gregorio aglipay

Gregorio Aglipay Cruz y Labayán ( la, Gregorius Aglipay; Filipino: ''Gregorio Labayan Aglipay Cruz''; 5 May 1860 – 1 September 1940) was a former Filipino Catholic priest who became the first head of the '' Iglesia Filipina Independiente'', an independent Church in the Philippines in the form of a nationalist church.

Known for inciting patriotic rebellion among the Filipino clergy during the Philippine Revolution and Philippine–American War, he was also a political activist who became acquainted with Isabelo de los Reyes, who would start an independent Christian Filipino Church named after Aglipay in 1902.

Aglipay was previously excommunicated by Archbishop Bernardino Norzaleda y Villa of Manila in May 1899, upon the expressed permission of Pope Leo XIII. Aglipay later joined Freemasonry in May 1918, a society excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church. Aglipay later married Pilar Jamias y Ver from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte in 1939 and then died one year later. Followers of Aglipay through the Church colloquially sometimes refer to their membership as ''Aglipayans''.

Early life

Born in Batac, Ilocos Norte, the third child of Pedro Aglipay Cruz and Victoriana Labayan Hilario, Aglipay was an orphan who grew up in the care of relatives at the tobacco fields in the last volatile decades of the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. He bore deep grievances against the colonial Spanish government of the islands, stemming from abuses within the agricultural system. Arrested at age fourteen as a tobacco-picking worker for not meeting his tobacco quota, he later moved to the capital of Manila in 1876 to study law under the private tutelage of lawyer Julian Carpio with the financial help of his uncle Francisco del Amor Romas, who was a menial employee of the Dominican Sisters School of Santa Catalina.

After two years of study under Carpio, Aglipay continued his studies at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran on his third year as a working student and later at the University of Santo Tomas where he met José Rizal, a senior medical student. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in Letran, he discontinued his law studies at Santo Tomas and then entered the seminary in Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 1883 as influenced by Rizal. He was ordained to the priesthood six years later on December 21, 1889 and celebrated his first mass as an ordained Roman Catholic priest in January 1890. He later dropped Cruz in his surname and began a career as an assistant priest in various parishes around the main northern island of Luzon, notably in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, Aglipay gave aid to the revolutionaries and employed thirty carpenters who in reality were revolutionists in touch with the Katipunan group. Despite being a priest, Aglipay, like other revolutionaries, later joined Freemasonry after the war.

Philippine Revolution

In 1896, the Katipunan was led by the Supremo, Andrés Bonifacio. Manila Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda asked Aglipay to confront the revolutionary leaders, offering them a level of autonomy in the future for the Philippines if they would end the rebellion. General Emilio Aguinaldo, in turn, sent Colonel Luciano San Miguel to Aglipay with the intention of getting him to join the rebellion. In the course of Aglipay's journey north, the Philippine–American War started.

Philippine–American War

When Aglipay returned to Manila and discovered that the Americans had attacked, he joined the revolution. On 20 October 1898, Gen. Aguinaldo appointed Aglipay as Military Vicar General of the revolutionaries. Aglipay interpreted this as making him Ecclesiastical Superior to all Filipino priests who, as such, should all be appointed Military Chaplains for the duration of the war."The First Obispo Maximo, Monsignor Gregorio L. Aglipay", Iglesia Filipina Independiente, note 16
The fighting that broke out between the U.S. and Filipino forces on February 4, 1899 prompted Aglipay to withdraw to Ilocos Norte to organize an armed resistance. On 29 April 1899, Aglipay was excommunicated for "usurpation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction".History of Iglesia Filipina Independiente
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After the war

Following the end of the war in 1902, writer-activist Isabelo de los Reyes was working towards the formation of a national church, that is independent of Rome. On 3 August, he proclaimed the establishment of the church and suggested that Aglipay be its first bishop. Aglipay, a devout Catholic at the time even after excommunicated, was reluctant as he was initially against a schism, but eventually accepted de los Reyes' offer to establish an independent church on September 6, 1902 and was appointed as the first Supreme Bishop or ''Obispo Máximo'' of the "Philippine Independent Church" (''Iglesia Filipina Independiente'', also referred as the "Aglipayan Church" after him). He celebrated his first mass as the ''de facto'' Supreme Bishop on October 26, 1902. On January 18, 1903, Aglipay was consecrated to the position of Supreme Bishop by the Church's Bishops of Isabela, Cagayan, Pangasinan, Abra, Nueva Ecija, Cavite, and Manila. As Supreme Bishop, he allied himself with the nationalist and most radical political parties during his time like the Sakdalistas and later on even with the Socialist and Communist Parties.

During the theological discussions while visiting other Churches on his travels abroad, Aglipay rejected the belief in the Trinity, becoming theologically accepting of the main Unitarian belief, however, his own Church refused to accept his amended theology. Aglipay's unitarian and progressive theological ideas were evident in his "novena", the ''"Pagsisiyam sa Birhen sa Balintawak"'', 1925 and its English translation, ''"Novenary of the Motherland"'', 1926.

Later life

Aglipay ran for elections as President of the Commonwealth under the Republican Party along with Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas' candidate Norberto Nabong in a joint Republican-Communist Party ticket in 1935, but lost to Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña of the Nacionalista Party, respectively.

Also referred to as '' Apo Aglipay'' by his followers, he married then 64-year-old Pilar Jamias y Ver, a teacher from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, in 1939 since his Church permits married clergy, but he died the following year on 1 September 1940 due to natural causes, aged 80. Although he had for many years opposed celibacy among the priesthood, he himself was not married until the age of 79. His remains were interred at the Cathedral of Saint Mary, Aglipay National Shrine in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Aglipay held the position of Supreme Bishop until his death.

Aglipay was on trial calendars in the Episcopal Church's calendar of saints in the years 2009 and 2015 but the aforementioned calendars were never made official and his feast is not part of current proposals.

References

Sources

* Halili, Christine N. (2004) ''Philippine History'', pp 192–93. .

External links

*

Correspondence of Supreme Bishop Gregorio Aglipay (1902-1905)
* Th
historical records
of Archbishop Gregorio Aglipay of the Independent Church of the Philippines are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aglipay, Gregorio
1860 births
1940 deaths
People from Batac
Ilocano people
Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni
Filipino Christian religious leaders
Paramilitary Filipinos
People of the Philippine Revolution
People of the Philippine–American War
Candidates in the 1935 Philippine presidential election
Catholic Church in the Philippines
University of Santo Tomas alumni
People excommunicated by the Catholic Church
Anglican saints
Philippine Independent Church
Members of the Malolos Congress
Filipino Freemasons
Members of the Philippine Independent Church
Bishops of Independent Catholic denominations