History of the Congregation

Seal of RVM | The Motherhouse

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 founded in 1684 by a Filipina, Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo.

A Papal congregation of a mixed life, it aims primarily at personal sanctification and perfection. Its secondary aims include laboring for the sanctification and salvation of others through Catholic education of youth and catechetical instruction in parishes, as well as fostering spiritual retreats among lay women, conducting dormitories, and taking care of the sick in hospitals.

Mother Ignacia, Foundress of the R.V.M. Sisters, began her arduous task in the year 1684. Directed by divine inspiration and the wise guidance of her spiritual director, Father Paul Klein, S.J., Ignacia at the age of twenty-one left her family and friends, and gave herself without reserve entirely to the service of God by founding an institute whose first members were her own self, her niece Cristina Gonzales, and two young girls, Teodora de Jesus and Ana Margarita. This small group formed the nucleus of the Beatas de la Compania de Jesus which subsequently became the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary. Six other ladies joined the original four, and before long there were thirty-three members. The piety and penance of Mother Ignacia so attracted many that by 1748 the group numbered fifty. They had charge of the educational training of forty-five girls — Filipinas (indias), Spaniards, and mestizas. While brought up in the fear and love of God, these girls were trained in the domestic arts and skills of reading, sewing, and embroidery.

While the growing number of generous souls were known as beatas which was then taken to mean "holy" or "saintly" due to the fact that they were leading a life of great edification, there is no existing evidence as to how they were later to be addressed as Sor or Madre.

The house where the beatas lived was called House of Retreat because it was here that retreats and days of recollection were conducted for women desiring to make them. Mother Ignacia initiated this practice of spiritual recollection, and she herself started the retreat movement among women. An energetic woman of rare qualities gifted with an inspiring personality, coupled with a generous amount of common sense in dealing with people, her example was her main asset in attracting other women to follow her way of life which was one of abnegation and sacrifice.

In 1732, the Archbishop of Manila approved the Rules then in use among the beatas. Mother Ignacia had the consolation of seeing the steady growth of her small band of beatas.

Quietly as she had lived her whole life, Mother Ignacia died on September 10, 1748 at the age of eighty-five. It is traditionally held that the holy Foundress died on her knees at the communion rail of the old Jesuit church of St. Ignatius at Intramuros, the place where the Cuartel de Espana was later built, and which became the 31st American Infantry Headquarters before World War II.

Mother Ignacia 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 sent by Archbishop Arizala of Manila to the king two months before her death.

During the period from 1748 to 1770, the beatas continued in their unobtrusive way of helping the Jesuit Fathers conduct spiritual retreats. They did not limit their apostolic work within Manila alone; they went out to the different provinces of Luzon in groups of two or more whenever circumstances permitted. Their untiring, self-sacrificing efforts were compensated when many men and women who had stayed from the Sacraments for twenty, thirty, forty years returned to the fold.

In the account from the Mision de la Compania de Jesus by P. Pablo Pastells, S.J., the beatas were referred to for the first time as Sisters when they set sail for Tamontaca in Cotabato in 1874. From then on, the name beatas remained more as a connotation than the common address given to the Sisters.
The period covered from 1872 through 1900 was one characterized by the establishment of the first missions in Mindanao. Inhabited by non-Christians, Mindanao was an island which could be reached only after two or three months travel by sea.

The first mission was established at Tamontaca, Cotabato in 1874. It is sad to recall that some hostile Moslems burned down the mission orphanage and one of the Sisters was mortally wounded by a juramentado. In spite of the constant dangers, the Sisters established themselves in other towns where the Jesuits were stationed. Dapitan mission opened in 1880, Dipolog in 1892, Zamboanga in 1894, and Surigao together with Lubungan and Butuan in 1896.

The Philippine Revolution and the Spanish-American War brought untold sufferings and privations to the Sisters in Mindanao. They, however, worked in hospitals taking care of the wounded. When peace was restored, they returned to their mission stations in Mindanao and opened new schools in Luzon and in the Visayas.

The apostolic administrator of the Manila archdiocese, Most Reverend Martin Garcia Alocer, on June 21, 1902 approved the petition of the Sisters to gather all the members from the different mission stations for the purpose of electing a Mother General. In the same year, Mother Maria Efigenia Alvarez, a native of Ermita, Manila, was elected the first Mother General in a General Chapter.

With the new Mother General an era of expansion and progress began. Many houses were opened; consequently, there arose a great demand for Sisters who could teach. With her characteristic zeal and motherly prudence, Mother Efigenia encouraged the Sisters to pursue higher studies at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila in order that they might be the better prepared for the work awaiting them. During her administration ten extant houses, schools, and dormitories were founded. Several other lesser houses were opened, but due to unfavorable circumstances, had to be closed later. In 1938, Mother Efigenia, who was then eighty years uf age, and who had been Mother General for almost thirty years (after four reelections), sought special permission from the Holy See to be relieved of her position although her term of office had not yet expired. Her request was granted on July 10, 1938, and Rev. M. Maria Andrea Montejo was appointed by the Holy See to succeed her.

On October 1, 1939, with the combined efforts of the Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, Monsignor Guillermo Piani, Archbishop Michael J. O'Doherty of Manila, and the S.V.D. Fathers, the Holy See granted canonical permission to the Congregation to transfer the Novitiate from Paranaque, Rizal to its present site at Quezon City.

March 17, 1907 marked a milestone on the onward march of the Congregation toward its goal to full Pontifical status. Pope Pius X, now St. Pius X. promulgated the Decree of Praise in favor of the Congregation's Rules and Constitutions. The Decree of Approbation was granted by Pope Pius XI on March 24, 1931. This Decree elevated the Congregation to Pontifical status. Finally, on January 12, 1948, the 200th anniversary of the death of the holy Foundress, Pope Pius XII issued the Decree of Definitive Pontifical Approbation of the Constitutions. Such signal honor placed the Congregation directly under Rome.

Rev. Pedro Vidal, S.J., Consultor for the Society of Jesus in the Sacred Congregation of Religious, represented the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary at the signing of the Decree in 1948. Archbishop of Zamboanga Luis del Rosario, S.J., D.D., then serving as Apostolic Visitator of the Congregation, played a vital role in the process which led to the granting of the final Decree.
In 1938, the Congregation had twenty-six houses throughout the country. World War II (1941-45) destroyed the Motherhouse at Intramuros together with nine other houses of the Congregation.

Today, the R.V.M. Sisters work throughout the Philippine archipelago. The work has grown enormously in post-war years. Fifty-seven schools and sixteen other houses dot 1,500 miles from northern Luzon to southern Mindanao. At the present time, 1963, the Congregation numbers 483 professed Sisters, 40 novices, and 9 postulants. For the most part, education work and the retreat movement are a common endeavor of the Congregation, but the apostolate also includes conducting seven dormitories, one hospital, and a house overseas in Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

Dating back to 1684, nearly three centuries later, the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary stands for the tradition of Catholic culture, intent on forming Filipinos into true Christians and useful citizens, preparing them for a life of happiness here and in eternity.