Clarence Marquez,OP

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RIPPLES, the THEME of this WEBPAGE in honor and for the Causes of Beatification and Canonization of Venerable Francisca del Espiritu Santo de Fuentes, or as we fondly call her - MOTHER FRANCISCA, epitomizes her life of faithful fulfillment to her very words, “GOD CAN NOT BE RESISTED”. The magnificent love and mercy of God stirred her life and deeply penetrated through her soul to forget herself and offered her all for His service.

By God's unfathomable design, His hands work providentially to fulfill His plan through this self-effacing Servant, as in Milicia de Jesucristo, Fr. Francisco Gainza, OP wrote: " ...from early childhood, it had already been known what could have been expected of her on reaching maturity, for even when she was still very young, she had already displayed a precocious modesty, an edifying composure, a sort of prudence superior to young age, a tender devotion to God and a vivid desire not to offend Him Whom she loved even before she got acquainted with earthly vanities..."(Positio, p.30).

Her pursuit of spiritual perfection through dedicated prayers and charitable works to the poor sick and the young, rippled through the heart and souls of other women in her time. Her life influenced theirs to make a difference in the society and people they live with.

Mother Francisca hurdled all forms of trials: come to think of how much she could have suffered from the setback of losing her husband and being left childless at a young age; how with courageous persistence she dealt with the opposition from both ecclesial and state authorities during the advent of the establishment of her first community to the foundation of the Beaterio; how her prudence and love of community as the appointed prioress and her fidelity to the Rule were tested by her very own sisters at Sta. Potenciana until their return to the Beaterio after more than two years of exile; how she stood up firm and unperturbed by cultural negativism and criticisms in her decisions that concern the Beatas and the Beaterio. All these and even more, summed up her deep relationship with God. Her strong desire of enjoying His promised "unceasing presence" was evident in her devotion to the Holy Eucharist and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, thus, her unwavering desire for the community to enjoy this priviledge after years of patient waiting paved its realization through the construction of a passageway/bridge from the Beaterio over Calle Letran (Letran Street) to the Church of San Juan de Letran so that her community could gain access to the Blessed Sacrament.

Finally, towards the twilight of her missionary life on earth, having worn out by her acts of perpetual mortification and mortal fatigue to securely give a solid establishment of the Beaterio, her corporal frame deteriorates but her spirit continues to edify persons around her especially her confessor, Fr. Juan de Sto. Domingo.

Mother Francisca returned to her Creator with heroic resignation and humility on August 24, 1711, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, and was buried with all solemnity in the Church of San Juan de Letran. Her tomb was over the steps of the Main Altar, on the side of the Gospel.

As the Theological Commission wrote in her Positio – “A Woman of Great Faith, Resolute Hope and Steadfast Love: A Woman for our Times... “, this Venerable Woman left a living legacy of her love of God and neighbor, the RIPPLE effect of God's love and mercy which continues vigorously as ever this day to create ripples of their own, from - the Beatas of the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Sena to her sisters of the now - Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, Philippines, in their active ministries to the young, the sick and the poor.

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FROM VIUDA TO BEATA: Woman Religious in 17th Century Philippines

Fr. Clarence Marquez, O.P.

To be widow is to be a victim of death. True that she is the survivor, but a vacuumed one. For in the condescending gaze of a patriarchal world, with the man gone, what is left of woman? It is as if the one flesh conjugated in matrimony is forever torn asunder by masculine mortality, and the feminine remnant is emaciated, disabled, scarred by death and dearth. To complicate the crux further, the widow is, at the same cruel time, childless. She is manless and fruitless; full of disgrace; no lord is with her; cursed among women.

But the widow and the orphan, have God as their defender. They are the explicit recipients of divine redress and salvation. For in the coming reign of God on earth, the restoration of widows to life and fecundity is a hallmark of the proclamation and realization of the Gospel.

Thus is the issue at hand, in the life-story of a viuda of Manila, FRANCISCA DE FUENTES. She overcame the bias against her gender, and the obstacles against her holy desires, in order to give birth to the pioneer beaterio, women religious-in-community, in colonial 17th century Philippines.

This work sets out to sketch the socio-political milieu from which she emerged as a woman of note, a woman who stood above women, and above men of her time. She is type and anti-type, embodiment of the fairest virtues, and frontier-woman who pushed the confines of her world and won a sacred space for her cause and her kind. In a real sense, she invented and reinvented herself as institution-builder, spiritual mother and daughter, paragon of excellence and persistence, woman of God, woman for others. Francisca is the viuda beata, the widow who lost a husband, but found God; who bore no children but mothered a whole new religious family; who received more than what was taken away; and who gave the most because she gave all that she has, all that she is.

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