Martha de San Bernardo, P.C.C., was a 17th-century Colettine Poor Clare who was first Filipino woman to become a Roman Catholic nun; she served on Macao.
[2] Inspired by the lives of the Colettine Clares who had arrived from Spain in 1621 under the leadership of Mother Jerónima de la Asunción, P.C.C., and established the Royal Monastery of Santa Clara in Intramuros, she wished to become a nun herself.
Due, however, to the colonial regulations of the Spanish Empire which ruled the islands and the existing racial prejudices of the period, she was barred from admission.
Together with several Spanish postulants, she was formally received into the Colettine Order on board a ship sailing the South China Sea, at which time she was given the religious name by which she is now known.
[2] The cause for Martha de San Bernardo's canonization has been put forward, but it is still awaiting approval by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See.