The Poor Clares Arrive In The Philippines

Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 3):

AUGUST 5, 1621

A group of ten nuns from the Catholic Order of the Poor Clares (the religious contemplative order of nuns founded by St. Clare of Assisi associated with the Franciscan order) arrived in Manila on August 5, 1621. They established the first Catholic Monastery in Asia, the Convento de Santa Clara. 

Mother Jeronima de la Asuncion, a relative of the Spanish monarch, was its foundress and first abbess. She was immortalized in a painting by Diego Velasquez. 

The nuns built a 30-foot windowless wall that cut them from the city based on the rules of seclusion. The convent was hidden within Intramuros and was named after the Real Convento de Santa Clara of Spain. 

They only left the convent during the British invasion in 1762 to stay at the Franciscan Convent in Santa Ana for two years. 

Dr. Jose Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere" included the monastery in his novel where Maria Clara sought refuge and met her death. 

For more than 300 years, the Poor Clares lived a life of prayer and seclusion. When Mother Jeronima passed away because of a lingering illness on October 22, 1630 at the age of 75, her remains were buried in the monastery. 

During the construction of the Circumferential Highway C-5, the nuns were forced to transfer their convent to a new site near their old monastery bringing along the remains of Mother Jeronima.

(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved

Photo credit: wikipedia.org