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Conceptionists

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Ordo Immaculatæ Conceptionis
Abbreviation O.I.C.
Nickname Conceptionists
Formation 1484
Founder Beatrice of Silva
Founded at Toledo, Spain
Type Monastic Order of Pontifical Right for women
Members 1,409 members as of 2020
Website www.concepcionistas.info

The Order of the Immaculate Conception (Latin: Ordo Immaculatae Conceptionis, Spanish: Orden de la Inmaculada Concepción), abbreviated as OIC, also known as Conceptionists, is a enclosed religious order of Pontifical Right for nuns founded by Beatrice of Silva in 1484. Initially they followed the Cistercian Rule. In 1501, however, they adopted the Rule of St. Clare, in common with the Order of Poor Clares, founded by Clare of Assisi, but in 1511 they were recognized by the Holy See as a separate religious order, with a new Rule unique to their order. Despite this change, they continue to be considered a part of the Franciscan Second Order. (In some areas they are still known as the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.)[1]

Origins

The order was founded in 1484 in Toledo, Spain, by Beatrice of Silva, a noblewoman of Portugal and sister of the Franciscan friar, Blessed Amadeus. On the marriage of Princess Isabel of Portugal with King John II of Castile, Beatrice had accompanied the future Queen, her cousin, to the court of her new husband. After the marriage, however, her great beauty aroused the jealousy of the queen, for which she was imprisoned. During that time of incarceration, Beatrice experienced an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, telling her that she wanted Beatrice to found a new Order in her honor.

Beatrice escaped with difficulty and took refuge in the Dominican convent at Toledo. There, for thirty-seven years, she led a life of holiness, however without becoming a member of that order. In 1484, Beatrice, with some companions, took possession of a convent in Toledo set apart for them by Isabella I of Castile.

In 1489, by permission of Pope Innocent VIII, the nuns adopted the Cistercian rule,[2] bound themselves to the daily recitation of the Divine Office, and they were placed under obedience to the ordinary of the diocese. In 1501, Pope Alexander VI united this community with the Benedictine community of San Pedro de las Duenas, under the rule of St. Clare,[3] but in 1511 Julius II gave it a rule of its own and put them under the protection of General Minister of Friars Minor, for this reason the nuns were called Franciscan Conceptionists. Special constitutions were drawn up for the Order in 1516 by Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones. It was the foundress, Beatrice of Silva, who chose the white habit, with a white scapular and blue mantle.[4]

A second convent was founded in 1507 at Torrigo, from which, in turn, were established seven others. The order soon spread through Portugal, Spain, Italy, France; Spain's colony of New Spain (Mexico), starting in 1540[5] and as well as in Portugal's colony of Brazil. (That community, however, later separated to become a religious congregation of missionary sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.). At its height there were some 2,000 convents of the order throughout the world.[4] As of 2020, there were about 1,400 members in 127 houses.[6]

The foundress, Beatrice of Silva, was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1976.[4] In 2019, Pope Francis gave his approval to the declaration of the martyrdom of Maria del Carmen and 13 companions, all Conceptionists, who were killed in Madrid in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.[7]

Vatican II

The Second Vatican Council had instructed all religious institutes to go back to the inspirations and goals of their founders and to make sure that their current orientation and lifestyles of the communities were in keeping with these.[4]

Through the studies done by Mercedes de Jesús Egido y Izquierdo (1935–2004), a new direction was developed and tried on an experimental basis at her convent. After a trial of two years, new constitutions were drawn up out of the experience, which were submitted to Rome and approved by the Holy See in 1996 for this order, removing from it the noticeable Franciscan influence imposed upon it.[4] Egido successfully argued that the foundress' vision was that of a life lived in imitation of the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She has become seen as a second foundress through her efforts. The process for seeking Egido's canonization was formally opened at the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception and St. Beatrice in Toledo on 8 November 2011.

Saints, Blesseds, and other holy people

Saints

  • Beatrice of Silva (c. 1424 – 16 August 1492), founder of the Order, canonized on 3 October 1976

Blesseds

Venerables

  • María (of Jesus) Tomelín del Campo (21 February 1579 – 11 June 1637), Mexican professed religious, declared Venerable on 3 July 1785[8]

Servants of God

  • Mariana Francisca (of Jesus) Torres Berriochoa (c. 1563 – 16 January 1635), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God on 22 March 1986[9]
  • María (of Jesus) Coronel y de Arana; 2 April 1602 – 24 May 1665), abbess and spiritual writer, declared as a Servant of God on 28 January 1673
  • Custódia do Couto Ribeiro (Custódia Maria of the Blessed Sacrament) (17 June 1706 – 22 June 1739), Portuguese professed religious[10]
  • María Josefa (of the Sorrows and the Patronage) Quiroga Capopardo (27 April 1811 – 27 January 1891), mystic
  • Jacinta María Romero Balmaseda (Teresa of Jesus) (9 October 1861 – 12 May 1910), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God in 2011[11]
  • Florencia Sorazu Aizpurúa (María of the Angels) (22 February 1873 – 28 August 1921), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God on 24 February 1988[12]
  • Maria Joanna Laselva (Maria de Lourdes of Saint Rose) (26 October 1910 – 19 November 1974), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God in 2008[13]
  • María (Ana) de la Concepción Cruz Alberdi Echezarreta (3 May 1912 – 27 November 1998), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God on 29 October 2007[14]
  • María del Rosario Egido Izquierdo (Mercedes de Jesús) (29 March 1935 – 3 August 2004), professed religious, declared as a Servant of God on 26 January 2011[15]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Conceptionists — A branch of the Order of Saint Clare, founded by Beatriz de Silva. Isabel, the daughter of Edward, King of Portugal, having married John II (1406-1454) of Castile, took her kinswoman, Beatriz de Silva, sister of James I, Count of Portalegre, with her. The beautiful Beatriz, however, aroused the suspicion and jealousy of the queen, and was imprisoned. Escaping, she fled to the Sisters of St. Dominic at Toledo, where she lived about forty years. Her veneration for the Immaculate Conception of Mary inspired her to found, with twelve companions, a special order in honour of Mary's privilege. Queen Isabella gave her the castle of Galliana in 1484. The sisters followed the Cistercian rule, reciting the Office of the Blessed Virgin in addition. Beatriz died 1 Sept., 1490, at the age of sixty-six.

Through the influence of Ximnenes de Cisneros, the famous Archbishop of Toledo, the Conceptionists were subordinated to the Franciscans, and in 1501 they adopted the rules of the Order of Saint Clare, modified with the authorization of Alexander VI. Julius II sanctioned them anew in 1506; Quiñonez, provincial of the Franciscans of Castile, and later general of the entire order, drew up their constitution in 1516. The second convent was founded at Torrigo, another at Madrid in 1512, and one at Assisi in the same year. Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Philip IV of Spain, summoned them to the Faubourg Saint-Germain at Paris, where the Sisters of Saint Clare adopted their rules, which were again modified by a Brief of Clement X. The Conceptionists wear a white habit and scapular with a blue cloak, and an image of the Blessed Virgin on their habit. The celebrated Maria de Agreda (q. v ), author of "The Mystical City of God", was a Conceptionist. The Conceptionist congregation is at present spread widely throughout Spain and Belgium.

HÉLYOT, Hist. des ordres monastiques, VII, 334-39; WADDING, Annales Min. (Rome, 1736), XV, 451, XVI; HEIMBUCHER, Die Orden und Kongregationen der kath. Kirche (Paderborn, 1907), II, 488 sqq.; Acta Ordinis Min. (1907), XVI, 347 sqq.; Hist. abrégée de l'ordre de Ste Claire d'Assise (Lyons and Paris, 1906), II, 259 sqq.

References

  1. Back to citation "A life of contemplative prayer", O Heraldo, January 22, 2017
  2. Back to citation Schoonebeek, Adriaan. Nuns of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady
  3. Back to citation Eder, Manfred. "Conceptionists", Religion Past and Present, 2006 ISBN 9789004146662
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Back to citation occurrence 4.2 Back to citation occurrence 4.3 Back to citation occurrence 4.4 "Saint of the Month: St Beatrice de Silva", Galway Cathedral
  5. Back to citation Asunción Lavrin, Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico. Stanford: Stanford University Press 2008, p. 259
  6. Back to citation "Order of the Immaculate Conception (OIC/OConc)", GCatholic.org
  7. Back to citation Brockhaus, Hannah. "Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women", CNA, January 15, 2019
  8. Back to citation "1637". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  9. Back to citation "1635". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  10. Back to citation "1739". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  11. Back to citation "1910". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  12. Back to citation "1921". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  13. Back to citation "1974". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  14. Back to citation "1998". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  15. Back to citation "2004". newsaints.faithweb.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  • www.concepcionistas.info
  • Website of the Conceptionist nuns of the Monastery of Toledo, Spain (in Spanish)
  • Website of the Conceptionist nuns of the Monastery of Alcázar de San Juan, Spain (in Spanish)
  • Website of the Conceptionist nuns of the Monastery of Mahón, Spain (in Spanish)
  • Website of the Federation of the Conceptionist nuns of Castille, Spain (in Spanish)
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