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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 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 in her unwavering desire to build a passageway for her community to gain access to the Blessed Sacrament in the Church of Letran.

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.

God cannot be Resisted

Official SiteFoundress, Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, Philippinesof Venerable Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo de Fuentes

 

 

vengco


by Msgr. Sabino Vengco

 

ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA

On the Holy Thursday (April 17) of 2003, John Paul gifted the Church with his latest encyclical "Eucharistia". The Church lives and draws her strength and self-identity from the Eucharist. The Eucharist builds the Church. It is the sacrament of divine presence and the summit of and central to all Church activity. To receive the Lord in Holy Communion is the fulfillment of the sacramental encounter, which must be celebrated with proper dignity and reverence. And it is truly expressive of intimacy and helpful toward greater communion to stay in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Francisca del Espiritu Santo together with her early companions Antonia de Jesus Maria Fuentes, Sebastiana
de Jesus, and Maria Ana de la Vega, initially frequented the sacraments in the church of the Convent of Sto. Domingo in Intramuros. In the piety current at the time that means Mass, with Holy Communion every fortnight more or less
upon the permission of the confessor or spiritual directorand frequent, even daily, confession.

An incident illustrates Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo's great love for the Eucharist. When they finally had their own Beaterio and after their return from exile in Colegio de Sta. Potenciana during the closure, Mother Francisca came up with the intense desire to have the Blessed Sacrament in their chapel. But Archbishop Diego Camacho y Avila refused to grant permission. When the new Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta arrived the following year, Francisca proposed to the Father Provincial of the Dominicans that a direct passageway be built form the beaterio to the Church of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. When the idea was turned down, she waited until a new provincial was elected who was favorable to it. But it was still the former Provincial, Fr. Juan de Sto. Domingo, OP, writer of the Breve Relacion (1711) about the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina, who actually built the passageway that gave access for the community of Mother Francisca to the Blessed Sacrament of the San Juan de Letran Church. The ready access meant that through a balcony the whole choir of the church was reserved for the religious women. A communion rail was placed for them, not to mention two confessional boxes with iron gates at the side of the choir

 

ROSARIUM VIRGINIS MARIAE

To contemplate and be with Christ in the Eucharist is the Holy Father's call to all the faithful in the Third millennium. And this in Mary's school for prayer, contemplating Christ with Mary. The rediscovery of the treasure that is the Rosary of Mary as the sweet chain linking us to god and as the special instrument of our spiritual nourishment is very vividly exemplified in the life of Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo.

At the instance of their spiritual adviser Fr. Juan de Sto. Domingo, OP early on in the formation of the group of Mother Francisca, the decision was to have fifteen beatas in honor of the mysteries of the rosary. Each Beata would take a mystery of the Holy Rosary for her own particular devotion. This was in imitation of the same practice remembered by Fr. Sto. Domingo to have been introduced in a convent of Dominican Sisters in the Canary Islands sometime in 1658 by Fr. Pedro de Sta. Maria Olloa, OP. Only later would the priest find out that such was already the idea of Mother Sebastiana, a mystic from Pasig and one of the original companions of Mother.

When the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina was finally built out of the generosity of benefactors and of the Dominican Fathers, at last they have their own oratory. Mother Francisca right away ordered that the Rosary be prayed by the community three times a day: in the morning, early afternoon, and again at midnight. It was the conviction of R. Sto. Domingo that with the help of the Virgin of the Rosary the lack of funds by the Beatas did not prevent their acquisition of the needed resources.

The enriched Rosary of John Paul II with the additional Mysteries of Light would have been a welcome contemplation of the Mysteries of Christ and of the mysteries of Mary for the Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo, a paradigm for us today of the Christian spirituality that is anchored on the Eucharist and supported by the Rosary of Mary. Let us pray for the causes of the beatification and canonization of this Servant of God, a Filipina Beata.

 

 

 

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