For Law Students

Mother Ignacia’s
Family
Background
MODULE 1 : MOTHER IGNACIA’s
LIFE STORY & CALL
SESSION 1
For Personnel

INTRODUCTION
OPENING PRAYER
PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS TO THE HOLY FAMILY
 Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we
contemplate the splendor of true love,
to you we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our
families too may be places of
communion and prayer, authentic
schools of the Gospel and small
domestic Churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth, may families
never again experience violence,
rejection and division:
 may all who have been hurt or
scandalized find ready comfort and
healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth, may the
Synod of Bishops make us once more
mindful of the sacredness and
inviolability of the family, and its
beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, true God and true man,
graciously hear our prayer. Mary and
Joseph, cooperators with God’s plan,
pray for us. Amen!
KWENTUHAN
Sharing about our family
background….
• How far do your know
about your family
background?
• How do you relate
among yourselves?
• Does your family have
any special or specific
beliefs handed down to
you?
STORY-
TELLING
• What have been the
influences of your
family in your
development as a
person?
• How does your family
background influence
your life of faith?
For Personnel

GOALS &
OBJECTIVES
ENABLING OBJECTIVES

•At the end of the session, the law

students will be able to know the prime
community of Mother Ignacia - her
family, identify her family roots and
describe her parent’s traits, values,
skills, religion and practices.
TERMINAL OBJECTIVES

•At the end of the session, the law

students will be able to appreciate and
identify their values similar to the life of
Mother Ignacia as influenced by their
own families.
For Personnel

NEW KNOWLEDGE
• Records of the family and
the early years of Ignacia del
Espiritu Santo were all
found from the single extant
volume of the book of
baptism of the Church of
the Holy Kings of Parian,
with the person of the
Dominican missionary, Fray
Alberto Collares figuring
prominently in the records.
• Ignacia del Espiritu Santo was baptized in
the Church of the Holy Kings in Parian on
March 4, 1663, by the Dominican missionary
Alberto Collares.
• There is no entry on the date of her birth.
• However, the Spanish missionaries had
introduced the custom among Filipino
families of naming their children after the
Saint celebrated on the day of their birth. It
is therefore; likely that Ignacia was born of
February 1st, which was then the feast of St.
Ignatius of Antioch.
• Her father was Jusepe luco. His own
baptismal record in the same volume
states that he was baptized in 1652, by the
name Fr. Alberto Collares;
• his origin is Amui (Amoy), China; his father
named Bun, and his mother, Lisi. His
godfather was another Chinese Christian,
Nicolas Chulam, identified as a "capitan" in
the Chinese settlement.
• From the above can be inferred that at the
time of Jusepe's conversion and baptism
he was immigrant of pure Chinese
parentage from Amoy, where most of the
Chinese in Manila originated.
• As Ignacia was the first recorded
of Jusepe and his wife, and since
she was baptized some eleven
years before Ignacia was born,
he must not have been among
the Chinese who sought baptism
to facilitate a Christian marriage
with an Yndia, but a youthful
convert many years after his
marriage.
• The mother of Ignacia was named Maria
Jeronima. There is no record of her
baptism, but her name indicates her being a
native Yndia.
• There is no matrimonial record of the
Church of her times that survived to the
present, hence it is not possible to verify
the date of the marriage between Jusepe
Iuco and Maria Jeronima. One, however,
may safely infer that theirs was a Christian
marriage. In a baptismal record of
November 3, 1664 Maria Jeronima was
listed as the godmother of one Andrea del
Rosario, daughter of Agustin Yim Tien and
Ana Lagnio.
MORE ABOUT THEIR FAMILY….
• The same volume contains the records of one son and two
other daughters of Jusepe Iuco and Maria Jeronima:
Rafaela who was baptized on August 23, 1665, with Isabel
Rodriguez of the town of San Rafael de Arroceros, as
sponsor: Santiago who was baptized on February 27, 1665
with a sangley (Chinese) as godmother; and finally, Juana
dela Concepion, baptized on December 22, 1669 whose
godmother was from the district of Passai (Pasay), whose
name, however, is quite illegible on the record.
MORE ABOUT THEIR FAMILY….
• The records of the three younger children each
bear a cross mark along the margin, probably
indicating death. It is nowhere indicated how
long after baptism was their demise, but the
inference is that they did not survive to
adulthood. This would then leave the Servant of
God, Ignacia del Espiritu Santo the sole surviving
child of Jusepe Iuco and Maria Jeronima.
• Ignacia lived at a time when society clearly
delineated the roles of women and men in
society. For women, social acceptability
implied developing characteristics such as
shyness, discretion, restraint and timidity.
Although educational institutions (Sta.
Potenciana in 1595 and Sta. Isabel in 1632),
were established for women, these were
reserved for the Spanish girls and women.
The native and mestizo women received
education in the parish which was mainly
doctrinal.
• From her mother, Ignacia learned the
rudiments of faith, prayer and Christian piety.
Ignacia must have grown in her knowledge of
the faith through the Doctrina Cristiana, the
catechism book which as printed in Tagalog in
1593 and was intended for native pupils.
There was also the Doctrina Cristiana in
Chinese printed in the same year. Ignacia’s
father must have learned about the Christian
faith from this Chinese catechism.
• The young Ignacia followed the
practices of piety common during
her time: praying the rosary and
other devotions, joining
processions, assisting at Mass,
receiving Holy Communion, going
to confession. (A Lamp to Our
Path, p. 12)
 GOING DEEPER….
• What values of Mother Ignacia as a child or
daughter do you desire to imbibe? Why?
• What are the traits and values of Mother Ignacia’s
parent that were passed on to her?
• Are these values evident in the families today?
• How will the family orientations of Mother
Ignacia influence the Filipino parents today in
forming their children to be God-fearing?
For Law Students

Assignment
THE SEEDBED OF WHO WE ARE IS IN THE
FAMILY…..
• Identify the inherited values, common practices,
family strengths and brokenness of Mother
Ignacia.
• Try to draw your own family tree and include the
values, religion and practices which greatly
influence you until today.
• Sharing next meeting.