Spirituality
We offer spiritual guidance, Ignatian excercises and retreats.
Trailblazing women writing their own story
Find out more about where and when it all started.
Born in 1585, Mary Ward was one of the first women to believe that women could and should be actively involved in the apostolic life of the Catholic Church.
Due to political and historical challenges, this Irish pioneer founded a second branch of our congregation in 1821. She was totally dedicated to her mission and endeavoured to provide a good education, running boarding schools as well as free schools for the local children.
In 2025, the two branches of Mary Ward’s foundation were finally able to become one, thus fulfilling Mary Ward’s wishes and dreams.
There are fifty paintings, each 142 x 105 cm, known as the ‘Painted Life of Mary Ward’ that show her spiritual journey. It is most probable that they were painted by various artists somewhere between Flanders and South Tyrol in the second half of the seventeenth century.
The Church proclaimed Mary Ward “Venerable” in 2009. She was recognised as a woman of “undoubted heroic virtue” four centuries after her institute was suppressed and she was imprisoned. Now the institute must complete the journey
For those who are interested in diving deeper into our history, we have assembled a series of publications and talks about the CJ and its origins.
We are an international multicultural congregation of around 1,800 sisters present in more than 40 countries around the globe. Founded in 1609 by the Venerable Mary Ward, we are a group of unenclosed apostolic religious women, rooted in the Ignatian Spirituality.
We are working in different areas and projects – not out of ourselves, but because we allow ourselves to be sent by God. We form our sisters to be mobile and available, willing to go wherever they are sent. We expect them to strive, like Mary Ward, to have that inner freedom to respond to the call to leave all and follow Christ with passion and compassion.
“Vocation” – a word that tastes of MORE, of what Saint Ignatius of Loyola called “THE MAGIS”: Longing, meaning, fullness of life, a task and the experience of being needed. It sounds like someone who is calling me personally and with whom I can give my life a unique shape.
People all over the world are inspired and enthusiastic about Mary Ward and her way of following Jesus. There are different ways to join our network and become part of the wider Mary Ward Family.
Mary Ward once said: “I listened to God’s deep dream for me and felt a longing to respond.”
In this spirit, we invite you to pray with us. We offer a variety of prayers and material for reflection.
