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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-25/madre-jeronima-by-diego-velazquez.avif"  alt="Sor Geronima de la  Asuncion" />
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(Mother Geronima de la  Asuncion by Diego Velazquez)
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<h3>
The Journey from Spain to Manila
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<p>
The story began years earlier in 1599 when Dominican Bishop Diego de Soria visited his sister at the Monastery of Poor Clares of Santa Isabel la Real in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Spain" class="news_link">Toledo, Spain</a>, seeking to bring contemplative Franciscan nuns to the Philippines. Jerónima de la Asunción, born on May 9, 1555, in Toledo to noble parents Pedro García e Yáñez and Catalina de la Fuente, volunteered for this pioneering mission. Known throughout Toledo as <i>"La Santa"</i> (The Saint) for her extraordinary piety, she had entered the Colettine monastery of Santa Isabel la Real in 1570 at age 14, influenced by her encounter with the great Carmelite reformer Teresa of Ávila.
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<p>
The bureaucratic process to secure necessary permits proved lengthy and complex, delaying the mission for over two decades. Finally, in April 1620, the determined then 65-year-old Madre Jerónima departed Toledo with her initial group of six Poor Clare nuns. They traveled by river to Seville, where they were joined by two additional nuns, then proceeded to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1diz" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Cádiz</a> to begin their Atlantic crossing.
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<h4>
The Portrait by Velázquez
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<p>
During their two-month stopover in Seville, the Franciscan Provincial commissioned a young, largely unknown artist named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez" class="news-link-ext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Diego Velázquez</a> to paint Madre Jerónima's portrait. This painting, created in June 1620, would become one of Velázquez's earliest known works and significantly advance his career. The portrait depicts the resolute nun holding a wooden crucifix in her right hand and a small book in her left, with Latin inscriptions emphasizing her devotion: 
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<p>
"It is good to await the salvation of God in silence" and "I shall be satisfied as long as He is glorified".
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<p>
 The painting now hangs in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
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August 5, 1621: a group of nuns arrived in Manila to establish the first convent