Spirituality

Spirituality is essentially about how we see, experience, and respond to the world in which we live, and to God’s presence in it. Following Mary Ward, we are Ignatian women, rooted in the Spiritual Exercises.

Mary Ward, a woman close to God, wished to found an apostolic congregation modelled on that of the Jesuits. For the Jesuits, and therefore for us, the key experience is that of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.

Mary Ward was led into paths unknown for women of her time by her attentiveness to the movements of the Spirit and her experience of discerning love. We hope to follow in her footsteps seeking to ‘find God in all things’ in what she called ‘the freedom to refer all to God’.

Mary, led by the Spirit, believed that women should not be afraid to take new paths in the service of the Church, and be open and ready to respond to the signs of the times and the greater need.

Our Ignatian spirituality calls us to be:

  • apostolic women in the Church
  • promoters of faith that doers of justice
  • available to go wherever the need is greatest
  • contemplatives in action

Registered Address

IBVM General House. Via Massaua, 3, 00162 Rome, Italy || CJ General House. Via Nomentana, 250, 00162 Rome, Italy