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CV NEWS FEED // The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has established the Ordo Viduarum (Order of Widows) after a local woman appealed to Bishop Earl Fernandes to formalize a vocation dedicated to widowed women who feel called to serve the Church.
The Catholic Times reported that for Cecilia Cortes-Peck, who lost both her husband and only son, the decision to pursue this vocation was a deeply personal journey of faith and healing that began long before she lived in Ohio.
Raised in a large Catholic family in the Philippines, Cortes-Peck immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. She married and settled in Maryland with her husband, where she dedicated her time to volunteering at her parish and supporting the Archdiocese of Washington’s Office of Missions.
However, in 2011, her life changed dramatically when her husband succumbed to brain cancer. Six years later, their only son died in a car accident.
In her grief, Cortes-Peck leaned heavily on her faith and found strength in her devotion to the Blessed Mother. A significant spiritual encounter years prior at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City became a touchstone for her.
“If it were not for my faith, I would not have known what to do with my life,” she told The Catholic Times. “All I knew was to stay with her…to persevere in prayer.”
She recalled feeling the Blessed Mother’s presence, which she said prepared her for the hardships that were to come.
Initially, Cortes-Peck thought her calling might be to enter religious life as a contemplative sister. After visiting two communities of religious sisters, however, she discerned that her path was not in joining a convent but in embracing widowhood as a vocation.
This realization led her to research how widows have historically served the Church, looking to figures like the prophetess Anna, who spent her life in prayer at the temple, and early Church Fathers like St. Augustine and St. Ambrose, who recognized the spiritual role of widows.
“I was convicted, first and foremost, in my mind, heart and soul that in order to please God, my preoccupation must be only of Him, with Him, in Him, for Him and through Him,” Cortes-Peck said. “I am to satisfy only His call, His thirst, His calling for me. At the same time, I had to learn to stay out of the way and let God’s plan unfold in the best way it can.”
Feeling God calling her toward a new purpose, Cortes-Peck moved to Ohio in 2022 at the invitation of the Children of Mary, a religious community near Newark, to continue her discernment.
She wrote to Bishop Fernandes in late 2022 about her hope to establish an order for widows.
“I placed my trust in the hands of God that, if this is His will for me and my vocation, He will help me accomplish it for His glory,” Cortes-Peck said.
After continued prayer and discernment, she and other widows were granted an official decree establishing the Ordo Viduarum on October 16, 2024, the feast of St. Hedwig, a widow.
Under the guidance of Father Paul Keller, OP, director of the Diocese’s Office of Divine Worship, Cortes-Peck and five other women have now entered a period of formation. They will meet monthly for at least two years, guided by spiritual directors and adhering to a rule of life that includes a vow of perpetual chastity, a commitment to daily prayer, and participation in Marian devotions.
Once consecrated in the order, the widows will live their consecration as a continuation of their marriage vows, this time as a “renewed marriage bond with the Lord.” Through a liturgical rite of blessing, they will be consecrated into a life of deepened faith, participating in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, and receiving the sacraments regularly.
The role also places a special emphasis on Mary, as the widows will model their lives after her as “Virgin, Mother, Spouse, and Widow.”
“We will be vowed to this way of life,” Cortes-Peck explained, adding that the vocation comes with “responsibilities to serve the Church.”
