Religious of the Virgin Mary

The Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (Spanish: La Cofradía de Hermanas de Religiosa de la Virgen María; postnominals: RVM) is an ecclesiastical community of avowed religious Filipino Roman Catholic women of pontifical right and approval founded in Manila, the Philippines. Founded in 1684 by the pious Filipina laywoman Venerable Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, the congregation administers schools in the Philippines, and overseas in California and Hawaii in the United States.

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, Venerable Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo.

A 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 del Espíritu Santo began her arduous task in 1684. Directed by divine inspiration and the wise guidance of her spiritual director, the Czech priest, Rev. Fr. Pablo Clain, S.J. (also known as Fr. Paul Klein), 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 Jesús and Ana Margarita. This small group formed the nucleus of the Beatas de la Compania de Jesús which subsequently became the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary. Six other ladies joined the original four, increasing to 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 of different races: 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.

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