The Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Immaculate will decide next September whether to keep their community in Ferrol, Galicia, open, where they have been present since 1958. The possible departure comes in the context of a reorganization of the congregation’s houses due to the decrease in the number of religious sisters and the lack of vocational replacements.
Currently, six religious sisters remain in the convent located next to the historic chapel of San Roque. The possibility that the community might leave the city has led faithful connected to the church to mobilize to request their continuity, especially because of the role the community plays in eucharistic adoration.
A presence in Ferrol since 1958
The Handmaids arrived in Ferrol in 1958 and settled around the old chapel of San Roque, on the current Emilio Antón Avenue. The community has remained there for 68 years dedicated to its own charism: “adoration, praise, and reparation of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.”
Their presence is also linked to the history of Holy Week in Ferrol. The sisters have traditionally dedicated themselves to sewing and embroidery work for churches and confraternities, making and restoring habits, banners, standards, and other pieces of religious heritage.
The building also preserves an important part of Ferrol’s history. The chapel of San Roque is the only chapel predating the 18th century that remains in the urban center. Documentation preserved in the Diocesan Archive of Mondoñedo already attests in 1598 to the existence of a seafarers’ confraternity linked to San Roque.
The faithful mobilize to request that they remain
In light of the possible departure, faithful from Ferrol have begun a petition drive addressed to the superior general of the congregation. The mobilization includes people connected to the group of adorers Friends of the Lord and other local communities.
Friends of the Lord was born in June 2024 in the Handmaids’ own chapel. The initiative, promoted by the bishop of Mondoñedo-Ferrol, Msgr. Fernando García Cadiñanos, brings together more than sixty people who commit to spending one hour of adoration each week before the Blessed Sacrament.
The shifts ensure the presence of one or two adorers alongside the sisters between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The religious community, for its part, maintains the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in accordance with the contemplative charism of the congregation.
The mobilization also includes days of prayer, the recitation of the rosary for vocations, and meetings of the so-called “Mothers’ Prayer.”
The reorganization of the communities
The possible departure from Ferrol is part of a broader process of reorganization of the houses of the Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Immaculate. The congregation, of pontifical right, was founded in Spain in the 1940s and has eucharistic adoration as the central element of its spirituality.
The most recent precedent occurred in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, where the congregation closed its community in November 2025 after 51 years of presence.
The Diocese of Asidonia-Jerez then publicly expressed its “deep sorrow and concern” over a decision that meant the disappearance of a community that kept the church open for Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and eucharistic adoration.
In Ferrol, however, the decision has not yet been made. The congregation plans to decide in September whether the six sisters will remain in the city or be assigned to other communities.
The Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol itself noted in 2025 that the Handmaids constituted one of the four contemplative communities then present in its territory, alongside the Franciscan Conceptionists of Viveiro and Mondoñedo and the Poor Clares of Ribadeo.