Francisca del Espíritu Santo Fuentes

Francisca del Espíritu Santo de Fuentes (1647 – August 24, 1711) was a Filipino Roman Catholic religious sister. She became the first prioress of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in the Philippines.

Life Francísca de Fuentes y del Castillo was born to Don Simón de Fuentes, a Spaniard and Doña Ana María del Castillo y Tamayo, a Spanish mestiza from Manila around 1647 (no record of her birth is found). Francisca grew up to be a fine lady, and she was given in marriage to a gentleman who died shortly thereafter leaving her a childless, young widow.

Francísca then dedicated her time to prayer and social service helping many poor and sick in the city.

Also called "legas" the Filipino beatas offered special testimony to the monastic spirit of total humility. Paradoxically, had she lived longer, Mother Sebastiana, a native-who helped lay the beaterio's strong foundation and was the one who predicted there would be fifteen members-would not have qualified as a full member herself. Perhaps she foresaw this paradox, too, but kept it to herself

Conflict over the installation of a beaterio The initial beguinage experienced many complications, and was caught in jurisdictional conflicts between the archbishop and the Dominicans, financing issues and an unclear status.

Henceforth, they were dispensed from their vows, divested of their habits and deprived of their religious names. Their "Babylonian exile" lasted for two years and three months from January 1704 to April 1706. During this period, Sor Jacinta, whose laxity triggered the upheaval, was expelled and four other unnamed Spanish beatas left the fold. The fact that the Filipino lay Sisters tended to "persevere in their good intentions" more than the Spanish Sisters ran counter to the assumptions of the Dominican Chapter of 1663.

Fuentes was named a "Servant of God" on March 11, 2003. Pope Francis declared her "Venerable" in 2019.

In 2011, on the 300th anniversary of her death, the Postal Service of the Republic of the Philippines issued a stamp in Mother Francisca's honor. There is a historical marker regarding Mother Francisca on Muralla Street in Intramuros, Manila.

As of 2019, there were about 50 communities of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena in the Philippines and the United States (and a presence in Italy).