of Aupoa in 1889.
The next year, she transferred to the Asylum of the same name in
Kamboe as the procuratrix and then to the Asilo de Nuestra Senora del
Rosario in Amoy (1891-1933). She returned to the Philippines forty
four years later when she was replaced by the Spanish nuns who ac?
quired this institution with the splitting of the beaterio.12
9. Sor Consuelo Alvarez (1858-1933), a novice, helped start the Asylum
of Kamboe in 1890, pronouncing her vows there as hermana de obedi
encia the following year. She worked in this refuge for girls for 43
years without interruption until her death just before the take-over of
the foundation by the Spanish beatas with the division of the beate
.13
no.
10. Sor Maria Engracia de San Jose (1864-1930), the former E
buena of Guagua, Pampanga was one of the first beatas in
of Kamboe in 1890 and in that of Amoy later in the same
she took her vows as a sister of obedience in 1891. In 19
sisted again in the founding of the Orphanage in TakaOj Formosa

where she remained until 1921 when she returned to Manila.
11. Sor Rosa de los Remedios (1869-1924), the former Severa ?tip y
Safun of Echague, Isabela professed her vows as a sister of obedience
in Manila in 1891. She volunteered in 1904 to join the first group of
sisters who founded the Asilo de Takao in Formosa. She also co
founded the Colegio de la Beata Imelda in Taipei, Formosa in 1917
where she died seven years later.15
12. Sor Imelda de la Concepci?n (1870-1939), the former Eustaquia Al

deguer y Juarda of Iloilo was a Spanish mestiza who professed as a
choir sister in 1891. She was a founder of the College in Lingayen in
1894. Four years later, she and the other sisters, as cited earlier, fled
from the strife of 1898 to the Asylum of Sta. Catalina de Aupoa. She
served there for six years before returning to her country of birth.16
13. Sor Inocencia de los Angeles (1870-1933), the former Crispina Garela
y J?lad of Guagua, Pampanga took her vows as a lay sister in 1892.
Later in the same year, she was one of those who inaugurated the Cole
gio de Sta. Imelda de Tuguegarao where she taught for six years. From
late 1898 to September 1899, the sisters were dispossessed of their col?
lege and were transferred to a humble house by the revolutionaries be?
cause they were identified with the Spanish Dominicans. Sor Inocencia
later volunteered for the China missions from 1902 to 1914. Back in
the Philippines, she taught again at the college in Sta. Rita, Pampanga
(1914-27) and at the autonomous Beaterio del Santisimo Rosario de
Molo, Iloilo (1928-29). She was called an "exemplary religious" in the
annals of the beaterio.17
14. Sor Nieves de Santo Domingo (1871-1933), the former Maria Pa
galilauan y Lasan of Tuguegarao, Cagayan, studied at the Colegio de la
Concordia where she excelled in literature. In 1892, she professed as a
sister of obedience in the beaterio. She was one of the foundresses of
the college in Lingayen two years later. Together with her sisters, she
journeyed to the asylum in Aupoa in 1898 during the second stage of
the Revolution. In 1914, she helped found the Asilo de la Sta. Infancia
in Chuangcheu. For a total of twenty years, she served in China, re?
turning to the Philippines in 1918.18
15. Sor Dolores de San Jose (1862-1917), the former Dolores L?zaro y
Santiago of Malabon, Manila (now Metro Manila) and Zamboanga,
possessed a unique talent as a sculptress of religious images. She took
her vows as a lay sister in 1892. Then she co-founded the college in
Tuguegarao later in the same year. After the Revolution and the Philip?
pine-American War, she presented herself for mission work in China.
She was first assigned to the orphanage in Foochow in 1904. In 1914,
she assisted in the foundation of the Asilo de la Sta. Infancia in
19
Nguchen. Here she died of a heart attack three years later.
16. Sor Luisa del Rosario (1873-1951) was the former Luisa Villamil y
Gutierrez of Dagupan, Pangasin?n. Professing as a sister of obedience

in 1894, she was first assigned to the college in Lingayen (1894-98).
She fled to the orphanage in Foochow during the Revolution and here
she labored for the next 29 years. After her return to the Philippines in
1927, she was assigned to various colleges in Lingayen, Manila and
Calbayog before the war. She died in the beaterio at the age of 78,
earning the unanimous accolade religiosa ejemplar in the books of the
beaterio.20
Changes and Complications
The missionary phase of the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina gave rise to cer?
tain complications in their serene existence. In 1865, the Dominican priests
began recruiting Spanish nuns for the Asian missions. They were to be
housed temporarily in the beaterio. Unfortunately, their efforts to set up re?
ligious houses in Spain to train missionary nuns did not meet with success
because of lack of funds and vocations. Hence, the Spanish nuns remained
permanently in the beaterio occupying the principal offices since the Filip
ina members were only lay sisters. 1
In the last decade of the 19th century, however, in order to accord full
membership to Filipino applicants from choice families, the beaterio ex?
tended the definition of "Spanish mestiza" to the broadest possible mean?
ing of the word. The community began to accept not only Spanish
"half-breeds" (that is, those whose fathers were Spaniards but whose moth?
ers were Filipinas) but also those whose families had been classified as
"Spanish mestizos" for generations regardless of the proportion of Spanish
blood flowing in their veins. Under this mitigated policy were admitted
two Filipinas as choir sisters who were to figure eminently in the develop?
ment of the beaterio in the next century:22
1. Madre Filomena de la Soledad (1873-1955; prof. 1891) was the former
Filomena Medalle of Cebu, Cebu. Her father, Don Francisco Jose
Medalle was an influential Spanish mestizo and her mother, Dona
Vicenta Ramas, was a Filipina. Her two younger sisters, Sor Remedios
and Sor Francisca entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Char?
ity. M. Filomena became the first Filipina prioress (1933-37) as well as
the first Filipina vicaress general (1943-55) of the congregation.
2. Madre Catalina de la Visitaci?n (1868-1940; prof. 1891), the former
Vicenta Osmena also of Cebu, Cebu. She was the only surviving child
of Don Tomas Osmena, a Chinese mestizo business magnate and Dona
Agustina Rafols, a Spanish mestiza. It was on the basis of her mother's
background that she was admitted as a choir sister although legally, she
was classified as a Chinese mestiza like her father. President Sergio
Osmena (1944-46) was her first cousin. Although she did not work in
the missions, she kept an ardent interest in them. In 1917, she founded
the Colegio de Sta. Catalina de Matsuyama in Shikoku, Japan by do?
nating its entire edifice. She became the second Filipina prioress of the
beaterio (1937-40).
Epilogue
It was only in 1917 that the Filipino lay sisters gained the status of
choir sisters more than two centuries after the inauguration of the first Phil?
ippine beaterio. During his canonical visit to the Philippines in that year,
the Dominican Master General, Fr. Ludovicus Theissling OP, a Dutchman,
noted the wide discrepancy in status between the Spanish and Filipina Do?
minicans. This was two decades after the Spanish colonizers had left and
even the Regal Monastery of Sta. Clara had opened the door of its cloisters
to Filipina applicants. Led by Mothers Catalina Osmena and Filomena
Medalle, the Filipina beatas petitioned the highest official of their order to
grant full membership to native aspirants who were at least high school
graduates regardless of their racial background. The master general readily
gave justice to their request.23
Inevitably, the polarization between the Filipina and the Spanish beatas
- which paralleled that between the Filipino secular clergy and the Spanish
religious orders during the colonial regime - led to the division of the
beaterio in 1933. The Spanish sisters, without consulting the Filipina
beatas, formed a new community, Congregation de Religiosas Misioneras
de Santo Domingo. When the plans were officially disclosed, the surprised
Filipinas, including the criollas and the mestizas, except for a few, opted
not to join the Spaniards. They chose to remain in the Beaterio and pre?
serve their institutional identity, this time under diocesan authority. A few
of the Spaniards also decided to stay in the beaterio with the Filipinas. The
Spanish Dominican priests of the Province of the Most Holy Rosary al?
lowed the Filipinas to retain their old edifice in the walled city. But, in
startling contrast, they granted the new Spanish congregation all the other
houses of the beaterio in the Philippines, China, Japan and Taiwan num?
bering to seventeen. Thus, the beaterio was unexpectedly deprived of their
mission field. Invoking the patience of Job, the Filipino nuns did not pro?
test the unequal partition. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!"24
The beaterio's eyewitness historian, Sor Maria Luisa Henson (1904
95) expresses the sentiments of her sisters regarding this sad episode in
their development:25
"We, of the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina de Sena, were the first daughters
of the Province of the Most Holy Rosary, and worked side by side with the
Dominican fathers in the missions. But during the crucial moment in 1933,
we were abandoned and disappointed by the then Provincial Administra?
tion under Father (Ricardo) Vaquero [1931-34]. When two daughters sepa?
rate from the father, do they not get equal share? Perhaps, the Father
Provincial Vaquero was angry because we did not join the Spaniards."
The only building allotted to the Filipina Dominicans, newly remod?
eled and reconstructed through the generosity of Mother Catalina Osmena,
was bombed to the ground by Japanese invaders from 27 to 28 December
1941 at the beginning of the Second World War.26
B. The Missionary Beatas of the Society (see Table 1)
The Society of Jesus returned to the Philippines in 1859 but did not re?
sume the spiritual direction of the beaterio named for them. However, they
did not hesitate to enlist the beatas' assistance in their mission work in
Mindanao when it became an urgent necessity. In 1872, the Jesuits had
embarked upon a heroic mission in Tamontaca, Cotabato, as a refuge for
the libertos, children ransomed from their Muslim captors. After doing the
spadework, they appealed to the beaterio for help in rehabilitating the girls
among the unfortunate group. Understandably, the beatas hesitated to ven?
ture far afield having lived within the confines of the convent most of their
lives. As in the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina, the first ones to respond to the
call of the missions in the Beaterio de la Compafua were not the full
fledged beatas but the auxiliary members of the community called recogi
das.
The Painter's Daughter
By blessed coincidence, in 1875, an intrepid spinster from a prominent

family, Senorita Dona Agapita Domingo y Casas (1826-1900) entered the
beaterio as a recogida. She was the daughter of Don Damian Domingo
(ca. 1790-1834), a Chinese mestizo of Tondo and the first eminent Filipino
painter. Her maternal grandfather, Don Ambrocio Casas (died ca. 1820) of
Binondo, had succeeded Don Antonio Tuazon as the colonel of the Regi?
ment of the Royal Prince composed of Chinese mestizos. In 1808, Don
Ambrocio cast the bronze effigy of Carlos IV to commemorate the mon?
arch's introduction of smallpox vaccination to the Philippines. The statue
still stands today at the Plaza de Roma facing the Manila cathedral. Be?
cause of this achievement and his military services, Don Ambrocio and his
family up to the third generation (which included Agapita) were exempted,
like the Tuazons, from paying tributes by the king's son and successor,
Fernando VII in 1817.28
When Agapita heard of the predicament in the Mindanao missions, she
at once felt sure that she had found her mission in life which had eluded
her for so long for she was then 49 years old. With contagious enthusiasm,
she persuaded two other recogidas, Dona Balbina Rivera and Dona Bibi?
ana Zapanta to volunteer with her for the new mission. Rivera was the
widow of a Spaniard whereas Zapanta, another spinster, had a teacher's
certificate from the Colegio de Sta. Rosa, the former beaterio.29
The ardent trio formally requested admission to the beaterio as regular
members in the same year, 1875. The day after their investiture, they set
out at once for Tamontaca where they would complete their novitiate un?
der the direction of the Jesuit superior. Thus, they opened a new chapter in
the chronicles of the beaterio: they founded its first mission house which
was an autonomous branch (see Fig. 1). Sor Agapita became its first supe?
rior. To emphasize the gravity of their tasks, the far distance from Manila
and the fact that they would work directly under the Jesuits, the archbishop
of Manila required them and those who followed their example to re?
nounce their membership in the mother house including the right to return
to its fold. Unflinchingly, they complied although they found that "this
provision caused unnecessary uprooting of long established ties." Being
autonomous, however, they could eventually accept novices in the field
and grant them the habit and the religious profession and thus replenish the
missions. The Society of Jesus considered this episode of such moment

that when they laid the cornerstone for the new San Ignacio Church in the
walled city on 9 February 1878, they included a group photograph of the
three pioneer missionary beatas in the time capsule that was deposited in
the crossing of the church and the sacristy.30
The Angels of Tamontaca
The first recruit from Mindanao was Sor Agapita's niece, Luisa Dom?
ingo (ca. 1855-1937) of Cagayan de Misamis who visited her aunt in Ta?
montaca and decided to dedicate her life to the missions too. On 25
October 1875, Sor Luisa received investiture in the mother house in Ma?
nila and soon joined her aunt and the other sisters in Tamontaca. In time,
their Jesuit counterparts marveled: "One does not know which to admire
more in the home of the girls: the heroic sacrifice and consummate charity
of the beatas who take care of them, or the amazing transformation they
have wrought on the girls."31
As the trailblazer of Tamontaca, Sor Agapita was asked again by the
Jesuits and her sisters in 1880 to establish their second house in Dapitan
where she also became the first superior. Sor Bibiana Zapanta succeeded
her for the time being in Tamontaca. They ran the municipal school in
Dapitan under the Jesuits. The other missionaries who transferred from Ta?
montaca to Dapitan were Sor Maxima de Leon, a graduate of the Normal
School, Sor Prudencia Lopez and Sor Antera de la Cruz. Later, Sor Gon
zala Cabanlit and Sor Auxilium Narvacan shared their endless work. After
training the younger sisters to take over this mission, Sor Agapita returned
to Tamontaca as its superior again.
Inspired by her pioneering example, more and more beatas enlisted for
the Mindanao missions. Those who joined Sor Agapita in Tamontaca
were: 1) Sor Braulia de Sta. Cruz who was hacked by a Moro carabao thief
but survived the attack in 1878; 2) Sor Brigida Palinis who died of small?
pox in 1883 while nursing other victims of the epidemic; 3) Sor Macaria
de los Santos, a model beata who died in 1895; and 4) Sor Quintina Rojas.
Just before the turn of the century, a total of seven new mission beaterios
had sprung up at different points in the far south including Zamboanga in
Zamboanga del Sur (1893); Dipolog and Lubungan in Zamboanga del
Norte (ca. 1894); Surigao, Surigao (1895) and Butu?n, Agusan (1896).
The beaterio of Zamboanga was founded by Sor Clara Ramirez while that
of Surigao, by Sor Maxima de Leon and three other sisters together with a
postulant, Sor Andrea Alba (1876-1921). In all these towns, the beatas did
not fail to offer part of their precious time for regular group retreats for lo?
cal women. Although she had started out late, Sor Agapita lived to witness
the centrifugal growth of her community which she had unwittingly initi?
ated and catalyzed.32
Reunion in Manila
Sor Agapita must have planned to observe quietly her silver jubilee
and that of the beaterio missions in her beloved Tamontaca at the begin?
ning of the 20th century. But it was not to be. The Filipino-American hos?
tilities spread to Mindanao in early 1899 and for security reasons, the
Tamontaca community, including the young orphans, had to evacuate to
Zamboanga. Finally, the Manila ecclesiastical authorities summoned the
missionary sisters to return to the walled city.33
On 20 April 1899, they sailed for the capital on board the boat San Pe?
dro. Sor Agapita was accompanied by Sor Luisa Domingo, the new supe?
rior of Tamontaca, Sor Clara Ramirez, superior of Zamboanga and four
other beatas and three novices from the two houses. They arrived safely in
Manila and had their very first reunion with their separated sisters since
leaving for the missions. The city beatas had also just returned from their
harrowing experiences in the provinces during the war. On the appeal of
President Emilio Aguinaldo, six beatas had volunteered to serve and nurse
the wounded Filipino soldiers and civilians under the banner of the Red
Cross during the Philippine-American War. They were: 1) Mother
Epigenia Alvarez (1858-1947) who was appointed superior (she was later
to serve for the longest term as the mother general, 1902-27 & 1933-38);
2) Sor Braulia de Sta. Cruz, the survivor of Tamontaca; 3) Sor Rafaela
Dolores; 4) Sor Isabel Halili; 5) Sor Martina Gonzalez; and 6) Sor Maxima
Martinez, a novice who died in Bayambang, Pangasinan where the Filipino
forces had retreated. The Beaterio de la Compania was the only religious
community which rendered services to the Revolutionary Government and
the First Philippine Republic (1898-1900).34
Table 1:
THE MISSION HOUSES OF THE FILIPINO BEATAS IN CHINA AND MINDANAO
(1858-1898)
YEAR NAME FOUNDRESSES SUPERVISION
I. The Beatas of Sta. Catalina in China
1858 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Ana del Sgdo. Coraz?n OP

(Foochow, Fujien Prov.) (1840-1881)
Sor Pascuala Bir?n del Sgdo.
Coraz?n (1821-1912)
1889 Asilo de Sta. Catalina Sor Antonia de la Flagelaci?n OP

(Aupoa Sur, Fujien Prov.) (Convento de Zaragoza, Espana)
(1843-1909)
Sor Josefa de San Andres
(1850-1905)
Sor Magdalena del Rosario
(1858-1939)
1890 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Maria del Pilar de la Crucifixion OP

(Kamboe) (Convento de Huesca, Espana)
(1839-1919)
Sor Consuelo Alvarez (1858-1933)
Sor Regina del Inmaculado Coraz?n
(1846-1905)
Sor Milagros de la Paz (1857-1905)
Sor Maria Engracia de San Jose
(1864-1930)
Sor Magdalena del Rosario
1890 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Antonia de la Flagelaci?n OP

de Ntra. Sra. del Rosario Sor Maria Engracia de San Jose
(Amoy)
II. The Beatas of the Society of Jesus in Mindanao
1875 Beaterio de Tamontaca Sor Agapita Domingo (1826-1900) SJ/dcs

(Cotabato) Sor Bibiana Zapanta
Sor Balbina Rivera
1880 Beaterio de Dapitan Sor Agapita Domingo SJ/dcs

(Zamboanga del Norte) Sor Maxima de Leon
Sor Prudencia Lopez
Sor Antera de la Cruz
1893 Beaterio de Zamboanga Sor Clara Ramirez SJ/dcs

(Zamboanga del Sur)
Table 1. (cont.)
YEAR NAME FOUNDRESSES SUPERVISION
ca. 1894 Beaterio de Dipolog, unknown SJ/dcs

(Zamboanga del Norte)
ca. 1894 Beaterio de Lubungan, unknown SJ/dcs

(Zamboanga del Norte)
1895 Beaterio de Surigao, Sor Maxima de Leon SJ/dcs

(Surigao del Norte) and three other beatas
Sor Andrea Alba, postulant
(1876-1921)
1896 Beaterio de Butuan, unknown SJ/dcs

(Agusan del Norte)
ABBREVIATIONS USED
des - Diocese
OP - Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
SJ - Society of Jesus
Epilogue
Shortly after catching a brief glimpse of the uncertain 20th century, the
weary old beata, Sor Agapita Domingo, who in many ways embodied the
spirit and sacrifices of the old beaterio, breathed her last in the Manila con?
vent in January 1900.35
On 2 February 1900, the three superiors of Manila, Tamontaca and
Zamboanga and their councilors took up their first agenda for the 20th cen?
tury: the inclusion of poverty in their simple vows and the union of the
various beaterios into a single institute with the central house in Manila.
36
These were approved by the archbishop of Manila.
The first Filipino beaterio also became the first Filipino congregation
to obtain pontifical approval in 1948 under the name Congregation of the
Religious of the Virgin Mary. Its foundress, Mother Ignacia del Espiritu
Santo is now a candidate for beatification by the Sacred Congregation in

the Vatican.37
V. THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATIONS

FOR WOMEN (1862-1898)
A. Hijas de la Caridad (Daughters of Charity, 1862-the present)
For two centuries and a half, the only nunnery in the Philippines with
unquestionable canonical status was the Royal Monastery of Sta. Clara.
Except on one occasion in the 17th century, it banned Malay Filipinas
from admission. The dismal religious landscape of native women would
lighten up in 1862 with the arrival of the fifteen Daughters of Charity,
"Servants of the Sick Poor," under the leadership of Sor Tiburcia Ayanz
(1822-1898). Queen Isabel II of Spain had ordered them in 1851 to come
to the Islands to take care of its hospitals, orphanages and schools and col?
leges for women.38
The congregation had been founded in Paris in 1633 by St. Louise de
Marillac (1591-1660), assisted by St. Vincent de Paul (1580-1660) who
had also established the Congregation of the Mission in 1625. Hence, they
were called the "Vincentian double family." St. Vincent instructed his
daughters to have "for a monastery the house of the sick, for a cell a hired
room, for a chapel the parish church, for a cloister the streets of the city or
the wards of the hospital, for a grate the fear of God, and for a veil holy
modesty." In contrast to the second order of the old religious orders, the
Daughters of Charity were not the traditional contemplatives but "contem
platives in action."3 This was not a new concept in the Philippines since,
in their own right, the local beatas had evolved in the same manner in the
previous century and a half.
The First Filipina Daughters of Charity
From 1862 to 1898, the Hijas de la Caridad took over or established all
over the Philippines five hospitals, two orphanages (one hospital serving
partly as an asylum for orphans and the aged) and eight colleges including
the College of Sta. Isabel and the former Beaterio de Sta. Rosa. Thus, the
Daughters of Charity greatly expanded the apostolate of Philippine nuns
Fig. 2. Sor Conception Gomez (1852-1939) on her "Golden Jubilee

Day" in 1920. She was the first Filipino Daughter of Charity.
(Courtesy of D.C. Archives)
Figs. 3a and 3b. Two pictures of Sor Asuncion Ventura (1853-1923), as a young nun (left)
and a middle-aged nun (right). She was foundress of the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul of
the Daughters of Charity in 1885. (Courtesy of D.C. Archives)
from education mainly to hospital and social work. Their colleges awarded
teacher certificates to their graduates and introduced the Spanish nuns to
the virtues and ability of Filipino women whom they eventually recruited
to their community. True to their spirit of universality and generosity, the
Daughters of Charity started accepting Filipinas to their congregation in
1870, eight years after their arrival. (In comparison, their brother Vincen
tians of the Congregation of the Mission, who undertook the training of the
native clergy in the diocesan seminaries, admitted their first Filipino mem?
bers in 1935.)40
The first Filipina Daughters of Charity (1870-78) were the following.41
They were the first Filipino nuns in the canonical sense in almost two and
a half centuries since Sor Marta de San Bernardo (1635) and Sor Mag?
dalena de la Concepcion (1637) professed their vows at the Monastery of
Sta. Clara in Macao and Manila, respectively.
1. Sor Concepcion Gomez (1852-1939), the former Isidora G?mez y
Cortes of Sta. Cruz, Manila, professed her vows on 8 December 1870.
A teacher, she was assigned to the Colegio de Sta. Isabel in Naga,
Nueva Caceres (founded 1868) where she died. She celebrated her
golden jubilee in 1920 (see Fig. 2).
2. Sor Encarnaci?n Reyes (1849-90) also of Sta. Cruz, Manila, professed
on 19 March 1873. Likewise a teacher, she taught at the Colegio de
Sta. Rosa where she died at 41.
3. Sor Asuncion Ventura (1853-1923) was the former Cristina Ventura
Hocorma y Bautista of Bacolor, Pampanga. Belonging to a noble fam?
ily like some of the beatas in Philippine religious history, she professed
on 19 March 1874. She initially worked as a teacher at her Alma Ma?
ter, the Colegio de la Concordia (founded 1868). In 1885, with her sub?
stantial inheritance, she founded a house with school for poor girls, the
Asilo de San Vicente de Paul. It was situated in a six-hectare lot in
Looban, Paco, Manila. She served and taught the poor children until
her death in the institution she founded. Sor Asuncion's Asilo still
flourishes today serving the poorest of the poor children of Manila (see
Figs. 3a-3c).
4. Sor Luisa Buendia y San Agustm (1850-1925) of Kawit, Cavite took
her vows on 21 November 1875. One of the first Filipino trained
nurses, she worked at the San Juan de Di?s Hospital in Manila (which
was transferred to the care of the sisters in 1868) for the rest of her life.
5. Sor Trinidad de Jesus (1854-1883) of Manila professed in 1877 and

was sent to teach at the Colegio de San Jose in Jaro, Iloilo (founded
1872). She died there shortly at the age of 29.
6. Sor Fernanda Jugo (1856-?) of Capiz, Capiz, was the sister of Dr. Jose
Simplicio Jugo, a Filipino physician and propagandist in Madrid who
became the first governor of Capiz under the Americans. Sor Fernanda
took her vows on 21 July 1878. A trained nurse, she worked at least
until 1898 at the Hospicio de San Jose which the sisters started to ad?
minister in 1865. The Hospicio was the first psychiatric hospital in the
Philippines but it also gave refuge to the aged and the orphans in sepa?
rate buildings.
7. Sor Manuela Martinez of Sorsogon, Sorsogon professed in around
1878 but left the community in October of 1880.
Nineteen more Filipinas joined the congregation in Manila between
1883 and 1899, only two of whom left the community later. In 1895, all
the nineteen members of the Filipino congregation of Cebu, Hermanitas de
la Madre de Di?s, were also incorporated to the Hijas de la Caridad (see
next section). Thus, a total of forty-two Filipinas entered in the 19th cen?
tury and persevered as Daughters of Charity. The records show that they
equaled, if not surpassed, their Spanish sisters in their humility, zeal, and
generosity of the spirit42
Epilogue
It was only in 1965, after the centennial celebrations, that the Filipino
Daughters of Charity were allowed to govern themselves as a separate
province from that of Spain. The first Filipino visitatrix (provincial head)
was Sor Filomena Zulueta (1965-75). She was born in 1916 in Molo, Iloilo
and professed during the war in 1943.43
B. Hermanitas de la Madre de Dios (Little Sisters of the Mother of

God, 1878-1895)
Before the Daughters of Charity could reach out to Cebu in the south,
the spiritual director of the San Carlos Seminary in that city, Fr. Fernando
de la Canal, CM. (1841-94) founded the Casa de la Caridad (House of
Charity) in 1877. He asked three virtuous Cebuanas, whose spiritual lives
he directed, to run the institution which later became the St. Joseph Hospi?
tal. They were Apolonia Lasala y Rosales (1845-?) of Sogod, Cebu; Ra
faela Echevarria (ca.1850-ca.1890) and Julia Avellana y Exteverre
(1853-?) of San Nicolas, Cebu. They generously consented and took over
the House of Charity on 24 October 1877.44
The First Congregation for Filipinas
After some initial adjustment, the three nurses thrived in their charita?
ble endeavor and felt the need for more volunteers. With the approval of
Bishop Benito Romero de Madridejos OFM of Cebu (1876-85), Fr. de la
Canal decided to form a religious community for them which he called
Congregation de las Hermanitas de la Madre de Di?s. Inaugurated in
September of 1878, it was, canonically speaking, the first diocesan congre?
gation for native women which was not a beaterio. Sor Apolonia became
its first superior. Applicants to the new institute came not only from Cebu
and other Visayan provinces but also from as far as Manila, Laguna and
Albay.45
The next project of the congregation was the establishment of the first
women's college in Cebu. The opportunity came when two applicants
from Manila turned out to be education graduates of the colleges of the Hi
jas de la Caridad. Sor Hilaria Salinas y Lobrio (1852-?) of Ermita, Manila
and Sor Cirila Miranda y Alberto (1854-?) of Intramuros, Manila professed
their vows on 6 March 1880. They inaugurated the Colegio de la Inmacu
lada Conception and its annex, the Municipal School for primary educa?
tion of girls on 31 May 1880. Sor Hilaria was the first directress and Sor
Cirila, her assistant.46
The other early members of the community were: Sor Sebastiana Flora
y Pacaro (1852-?) of Canovas, Cebu; Sor Gabriela de los Santos y Castro
(1867-?) of Pagsanjan, Laguna; Sor Feliciana Bracamonte y V?squez
(1866-1953) of Naga, Cebu; Sor Pilar Giz y Miranda (1865-?) of Jaro,
Iloilo and Sor Dominga Cruz y Custodio (1848-?) of San Nicolas, Cebu.
Together with their superior, Sor Apolonia, these pioneer nuns posed for a
group picture around 1888 (see Fig. 4). Another faithful nun of the com?
munity was Sor Maxima Singzon y Baeza (1845-1945) of Calbiga, Samar
who died at the age of 100. She was the elder sister of M?ns. Pablo Sing
Fig. 4. Hermanitas de la Madre de Di?s (Ceb?, ca. 1888). Seated (left to right): the three
pioneers, Mother Julia Abellana, Mother Apolonia Lasala (superior) and Mother Rafaela
Echevarria; and Sor Maria Irastorza and Sor Sebastiana Flora. Standing (left to right): Sor
Gabriela de los Santos, Sor Cirila Miranda, Sor Feliciana Bracamonte, Sor Pilar Giz and
Sor Dominga Cruz. (Courtesy of D.C. Archives.)
zon de la Anunciaci?n (1851-1920), first bishop of Calbayog (1910) and

the third Filipino bishop.47
Union with the Daughters of Charity
Patterned after the constitution of the Hijas de la Caridad, the rules of

the congregation were finalized by Fr. de la Canal and approved by Bishop
Martin Garcia Alcocer OFM of Cebu (1886-1904) on 2 May 1888 or ten
years after its foundation. The founder was following the Vincentian
model of prudent waiting for the best time to carry out religious plans. The
next year, Fr. de la Canal started negotiating for the union of the Ceb?
community with the Daughters of Charity, believing that this was the best
way to ensure the continuation of the institute. The little sisters bowed to
their founder's decision but he died in 1894 without seeing the fulfillment
of his last wish. The nineteen surviving hermanitas were formally incorpo?
rated into the Daughters of Charity on 29 January 1895. The foundress and
superior for the past seventeen years, Sor Apolonia humbly stepped down
from her position to give way to the new superior, Sor Petra Perez. So did
Sor Hilaria as directress of the college she had launched fifteen years
48
ago.
C. Beaterio de Mantelatas de San Agustin (now The Congregation of

the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation, 1883-the
present)
In the wake of the cholera epidemic of 1882, the Augustinian friars

built an orphanage in Mandaluyong for the children of its countless vic?
tims. Probably because the Augustinian beatas of Sta. Rita de P?sig were
then fully involved in the education of girls (of whom there were estimated
to be about 200 externs at this point), the Augustinians turned instead to
49
the beatas of Barcelona to manage their orphanage.
The "Authentic" Beaterio
The Beaterio de Mantelatas Agustinas de Barcelona had been founded

in 1677 by Dona Maria Agustina Tarda, widow of a physician, Don Fran?
cisco Almera. Unlike the Philippine beaterios, it was a "complete" beate?
rio, officially speaking, in that it was recognized as such by both Church
and state. To recapitulate, Philippine beaterios were acknowledged as such
only by the Church but not by the royal government which regarded them
as schools or casas de recogimiento. The Spanish beaterio became the only
"authentic" beaterio in the Philippines when four Spanish beatas of Bar?
celona arrived in Manila on 6 April 1883 to start an autonomous founda?
tion at the Augustinian orphanage in Mandaluyong. Led by the prioress of
Barcelona herself, Sor Antonia Campillo, were Sor Rita Barcel?, Sor
Agustina Basegoda and Sor Querubina Samara. Five months later, they
were joined by two more beatas together with a postulant, Joaquina Bar
cel?, younger sister of Sor Rita. Upon profession, Joaquina took the name
Sor Consuelo.50
What started as a joyful enterprise turned sour when Sor Remedios
Ib?nez, who was not from Barcelona (she was from Mallorca), was intro?
duced into the Mandaluyong community in 1884. Regionalism split the
new branch into two. To restore harmony in the orphanage, the
Augustinian priests sent the prioress to the Beaterio de Sta. Rita de P?sig
together with Sors Agustina, Querabina and Alfonsa and the paying stu?
dents, whereas the two patient sisters Barcel? were left with the controver?
sial Sor Remedios in the orphanage.51
It was at this point that the beaterios of Pasig and Barcelona converged
in time and place. Unfortunately, however, they failed to unite in mind and
spirit. Lodged in the second floor of the beaterio, the Spanish sisters could
only lament their bitter exile and cultural shock such that they could nei?
ther relate with their Filipina counterparts nor get along with their spiritual
director, Fray Simon Barroso, O.S.A., who was also the pastor of Pasig
(1879-85 & 1887-97).52
From 1886 to 1888, all the Spanish beatas with the exception of the
two sisters Barcel? abandoned the Philippine branch and went back to
Spain. Thus, Sors Rita (1843-1904) and Consuelo Barcel? (1857-1940) are
now regarded as the Spanish foundresses of what later became the Congre?
gation de Hermanas Agustinas de las Isias ^
The First Filipino Augustinian Nuns
How to replenish the dwindling ranks of the fledgling institution?

Learning from their frustrating experience with the Spanish beatas and
hearing of the excellent examples of the first Filipino Hijas de la Caridad
for the past two decades, the chapter of Augustinian friars in Manila de?
cided in 1889 to accept native aspirants to the community. Belonging to a
new generation of Filipinas from illustrious families, most of the appli?
cants were indeed educated at the colleges of the Daughters of Charity. Al?
though none of the old beatas of Pasig transferred to the new institute, the
new beatas were nevertheless their spiritual successors for they were of the
same Augustinian tradition, spiritual quest and racial background. Eventu?
ally, in 1909, the Filipina Augustinian sisters would take over the Colegio
Beaterio de Sta. Rita de P?sig renaming it Colegio de Nuestra Senora del

Buen Consejo (CBC).54
The first ten Filipina Augustinian (OSA) sisters were the following:55
1. Sor Teresa de Jesus (1855-1940), the former Antonia Andrada y Av?
elino of Loctugan, Capiz, was actually admitted by the Spanish sisters
in 1887 in anticipation of the chapter's decision. She received investi?
ture on 14 April 1887. She became the first Filipino acting prioress
(1899-1903) and the first superior of CBC (1909-15) in P?sig.
2. Sor Clara del Santisimo Sacramento (1872-1924) was the former Sa?
lome Querubin y Querubin of Caoayan, Ilocos Sur (her parents were
cousins.) She held a teacher's diploma as maestra superior from one of
the colleges of the Daughters of Charity. She became the first direc?
tress of the Colegio de la Consolation (1901-03), their first college,
and third superior of CBC (1918-21).
3. Sor Catalina de Jesus (1867-1953), the former Isidora del Rosario y
Tanchanco of Barasoain, Malolos, Bulacan was also a maestra supe?
rior. A prescient educator, she studed English in Hong Kong for a year
(1899-1900) in anticipation of the introduction of the American school
system in the Philippines. As an administrator and eye-witness histo?
rian, she wrote and published the first history of the congregation in
1948. She celebrated her golden jubilee in 1940.
4. Sor Agustina de la Conversion (born 1867) was the former Potenciana
Aves y Paras of Penaranda, Nueva Ecija. In 1910, she eloped with a fe?
male boarder with whom she had become quite attached. This revealed
one of the potential problems in a religious community.
5. Sor Maria del Sagrado Coraz?n (1856-1926), the former Inocencia
Panis y Manio of Calumpit, Bulacan. She was the sister of Dr. Jose Di?
ego Panis, one of the first Filipino Physicians (University of Sto.
Tomas, 1877) and a cousin of the revolutionary priest, Padre Manuel
Roxas y Manio of the same town. She was a teacher of voice and piano
and an expert in creating artificial flowers, a favorite pastime of the
community. She was elected as the first Filipina prioress (1903-06) in
the first chapter of the community.
6. Sor Veronica del Santo Nino (born 1869), the former Francisca
Cabrera of Ermita, Manila was raised in the Mandaluyong orphanage.
She left in 1901.
7. Sor Monica Legazpi (1872-1899) was the former Bibiana Legazpi of
Malate, Manila. She also grew up in the Augustinian orphanage. She

left in 1898 to join the Franciscan Order in Spain but died there during
her novitiate.
8. Sor Limbania de Jesus Crucificado (1861-1954), the former Maria Al
mod?var y Armonia of Santa Rosa, Laguna, became the second supe?
rior of CBC (1915-18). Together with Sor Catalina, she celebrated her
golden jubilee in 1940. She was the last of the pioneers dying of old
age at 92.
9. Sor Tomasa de la Sagrada Familia (1873-1936), the former Emilia
Constantino y Hernandez of Ermita, Manila, was also raised in the or?
phanage in Mandaluyong. She was a music teacher and she became the
fourth superior of CBC (1921-24).
10. Sor Querubina del Santo Nino (1869-1934) was the former Teodorica
Contreras y Faustino of Meycauayan, Bulacan. She was likewise an or?
phan in the Mandaluyong school. She served the community with fi?
delity in various capacities.
The first six Filipinas in the list professed their simple vows (which
were not allowed the old beatas of Sta. Rita) on 19 August 1890; the next
two, on 28 August and the last two, on 28 September of the same year.
Eleven more Filipinas entered and professed between 1891 and 1897, three
of whom did not persevere.56
Dissolution of the Augustinian Beaterios
The first Filipino Augustinian sister, Sor Teresa de Jesus Andrada, un?
wittingly helped spark the Philippine Revolution against Spain in July
1896. While working as the portera, she learned from a ward of the or?
phanage that the ward's brother was a member of the Katipunan. "To
avoid so many deaths and destruction," she advised the brother of the ward
to relay the information, outside the confessional, to the Augustinian par?
ish priest of Tondo where he resided. This led to the discovery of the Ka?
tipunan and the first stage of the Revolution. The orphanage was heavily
guarded by Spanish troops during the strife for fear of reprisal which, how?
ever, never occurred, for the beatas and the orphans were not the enemies
of the people.57
When the Revolution flared up for the second time in 1898, the Beate
rio de Sta. Rita de Pasig, again because of its central site, was taken over
by the Spanish forces. The local community of beatas had to be disbanded

and, as it turned out, was never to be restored. The victorious revolutionary
army later seized the beaterio edifice and turned it over to the office of the
town executive. To the safety of the walled city had fled the last
Augustinian pastor of Pasig leaving his Filipino assistant in the desolate
convent.58
In the meantime, in Manila, when the Americans imposed their rule on
the Islands in 1898, the Augustinian provincial officially dissolved the sis?
ters' community and orphanage with the school. He ordered the remaining
Spanish beatas to return to Barcelona and the Filipino sisters to their re?
spective families. The Spaniards reluctantly obeyed but the Filipinas in?
sisted on struggling together to preserve their institute even without the
support of the Augustinians. Their erstwhile mentors, the Daughters of
Charity, assisted the destitute beatas initially. Taking pity on them, the
Archbishop of Manila, M?ns. Bernardino Nozaleda found a small tempo?
rary home for them in Sampaloc. Here they lost no time in opening a new
school doing what they knew best and supporting themselves in the proc?
ess. This school flourished and formed the nucleus of the Colegio de la
Consolation which was formally named so in 1901.59
Re-Founding the Congregation
In the absence of their Spanish superiors, Sor Teresa de Jesus Andrada

acted as the prioress from 1899 to 1903, the grueling years of the commu?
nity. Through their persistent efforts, the prior general of the Order of St.
Augustine in Rome formally affiliated the Filipino institute to its third or?
der on 31 May 1902. Thereafter, Sor Maria del Sagrado Corazon was
elected by the first chapter as the first Filipino prioress (1903-06). Mean?
while, Sor Rita Barcel?, who had promised to return to the Philippines,
died in Barcelona in 1904. But her sister, the motherly Sor Consuelo re?
turned in her behalf later in the same year to head the house anew with the
consent of the majority (but not all) of the Filipino members (1906-40).
Needless to say, Sor Consuelo marveled at what the Filipino sisters had ac?
complished on their own in the past five years. Utterly abandoned by the
Augustinian Order, the Filipina Augustinians had virtually re-founded
their religious community.60
The faithful seven of the first ten Augustinian sisters are the co-foun
dresses of the present Congregation of the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady

of Consolation. For it was they who held the infant community together
during desperate times and put it on the road to temporal recovery and
greater spiritual progress in the years to come. Unlike the Filipino nuns of
the Daughters of Charity, the Filipino Augustinian sisters, by force of cir?
cumstances, held key positions in their congregation early in their develop?
ment. In the process, they proved the competence of Filipino nuns to
govern themselves without the supervision of a Spanish superior or a male
religious order and with scarce support from the embattled prelate.61 (See
Fig. 5).
Epilogue
Upon the death of Mother Consuelo Barcel? in 1940, she was suc?
ceeded by the first Filipina Mother General, Mother Maria Carmen OSA
(1940-48 & 1954-60). The former Maria de Leon (1886-1970) of San
Miguel, Manila, she had professed her vows in 1916.62
D. Beaterio de la Magdalena (1887-ca.l900)
Sor Fidela Pineda y Domingo (born ca.1850) founded this religious

community for native women in La Paz, Iloilo in 1887. Sor Fidela be?
longed to a noble and religious family of Tondo, Manila and Panay Island
in the Visayas. She was the niece of Sor Agapita Domingo and cousin of
Sor Luisa Domingo, pioneer missionary beatas of the Beaterio de la Com
pania. She was the daughter of Dona Feliciana Domingo y Casas and Don
Anselmo Pineda y Fernando. Her brother, Don Crisanto Pineda (1848
1889) was a prominent judge and journalist of Capiz province. In 1888,
Don Crisanto was conferred a coat-of-arms by the Spanish king.63
Sor Fidela's interest did not lie in worldly honors and mission work.
She founded a religious house "with strict rules" and dedicated to prayer,
solitude and mortification. This was indicated by its name, St. Magdalene
being the penitent saint who was close to the Redeemer. The community
depended on public alms and on the work of the sisters "proper to their
sex." It was apparently patterned after the Beaterio de la Compania, as a
diocesan institution, which Sor Fidela was familiar with because of the
presence of her close relatives there. Her convent was under the jurisdic
& a; w u? ^ ^^^^^^Êa m ^^K^jaS^- -
<ôo g ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^tfHVW^lll
o B ^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^BK IS
^ ^^^^^^^^ ,^^^H?E?
r o 8 ^^^fcw^TT% ?????
tion of the diocese of Jaro, created in 1865, whose seat was not far from La
Paz, Iloilo 64
Due to the destruction of records in the Second World War, it can not
be ascertained how long the community lasted. It may have closed down
during the long socio-religious unrest brought about by the Revolution and
the Filipino-American War which hit hard the diocese of Jaro at the turn of
the last century and during which Sor Fidela apparently returned to her
Creator.65
E. The Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption of Our Lady

(1892-the present)
Mere Marie Eugenie de Jesus, the former Anne-Eugenie Milleret de

Brou (1817-98) founded this international congregation in Paris in 1839.
During the foundress' lifetime, the Madrid convent of the institute
branched out to the Philippines at the request of the Queen Regent Maria
Cristina. The nuns were mandated to establish the first Superior Normal
School for Women Teachers in Manila by the royal decree of 1892.66
They were the last international congregation for women to reach the Phil?
ippines just before the end of the Spanish Regime.
Four Spanish Assumption nuns led by Mother Maria del Perpetuo So
corro arrived in Manila on 13 November 1892. Reinforced by twelve more
sisters the next year, they opened the Normal School on 2 July 1893. In the
first two years, because of the demand for women teachers in the prov?
inces, they were busy giving examinations and issuing Elementary
Teacher's Certificates to the successful examinees who had studied at the
various colleges of the Daughters of Charity. They offered a four-year
course towards a Superior Teacher's Diploma. Unfortunately, the outbreak
of the Revolution in 1896 drastically reduced the number of their students.
Only seven stayed to complete the course up to 1898 forming the first and
last graduates of the institution. With the second phase of the Revolution in
that year, all the Spanish nuns returned to Spain. In 1900, five of the
graduates of the Normal School, headed by Dona Rosa Sevilla de Alvero,
set up the Instituto de Mujeres, the first secular women's college in the
Philippines.67
Epilogue
French Assumption sisters, who were English-speaking, re-established

the school in 1904 with the restoration of peace under the new colonizers.
They admitted their first Filipino member, Sister Marie Rosalie de la Visi?
tation, R.A. (1892-1982) who professed her vows in Manila on 21 Novem?
ber 1922. She was the former Miss Trinidad Donato y Rosario of Vigan,
Ilocos Sur. The Assumption Convent school became involved in the edu?
cation of women of the upper class.68
The Philippine province under the French nuns was erected in 1948.
The first Filipina provincial superior was Mere Maria-Angela de Jesus
Crucifie (1970-79), the former Miss Maria Angela Ansaldo (born 1915) of
Manila. She had professed her vows in Huy, Belgium in 1939.69
RECAPITULATION: THE LEGACY
The first Filipino beatas and nuns during the Spanish era were the first
to demonstrate, through various vicissitudes, the worthiness and compe?
tence of the Filipinos in the spiritual and religious domain a well as in the
social spheres such as self-governance through suffrage, education, sacred
music, missionary work, nursing and social work.
To recapitulate, the history of the religious congregations for women in
the Philippines during the Spanish period (1565-1898) proceeded in five
overlapping stages: 1) The Transitional Stage: From Priestesses to Beatas
(1565-1650); 2) The Eremitic Stage (1600-1800); 3) The Communal Stage
(1634-1898); 4) The Missionary Stage (1858-98); and 5) The Advent of
the International Congregations (1862-92). Behind their development was
the creative force of love and sacrifice. Though basically similar to one an?
other, each of these religious institutes manifested a unique charisma ema?
nating from their particular background, circumstances and trials and
tribulations. In a larger sense, no religious community ever fails. Each af?
fects, inspires, sustains and lives on in the others in spirit. Each in its own
way contributes to the common foundation and general development of re?
ligious congregations even if only in the form of a "lesson" to hark.
All in all, fourteen religious communities for women were formed dur?
ing the three centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines (see Table 1).
Nine of them were local foundations and five were foreign or international
congregations (one Japanese and four Spanish) which transferred to or es?

tablished an autonomous branch in the Islands. Of the nine local commu?
nities, almost all beaterios, four were founded by native Filipinas, one by a
Spanish sister and another four by a combination of Spanish and Filipino
founders, although, understandably, the Spanish founders are usually given
exclusive credit in the original narratives.
The Beaterio of Miyako (1602-56) was the first Catholic religious
community established by Asians in Kyoto, Japan in 1602. When the Japa?
nese beatas were exiled to Manila in 1614, the Filipinos beatas - who had
just made the immense transition from the belief system of pre-hispanic
priestesses to the Christian values and principles - were living either as
hermits or with their families. Thus, the banished beatas introduced the
concept of the "spiritual family" as distinguished from the biological fam?
ily in the family-oriented culture of the Philippines; and that such entity of
the Church could be formed not only by Spaniards but also by Asians.
The first catholic monastery in Asia was the Royal Monastery of Santa
Clara which was set up in Manila in 1621 for Spanish women. From the
outset, Filipina applicants were banned from admission. Nevertheless, the
determination and extraordinary virtues of two beatas from Pampanga
helped them scale the monolithic barrier to become the first two Filipino
nuns. To circumvent the ban in the Philippines, Sor Marta de San Bernardo
had to profess in the Macao branch of the monastery in about 1635. Two
years later, the Manila foundation relented for once and allowed Sor Mag?
dalena de la Concepci?n to pronounce her vows in Manila. Following a
royal order in 1691, the monastery began admitting Spanish half-breeds
(mestizas) at the turn of the 17th to the 18th century. But it stood firm on
the exclusion of Indias till the end of the Spanish era.
The first Philippine beaterio, that of Santa Catalina de Sena, was in?
augurated in Manila in 1696 also for women of Spanish blood including
mestizas - notwithstanding the fact that one of its saintly precursors was a
Filipina "India," Sor Sebastiana Salcedo de Sta. Maria (1652-92). Offi?
cially regarded as a school rather than a religious house, like almost all the
other Philippine beaterios to come, it opened the first Philippine school
mainly for native girls. However, Filipino aspirants to the beaterio itself
were admitted only as "sisters of obedience" who were deprived of voting
rights, prohibited from holding office and charged with the menial tasks in
the convent. Nevertheles, it was the Filipino lay sisters who, despite their
humble status, launched in 1858 in China the next salient stage in the de?
velopment of religious congregations for women in the Philippines - the
missionary stage. Thus, the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina became the first relig?
ious congregation for women to serve in mainland China. The first two
Filipino missionary beatas were Sor Ana del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jesus
(1840-81) and Sor Pascuala Biron del Sagrado Coraz?n de Jesus (1821
1912
The Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus, under the spiritual direction of
the Jesuits, was the first religious house for Filipino women. As such, it
was the first Filipino community to accomplish self-governance through
elections by secret ballot. It is also the second enduring religious commu?
nity for native women in Asia. (The first is the Amantes de la Croix
founded in Vietnam in 1670.) It was started by a Chinese mestiza, Mother
Ignacia del Espiritu Santo Iucuo (1663-1748) in 1684 after she diverted
from her plans to join the group of Dominican beatas. Mother Ignacia em?
bodied the optimal blending of three magnanimous traditions in her back?
ground: the spiritual leadership of women in the Malay culture; the
distinction of "virtuous and chaste women" in the Chinese annals since
time immemorial; and the monastic tradition of Christian women. Con?
ceived from and born of the spiritual retreat of its foundress, this beaterio
became the pioneer in the retreat movement for women not only in the
Philippines but in the entire Catholic world. It sent the first missionary sis?
ters to the Muslim south in 1875.
The brief spiritual experiment that was the Beaterio de Babuyanes
(1712-1725) demonstrated that native women in an isolated region could
be gathered successfully to build a religious house under the guidance of a
dedicated priest. However, without the constant support of the Church,
either of the diocese or of a religious order, it could not continue to exist.
The unique foundation of the Beaterio de San Sebastian de Calumpang
showed the charismatic evolution of the prehispanic Filipino priestesses
into beatas and then into a religious community. More than any other
beaterio, it reflects the first three stages in the history of congregations for
women in the Islands: the transitional stage from priestesses to beatas; the
eremitic stage and the communal stage. Its foundresses, the blood sisters
Talangpaz, belonged to the ancient Filipino nobility. The Talangpaz clan
probably counted catolonan or priestesses in their maternal line. Their
surname means "rock or boulder" and signifies the house they built on
rock. It is the oldest enduring beaterio or non-contemplative community

for women (started in 1719) in the world-wide Augustinian Recollect Or?
der. It is also the third continuing congregation for native women in Asia
after the Amantes de la Croix and the Beaterio de la Compania.
The combined lists of prioresses of the Beaterios de la Compania and
de San Sebastian show that they came from at least seven different prov?
inces (Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, Marinduque and
Manila) besides the City of Manila and thus indicate the democratic proc?
ess in the beaterio elections.
Although officially extinguished, the Beaterio de Sta. Rita de Pasig
(1740-1898) lives on in spirit in the present Congregation of the
Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation. The latter was organized
by the Filipina recruits of the Spanish Augustinian beatas who arrived in
1883. They are the spiritual successors of the old beatas of Pasig for they
are of the same Augustinian tradition, spiritual quest and racial back?
ground. (They eventually took over the Beaterio-Colegio de Sta. Rita de
Pasig in 1909.)
The Beaterio de Sta. Rosa de Lima (1750-1866), like the Beaterio de
Sta. Catalina, was composed of Dominican tertiaries. It was the only one
which definitely started as a school for girls but eventually evolved into a
colegio-beaterio in the late 18th century. Its fundamental ambiguity as a
religious house, however, did not augur well for its continuity as such; it
failed to attract new aspirants to replenish its membership. It was the first
educational institution to fashion a training course for women teachers
who could then fan out to distant towns all over the Islands. It still exists as
a school for girls as its foundress, Madre Paula de la Santisima Trinidad,
had originally contemplated it to be.
The proposed Monastery of Sta. Rosa de Lima for Chinese mestizas
(1778-1789) presented, in its planning stage, a counterpoint to the Beaterio
de Babuyanes. The former was envisioned by the wealthy and influential
Tuazon family from the burgeoning group of Chinese mestizos of Manila.
But without the solid support of the local community, to begin with, let
alone that of the Church and the state, it was nipped in the bud.
True to their spirit of universality and generosity, the Daughters of
Charity were the first international congregation to accept Filipino women
without reservation eight years after their arrival in 1862 starting with Sor
Conception Gomez (1852-1939). These Filipino nuns in the canonical
sense were the first in almost two and a half centuries since Sor Marta and
Sor Magdalena professed as Poor Clares in the 17th century. The Daugh?
ters of Charity greatly expanded the apostolate of Philippine nuns from
education of women mainly to hospital and social work. The third Filipino
Daughter of Charity, Sor Asuncion Ventura (1853-1923) of a wealthy fam?
ily of Pampanga, set up an orphanage, the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul in
1885.
The Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Mother of God in Cebu
was founded by a Vincentian priest for Filipino nuns in 1877. Their consti?
tution was patterned after that of the Daughters of Charity. They had estab?
lished a hospital and a college for women before they were incorporated
into the Daughters of Charity in 1895.
The Augustinian Beaterio of Barcelona established an autonomous
branch in Manila in 1883. Seven years later, like the Daughters of Charity,
it admitted its first Filipina members starting with Sor Teresa de Jesus An
drada (1855-1940). Abandoned by their Spanish superiors and the
Augustinian Order during the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino
American War, the first Filipino Augustinian sisters virtually refounded
their congregation themselves (1899-1904). They held their infant commu?
nity together during desperate times and put it on the road to temporal re?
covery and greater spiritual progress in the years to come. Unlike the
Filipino nuns of the Daughters of Charity, the Filipino Augustinian sisters,
by force of circumstances, held key positions in their congregation early in
their development. In the process, they proved the competence of Filipino
nuns to govern themselves even in times of severe stress without the super?
vision of their Spanish superiors nor of a male religious order and with
scarce support from the then embattled archbishop of Manila.
The diocesan Beaterio de la Magdalena in Jaro, Iloilo also existed
briefly (1887-ca. 1900). It apparently died with its foundress during the
turmoil of the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War bereft
of any support from the strife-torn diocese.
The last international congregation to arrive in the Philippines during
the Spanish Regime was the Religious of the Assumption (1892-98). They
established the first Superior Normal School for Women Teachers in Ma?
nila. For all its too brief stint in the capital, the school graduated its first
and last batch of teachers most of whom, led by Dona Rosa Sevilla,
PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY
founded the first secular women's college in the Philippines in 1900 - the
Institute de Mujeres.
ENDNOTES
Santiago, The Hidden Light: The First Fil Priests (Q.C.: New Day, 1987), pp. 76
78 & 78-80.
Maria Cruz Rich OP, Apuntes Hist?ricos del Beaterio y Colegio de Sta. Catalina
(Manila: UST, 1939), pp. 16-18; Henson, Sta. Catalina, pp. 53-54; Congregation of Dom.
Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, Veritas '86 (Quezon City: CDSSCS, 1986), Chap. 4, n.p.
3Ibid.\ The Daughters of Charity arrived in Portuguese-controlled Macao in 1847 &

the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, in British-ruled Hong Kong in 1848. J. Krahl, "China,"
NCE 3: 597; ACSCS, Resena Nominal (RN) 2: passim 3: 12 & 64; & 4: 1-6; Libro de Di
funtas (LD), pp. 156 & 195-196.
4Ibid.
5Rich, Apuntes, pp. 16-18; ACSCS, RN3: 64-66.
6Ibid. 4: passim.
1Ibid. 3: 17; LD, pp. 174-175; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 54.
8ACSCS, RN. 3: 26, 35 & 65-66; LD, pp. 227-228.
9ACSCS, RN3: 29 & 64-65; LD, p. 176.
l0Ibid.,p. 166;/W3:35&65.
UIbid. 3: 36; LD, pp. 251-252; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 54.
UIbid.; Luciano P.R. Santiago, "The First Fil. Lay Drs. of Philosophy & of Laws
(1785-1871)," PQCS 16 (1988):83-92; "The First Fil. Drs. of Pharmacy (1890-93)" &
"The First Fil. Drs. of Medicine & Surgery (1878-97)," PQCS 22 (1994): 90-102 & 103
140; Rich, Apuntes, p. 44; ACSCS, RN3: 36 & 64; LD, p. 253.
UIbid, p. 252; RN3: 31 & 65; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 54.
'Ibid.; ACSCS, RN3: 37; LD, pp. 250-251.
Îbid., pp. 231-232; RN3: 37 & 65.
l6Ibid. 3: 38 & 65; LA p. 253; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 55.
11 Ibid.; Rieh, Gimtes, pp. 22-25; ACSCS, RN3: 41 & 66; LD, pp. 246-248.
1876m/., pp. 249-250; TW 3: 42; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 78; Rieh, ?puntes, p. 17.
19?/J., pp. 17 & 22-25; Henson, Sta. Catalina, p. 55; ACSCS, 3: 43 & 66; LA
pp. 207-208.
20Ibid., p. 261; RN 3: 47.
217fotf. 3: 17 ff; Fe Dural OP, "First Golden Years: Misioneras de Sto. Domingo," Life
Today, June 1985, pp. 5-7; Jheannifer Davis, "The Native Beatas of the Beaterio de Sta.
Catalina de Sena," Unitas 63 (1990): 83-88.
22Rich, Apuntes, pp. 18 & 44; Henson, Sta. Catalina, pp. 72 & 79; ACSCS, TW 3: 39
& 55; LA pp. 254-255 & 261; "Highlights in the History of the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina
(1633-1965)," MS, pp. 5-13; Daughters of Charity (DC), A Time for Remembering 1862
1987 (Manila: DC, 1987), typescript, Module III, p. 31; "Obituario," Cultura Social, Nov.
1940.
ZJ ACSCS, "Highlights," p. 5; Davis, "Native Beatas," p. 88.
24Ibid.; Rich, Apuntes, pp. 16-21; Dural, "Misioneras," pp. 6-7.
25Davis, "Native Beatas," pp. 88.
ACSCS, "Highlights," pp. 5-6; Cecilia Sison OP, La Congregaci?n de Religiosas

Dominicas de Sta. Catalina de Sena During World War II, (Manila: Sta. Catalina College,
ca.1976).
27Rita Ferraris RVM, From Beaterio to Congregation, (Manila: RVM, 1975), pp. 34
43; Noonday Sun, pp. 17-20; A Star, pp. 34-39; Beaterios, pp. 143-158.
28S.P., Ano de 1875. Padr?n General de Vecindarios de Tondo, Gremio de Mestizos,

cabeceria no. 6; Luciano P.R. Santiago, "Sor Agapita Domingo, the Painter's Daughter,"
Life Today 41 (Oct. 1985): 12-14; "The Art & Ideas of Damian Domingo," in Nick
Joaquin & Luciano P.R. Santiago, The World of Damian Domingo. (Manila: Metropolitan
Museum, 1990), pp. 7-24.
29
Ferraris, From Beaterio, pp. 36-43; Noonday Sun, pp. 17-20.
30Ibid.; A Star, p. 39; Javellana, Wood & Stone, pp. 143-144.
31Ibid., "Obituario," Cuitura Social (Mayo 1937), p. 260.

32
Ferraris, From Beaterio, pp. 40-43; Noonday Sun, pp. 19-20; A Star, pp. 35-39.
33
7Z>zV/.; Ferraris, From Beaterio, pp. 40-43; Noonday Sun, pp. 19-28 & 45; A Star, pp.
35-39.
34Aw/.; pp. 44-48; Noonday Sun, pp. 45-48.
35Ibid.;pV. 19-20.
36From Beaterio, pp. 49-55
37/foJ., pp. 71-73.
38Daughters of Charity (DC), A Time for Sowing, 1862-87, (Manila: DC, 1987) type?
script, Module I, pp. 1-9; de la Goza, Vincentians, pp. 404-405.
39Ibid.',NCE 3: 470-473.
40de la Goza, Vincentians, pp. 342-345 & 404-418; DC, Sowing, pp. 10-19 & 37-39.
41Ibid.; Archivo de las Hijas de la Caridad (AHC), Libro de Filiaci?n de todas las
Hermanas de la Vice-provincia (1862- ), pp. 44-49, nos. 110-113 & 148; "Obituario,"
Cuitura Social,. Enero 1940; Guia Oficial de las Isias Filipinas, 1881-98; Angelo &
Aloma de los Reyes, A Historical Account of Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, 1885-1985.
(Manila: DC, 1984), pp. 2-30.
42DC, Sowing, pp. 37-39; AHC, Libro de Filiaci?n, pp. 49-63.
43A. de los Reyes, Historical Account, pp. 113-115; Monina A. Mercado, "Daughters
of Charity: Servants of the Poor," Panorama, 11 Dec. 1983, pp. 40-48.
44de la Goza, Vincentians, pp. 165-166; AHC, Libro de Filiaci?n, pp. 60-61.
45ibid.
46Ibid.; de la Goza, Vincentians, pp. 166-167.
4>7Ibid., p. 173; Singzon-Baeza Clan, Pagpasalamat Calbiza Fiesta '96 (Calbiz

Samar: 1996), p. 46. DC, Libro de Filiacion, pp. 60-61.
48
Ibid.', de la Goza, Vincentians, pp. 167-168.
49Catalina de Jesus OSA, Resena de la Congregation de las Religiosas Agustinas

Terciarias de Filipinas (Manila: OSA, 1948); Ana Consuelo Gonzalez OSA, History of
Augustinian Sisters of the Philippines, (Manila: OSA, 1970).
50de Jesus, Resena, pp. 1-6; Gonzalez, History, pp. 7-17 & 23-31.
51 Ibid., pp. 31-36; de Jesus, Resena, pp. 7-9.

CT
Ibid., pp. 9-12; Gonzalez, History, pp. 36-37.
53
Ibid., pp. 37-45; de Jesus, Resena, pp. 12-15.
54Ibid., pp. 15-19; Santiago, "Sta Rita de P?sig," pp. 63

45-49.
55Ibid.; Archivo de la Casa Madre (ACM), Convento de la Consolacion, Libro l.o de

Filiacion (Desde 1883), MSS., pp. 1-2; Colegio Asilo de Huerfanas de Mandaloya
(Cat?logo de Hermanas) 1898; Cat?logo (Biogr?fico) de las Religiosas Agustinas Ter?
ciarias de Filipinas. Libro l.o. MSS., pp. 5-23; "Las Bodas de Plata," Cultura Social,
(Oct. 1915), pp. 734-739.
56Ibid.
57Gregorio Zaide, Documentary History of the Katipunan Discovery, (Manila, 1931),

Appdx H, pp. xvi-xvii; History of the Katipunan, (Manila, 1939), Appdx H, pp. 161-162.
58Santiago, "Sta. Rita de P?sig," p. 65; "Padre Victor Ramos, Pastor of P?sig (1898
1901)" in L.P.R. Santiago & Carlos Tech, eds., P?sig: No?n. Ngay?n at Bukas, (P?sig:
Araw ng P?sig, 1994), pp. 84-88.
59Gonz?lez, History, pp. 68-82; de Jesus, Resena, pp. 39-57.
60Ibid., pp. 50-67; Gonz?lez, History, pp. 78-91.
6lIbid.
62Ibid.; ACM, Libro l.o de Filiation, p. 8; OSA Re-membering, 1883-1983, (Quezon

City: OSA, 1983), pp. 6 & 83.
Domingo Family Tree (Cagayan de Oro, ca. 1980) (Courtesy of Mr. Jose Gabor);
Miguel Zaragoza (Mario), "Illmo. Sr. D. Crisanto Pineda," La Ilustraci?n Filipina, 2 (14
Agto. 1892): 300-302.
John Schumacher, SJ, Revolutionary Clergy, (Quezon City: Ateneo, 1981), pp. 253
254, 257 & 258-266.
66Marie Dorninique Poinsenet RA, Across this Darkness I Salute the Dawn: Biogra?
phy of Mere Marie Eugenie Milleret. (Manila: RA, n.d.), pp. 57-76; Maria Carmen Reyes
RA, "The Superior Normal School for Women Teachers in Manila, 1893-98," in Poin?
senet, Biography, pp. 199-211.
Ibid.-, Fely I. San Andres, Woman of Molave (Biography of Dona Rosa Sevilla Al
vero). (Manila: Alumnae Association of the Instituto de Mujeres, 1948).
68"The Assumption in the Phil, since 1904," in Poinsenet, Biography, pp. 213-215;
Archives of the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption of Our Lady, Book of
Professions', Telephone interviews with Mothers Maria-Angela Ansaldo RA, Ex-provin?
cial & Margarita Amistoso RA, Superior, Assumption Convent, San Lorenzo Village,
Makati, Metro Manila, August 1994.
W; Assumption (1839-1989), (Manila: R.A., 1990), p. 29.

To Love and To Suffer - The Development of The Religious Congregations For Women in The Philippines During The Spanish Era (1565-1898)

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"TO LOVE AND TO SUFFER": THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS

"TO LOVE AND TO SUFFER": THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago^

IV. THE MISSIONARY STAGE (1858-1898)

A, The Missionary Beatas of Sta. Catalina (see Table 1).

and writer of religious books in Chinese. The first Filipino missionary

The First Filipino Missionary Beatas

Though unacknowledged in the history of Chinese missions, the Beate

in 1883 serving thereafter as infirmarian of students in the beaterio.

sisted again in the founding of the Orphanage in TakaOj Formosa

12. Sor Imelda de la Concepci?n (1870-1939), the former Eustaquia Al

Gutierrez of Dagupan, Pangasin?n. Professing as a sister of obedience

Changes and Complications

B. The Missionary Beatas of the Society (see Table 1)

The Painter's Daughter

By blessed coincidence, in 1875, an intrepid spinster from a prominent

missions. The Society of Jesus considered this episode of such moment

The Angels of Tamontaca

YEAR NAME FOUNDRESSES SUPERVISION

I. The Beatas of Sta. Catalina in China

1858 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Ana del Sgdo. Coraz?n OP

1889 Asilo de Sta. Catalina Sor Antonia de la Flagelaci?n OP

1890 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Maria del Pilar de la Crucifixion OP

1890 Asilo de la Sta. Infancia Sor Antonia de la Flagelaci?n OP

II. The Beatas of the Society of Jesus in Mindanao

1875 Beaterio de Tamontaca Sor Agapita Domingo (1826-1900) SJ/dcs

1880 Beaterio de Dapitan Sor Agapita Domingo SJ/dcs

1893 Beaterio de Zamboanga Sor Clara Ramirez SJ/dcs

YEAR NAME FOUNDRESSES SUPERVISION

ca. 1894 Beaterio de Dipolog, unknown SJ/dcs

ca. 1894 Beaterio de Lubungan, unknown SJ/dcs

1895 Beaterio de Surigao, Sor Maxima de Leon SJ/dcs

1896 Beaterio de Butuan, unknown SJ/dcs

Santo is now a candidate for beatification by the Sacred Congregation in

V. THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATIONS

A. Hijas de la Caridad (Daughters of Charity, 1862-the present)

The First Filipina Daughters of Charity

Fig. 2. Sor Conception Gomez (1852-1939) on her "Golden Jubilee

5. Sor Trinidad de Jesus (1854-1883) of Manila professed in 1877 and

B. Hermanitas de la Madre de Dios (Little Sisters of the Mother of

The First Congregation for Filipinas

zon de la Anunciaci?n (1851-1920), first bishop of Calbayog (1910) and

Union with the Daughters of Charity

Patterned after the constitution of the Hijas de la Caridad, the rules of

C. Beaterio de Mantelatas de San Agustin (now The Congregation of

In the wake of the cholera epidemic of 1882, the Augustinian friars

The "Authentic" Beaterio

The Beaterio de Mantelatas Agustinas de Barcelona had been founded

The First Filipino Augustinian Nuns

How to replenish the dwindling ranks of the fledgling institution?

Beaterio de Sta. Rita de P?sig renaming it Colegio de Nuestra Senora del

Malate, Manila. She also grew up in the Augustinian orphanage. She

Dissolution of the Augustinian Beaterios

by the Spanish forces. The local community of beatas had to be disbanded

Re-Founding the Congregation

In the absence of their Spanish superiors, Sor Teresa de Jesus Andrada

dresses of the present Congregation of the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady

D. Beaterio de la Magdalena (1887-ca.l900)

Sor Fidela Pineda y Domingo (born ca.1850) founded this religious

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<^oo g ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^tfHVW^lll

E. The Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption of Our Lady