Early Life
Agoncillo was born on June 24, 1860 in Taal, Batangas, Philippines to Francisco Mariño and Eugenia Coronel. She grew up in their ancestral house in Batangas built in the 1770s by her grandfather, Andres Marino.
As a daughter of a rich and religious family, Agoncillo was referred to in their town as Roselang Hubog which means "a virgin enthroned in the town church". Stories told in the area related that people kept waiting patiently by the church patio for her appearance in the morning to attend mass accompanied either by a maid or an elder relative.
She was sent to a convent after her education in Manila. The convent she was studying in was the Sta. Catalina College of the Dominican nuns, an exclusive school for girls, established in the Walled City of Intramuros where she finished her elementary and secondary education. In college, she learned Spanish, music, the feminine crafts and social graces. She spent her girlhood partly in their hometown and partly in the convent. Accordingly, Agoncillo was skilled in needlework.
Read more about this topic: Marcela Agoncillo
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)