SCHOOL HYMN

The school we love St. Mary's is her name
She stands a statue great and strong,
She holds our hands and guides us through the world
By keeping us all sound and strong.
She molds our souls by teaching us the faith
She molds our minds and bodies, too.
She's all what a mother is She's our beloved SMA.

Let's hold her high and lift her to the heights.
Let's fight for her and love her all the time.
Now open your hearts to her, dear SMA.
St. Mary's Academy, she's a true Alma Mater dear.
St. Mary's 
Academy, she's a school and a home all in one.
St. Mary's
Academy, let her blue and her white banner fly
Let her live in all our hearts and lips
Let Saint Mary's
Academy ever live.


Saint Mary's Academy's Foundress...
a glimpse into her Life...

Christened as IGNACIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO on 4 March 1663 was the daughter of Jusepe Iuco (a Chinese) and Maria Jeronima (an Yndia), at the church of the Holy Kings at Parian. Officiating at the baptismal rites was Fray Alberto Collares, a Dominican friar. Standing as godmother was Catalina Malinang. Born in the district Binondo, Manila, the date of the Infant’s birth was conjectured to have been on February 1st, a month earlier, it being the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch according to the old calendar.

The name, IGNACIA, has something prophetic in it. It comes from the root word ‘Ignire’, meaning "to set fire to". For today this product of the seventeenth century Philippines has stood the test of ages or centuries.



Venerable Ignacia del Espiritu Santo continues to set fire in the hearts of those whose lives she touches through her followers, the Sisters of the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM).

Ignacia’s parent could well afford to sustain her in giving her an education according to what was allowed for the native Filipinos in the seventeenth century. She was brought up in a home where loyalty to and support for one another were held foremost thereby making each one feel secure as a member of the family. Her father’s outstanding traits of humility, patience,and endurance passed on to her which were further enhanced by those of her mother’s courage, simplicity and strong faith in God. The integration of her parents’ virtues into Ignacia’s own person to a considerable degree, propelled her to great love for God and an ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

With a life thus formed from childhood, Ignacia, the young adult, was strong enough to carry on with her resolve to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. She braved with an assertive stance, the objections of her parents who wanted to keep her from leaving them for a life of uncertainty and therefore insecurity. A good future was in store for her as they wanted to marry her off to a promising young man of their choice. Without being defiant, no amount of persuasion could stop her from seeking the will of God. She decided to define her future apart from her parents’ design for her. She did this not because she loved her parents less, but because she loved God more. In prayer she sought God’s divine will in a retreat through the guidance of Father Pablo Klein, a Jesuit priest. Emerging from the retreat, she was determined to serve the Divine Majesty, living by the sweat of her brow. She was out to prove that with her scissors and needle she could make both ends meet instead of basking in the comfort of her parents' home. Her daring attitude spurred her on to plunge herself into living in solitude.

So in 1684, when Venerable Ignacia was only twenty-one years old, the early beginnings of her foundation started. Her life of prayer, penance and sacrifice attracted others to join her, thus forming themselves into little group of beatas. With Venerable Ignacia as their leader, they saw the truth that truth that sets one free. It was this freedom that emboldened Venerable Ignacia and her beatas to struggle and work for this cause.

Who could have ever thought of a woman of yesteryears to organize other women in order to work communally for freedom? Young children, as well as adults, were in dire need of education that would release them from the clutches of ignorance. Yes, there was an Ignacia who initiated this. She and her beatas stretched out their time in order to give them lessons in the basics of literacy – reading and writing. They taught the women some arts like cooking, sewing, embroidery and other handicrafts. They assisted the Jesuit priests in giving retreats and other spiritual activities of formation.

Simple and poor was the life of Venerable Ignacia and her beatas but they transcended their poverty without complaints. Their meal was frugal and there were times when they had to eat at the batalan under the moonlight to save oil for their lamps. Such a lifestyle could only be motivated by the desire to follow the poor Christ. Venerable Ignacia’s strong faith that the God who called her to follow the very God who would sustain her was shared by the beatas. So they knew they were in the right direction. She proved herself to be undaunted in the face of obstacles which could have been insurmountable for one who with less daring or less stamina. She exhorted her companions through her actions. The constitutions she wrote in cooperation with the other beatas served as a lodestone for their journey towards the life to come under the leadership of Venerable Ignacia. Here was a leadership that invited the members to follow her without pressure or constraint. Her lifestyle of prayer, penance and labor was a model for the beatas but she advised them to moderate their activities upon seeing that the rigors of their own penance weakened them. Par excellence was Venerable Ignacia’s humility. She relinquished to another beata in the group the leadership of her foundation and she took her place among the ranks several years before she died.

In war and in peace, Venerable Ignacia and her beatas made their presence felt by those who witnessed their way of life. The Ignacian spirit prevailed among the members. Attesting to this was the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish colonizers in 1898. The Sisters trailed the retreating revolutionaries as they moved out to the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan and La Union. "They nursed the wounded, cared for the sick, consoled the afflicted, counseled and encouraged them". All these they did, knowing that sanction can be imposed on them were they to be caught by the Spanish authorities. The charismatic courage of Venerable Ignacia courses through the veins and this passes from generation to generation, impelling them to weather poverty, humiliations, trials, deprivations, bombshells of war and the like.

Indeed Venerable Ignacia blazed the trail for her followers – the RVM sisters – who continue to tread it in terms of the various ministries they are involved in, namely: Retreat, Education and Catechetics, Dormitory and Social Ministry. She paved the way for women to rise from the servitude of their masculine counterparts to the dignity of womanhood.

Venerable Ignacia’s holy death on 10 September 1748 at the age of eighty-five, was acclaimed as a death of an extraordinary person by those who knew her and her work that contributed to the welfare of others. Even after her death, her foundation continues to flourish as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary.

True to Venerable Ignacia’s ideals, the RVM Sisters seek to follow Christ and serve God in any area opened to them thus involving themselves in special ministries. The legacy of prayer, penance and sacrifice left by their revered Venerable Foundress is meaningless without directing them towards service for the common good, typical of a genuine apostolic life. So with prayer and penance, sacrifice and service, concretized in the life of Venerable Ignacia, each RVM Sister has much to emulate from her, drawing her to Jesus and Mary.