Aglipayans

The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the Philippines. Its revolutionary nationalist schism from the Roman Catholic Church was proclaimed during the American colonial period in 1902, following the end of the Philippine–American War, by members of the country's first labor union federation, the '' Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina''.

The foundation of the church was a response to the historical mistreatment and racial discrimination of Filipinos by Spaniard priests and partly influenced by the unjust executions of José Rizal and Filipino priests and prominent secularization movement figures Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, during the former Spanish colonial rule in the country when Roman Catholicism was still the state religion.

Overview

Prolific Filipino historian Teodoro Agoncillo described the Philippine Independent Church as "the only living and tangible result of the Philippine Revolution." Ever since its inception, the IFI Aglipayanism is widely characterized as a schismatic, rather than a heretical movement, although the church itself and its congregation distance themselves from the "schismatic" description and prefers the term "independence" instead. Despite not being in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Philippine Independent Church universally maintains and adheres to the core set of beliefs and practices of broader catholicity.

The Philippine Independent Church is the country's first and oldest wholly Filipino-led independent Christian church. Its central office is located at the National Cathedral of the Holy Child in Ermita, Manila. At present, it is ecumenically in full communion with the worldwide Anglican Communion, the third largest Christian communion in the world, while still maintaining its independence as per their concordat and does not require from either the acceptance of all doctrinal opinions. Although marked with Anglican influence, the Philippine Independent Church had come to develop its own liturgy, traditions, and theology distinct from Anglicanism. While Trinitarian, the Philippine Independent Church had unofficially shifted to a Unitarian theological doctrine during its earliest years before reverting back to Trinitarianism in 1947.

The Philippine Independent Church has historically been involved in social and political issues in the Philippines, advocating for workers' rights, social justice, and nationalism. It has supported movements for land reform, sustainable development, indigenous rights, and workers' rights, making it one of the more socially active churches in the country.

History

Gregorio Aglipay and the Philippine Revolution

Gregorio Aglipay was an activist and Roman Catholic priest from Ilocos Norte, who would later be excommunicated by then Archbishop of Manila, Bernardino Nozaleda, for "usurpation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction" by joining Emilio Aguinaldo's libertarian movement and suspicion in possibly fomenting schism with the Pope (then Pope Leo XIII) in 1899 at the height of the Philippine–American War.

During the earlier Philippine Revolution, Aglipay and his former college schoolmate and fellow anti-friar Isabelo de los Reyes (also known as ''Don Belong''), an ''ilustrado'' author, journalist, and labour activist who was in exile in Spain at the time, acted to reform the Filipino Catholic clergy which was then dominated and controlled by Spanish friars ("frailocracy") as Roman Catholicism was the state religion at the time of the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. At the time, almost all native Filipino priests were already prohibited from administering a parish since 1870 and were just coadjutors or assistants to the Spanish friars. Native priests were also denied consecration to the episcopacy. Then-President Emilio Aguinaldo persuaded Aglipay to head the native Filipino clergy by appointing him military vicar general of the Philippine Revolution in 1898, wishing to overthrow the spiritual power of the Spanish friar-bishops.

Aglipay was a member of the Malolos Congress, the lone member coming from the religious sector, although he also represented his home province, as well.

Aglipay was also a guerrilla leader during the Philippine–American War, with the rank of lieutenant-general. He was also the convener of the Filipino Ecclesiastical Council ( Paniqui Assembly) on October 23, 1899, months following his excommunication, in response to the manifesto of former Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini, who first came up with the idea of urging the Filipino clergy to organize a "Filipino national church" as inspired by the secularization movement, but not necessarily a schism from Rome. The idea received support from Aguinaldo. The assembly was attended by 28 native Filipino priests, thus, the short-lived national church was materialized. However, it was disestablished in 1901 following the dissolution of the First Philippine Republic.

Post-excommunication and establishment of the Church by Isabelo de los Reyes and the ''Unión Obrera Democrática''

Following the end of the Philippine–American War, Isabelo de los Reyes, together with the members of '' Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina'', formally founded and publicly proclaimed the commencement of the (abbreviated as IFI and translated to "Philippine Independent Church" in English) on August 3, 1902, at the ''Centro de Bellas Artes'' in Quiapo, Manila. The new church faced opposition from the colonial government, which sought to maintain the status quo. The church was later incorporated with the then- Insular Government of the Philippines as a religious corporation sole in 1904. The new church rejected the spiritual authority and infallibility of the Pope and abolished the celibacy requirement for priests, allowing them to marry. At that time, even before Aglipay joined the movement, all of its clergy were former Roman Catholic priests, mostly from the Ilocos Region, with some of whom became the church's first ever nominated and elected bishops by its earliest batch of clergy and laity who mostly belong to various political parties in Manila. Among the first elected bishops was former Roman Catholic priest and vicar forane Pedro Brillantes. The elected bishops then formed the church's first Supreme Council of Bishops. De los Reyes also formed an Executive Committee for the church from the staff of the ''Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina'' who drafted the church's early first two Fundamental Epistles, which were later approved by the Supreme Council of Bishops. The elected bishops were then consecrated by the other priests as justified in accordance with the Fundamental Epistles. The first ever bishop to be consecrated in the IFI was Pedro Brillantes, whose consecration took place on October 20, 1902, and proclaimed Bacarra, Ilocos Norte as his episcopal seat. All of the former Roman Catholic clergy who joined the movement were later declared excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.

Isabelo de los Reyes was the chief initiator of the separation and suggested ''in absentia'' that Gregorio Aglipay, knowing that he was influential with the Filipino clergy, should be the founding head, or ''Obispo Maximo'' ( Supreme Bishop), of the church which was unanimously agreed by the members present in the proclamation. De los Reyes' desire to form a new church was conceptualized upon his repatriation to the Philippines from Spain in 1901 after his talks in 1899 with Giuseppe Francica-Nava de Bontifè, then the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain, to request the Holy See in looking into the conditions of the Philippines had failed. By then, the country had changed from Spanish rule to American. Although the American concept of separation of church and state was introduced in the Philippine Constitution of 1899, Spanish friars were still in control of the parishes all throughout the country, and de los Reyes feared that American clergy would sooner or later replace the Spanish, instead of native Filipinos. Along with the American colonization was the arrival of the American Protestant missionaries in the Philippines starting in 1901. De los Reyes envisioned the new church as a significant move towards Filipino sovereignty, not just politically but also spiritually.

De los Reyes managed to rally enough people from his organization, ''Unión Obrera Democrática Filipina'', the first modern labor union federation in the country wherein he was its first president, to materialize an independent and purely Filipino-led church "''conserving all that is good in the Roman Church and eliminating all the deceptions which the Romanists had introduced to corrupt the moral purity and sacredness of the doctrines of Christ''." At the time, he had the necessary logistics and resources needed to form a new Filipino-led church, but one: an equipped and empowered bishop to head it.

At first, the already-excommunicated Aglipay was reluctant, as he was initially against a schism and was faithful to the magisterium. He believed that all means of reaching an understanding with Rome should be exhausted first before declaring any schism. Doubting that Aglipay might not take the leadership, the church elected its first batch of bishops, with Pedro Brillantes as the first ever to be consecrated. However, after Aglipay's talks with Jesuit and American Protestant leaders quickly backfired when both were dismissive and would not allow native Filipino priests to lead their respective churches, he eventually accepted de los Reyes' offer to head the independent church and was proclaimed as a bishop by the Supreme Council of Bishops of the newly-formed church on September 6, 1902, while also serving as the '' de facto'' " supreme bishop" until he was finally consecrated to the position by his fellow other bishops on January 18, 1903. Thus, the denomination also became known as the "''Aglipayan Church''", after its first supreme bishop.

Aglipay celebrated his first mass as the ''de facto'' Supreme Bishop on October 26, 1902 in the IFI's first central church at Calle Lemery in Tondo, Manila. During his first mass, Apolinario Mabini, who was in exile at the time and in bad health condition, sent a letter of encouragement to the new church. Isabelo de los Reyes himself would later be formally excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1903. De los Reyes assumed the role of the ''de facto'' principal theologian, as well as a lay leader, in the church. On October 1, 1902, Aglipay headed the signatories, approval, and promulgation of the very first and short-lived temporary Constitution of the . Subsequently, Aglipay also formally signed the third up to the sixth and last Fundamental Epistles. In late 1902, the church opened a seminary which was later renamed ''Seminario Central de Mabini'' (predecessor of present-day Aglipay Central Theological Seminary), named after Apolinario Mabini, at Nancamaliran West, Urdaneta, Pangasinan. With its nationwide campaign, the IFI was able to gain roughly three to five million followers all over the country on its first year of separation from the Roman Catholic Church. All of which are former Roman Catholics, including priests.

Immediately after accepting the post, Aglipay demanded both then Governor-General William Howard Taft and Roman Catholic Church authorities to turn-over the church buildings to him on September 27, 1902, starting with the Manila Cathedral, but got rejected. A five-year campaign resulted in the acquisition of nearly one-half of Roman Catholic Church properties in the country by Aglipay's followers. However, in 1906, the then-conservative Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that all property that had been occupied by Aglipay's followers had to be returned to the Roman Catholic Church. The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the decision in 1909. The Aglipayan Church was then forced to move to makeshift quarters, with only a handful of followers able to retain the occupied buildings.

Developing early theology

On October 28, 1903, the IFI adopted the ''Doctrina y Reglas Constitucionales'' (DRC), which replaced the Fundamental Epistles as the doctrinal foundation and governing rules of the Church, with slight revisions in 1918 and 1940.

Aglipay, like José Rizal, later became a Freemason in May 1918. Although not a Mason himself, de los Reyes — who created a distinct doctrine, liturgy, and organization for the Philippine Independent Church — drew on aspects of their theology and worship, which was then approved formally by Aglipay. De los Reyes was supported by Miguel Morayta, Grand Master of the Spanish Orient Lodge of Freemasonry in Madrid.Schumacher, John N., ''Revolutionary Clergy: The Filipino Clergy and the Nationalist Movement, 1850-1903''
p. 224, Ateneo de Manila U Press, , The Jesuit historian John N. Schumacher contended that Morayta and other non-Filipino Masons and secular laymen pushed Aglipay and de los Reyes towards schism from the Roman Catholic Church because of their resentment towards the activities of Catholic religious orders in the Philippines, rather than any simple admiration and encouragement for Filipino nationalism. Aglipay in 1929 titled de los Reyes, who remained a layman, as an ''Obispo Honorario'' (Honorary Bishop).

From 1902 to 1907, the Church was Trinitarian and largely followed Catholic forms of worship. It reformed the Latin Tridentine liturgy, and the Mass in its earliest days was said both in Spanish and the vernacular. Aglipay and de los Reyes later amended their theology, coming to reject the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Trinity, becoming theologically (though not officially) Unitarian in 1907. Aglipay and de los Reyes' Unitarian, rationalist, and progressive theological views were already evident in the church's ''Catecismo de la Iglesia Filipina Independiente'' (1905), ''Oficio Divino'' (1906), and subsequently the novena, ''Pagsisiyam sa Birhen sa Balintawak'' (1925), as well as its English translation, ''Novenary of the Motherland'' (1926). However, a significant number of the Church's population refused to accept the new Unitarian theology, and continued to profess Trinitarianism.

De los Reyes held the position of Honorary Bishop until his death on October 10, 1938. There were claims that he allegedly recanted and returned to the Catholic Church two years before his death. However, his son, Isabelo de los Reyes Jr., who later became Supreme Bishop, vehemently denied the claims. Aglipay, meanwhile, was Supreme Bishop until his own death on September 1, 1940.

Ecumenism, factionalism, and schism into offshoot ''Aglipayan'' sects

From its early years, two principal factions coexisted uneasily within the IFI and had become even more apparent after Isabelo Sr. and Aglipay's death: one Unitarian (led by Aglipay's successor and former personal secretary, cleric-turned-politician, and second supreme bishop, Santiago Fonacier – who was elected after Aglipay's death in accordance with the constitution of the church and was faithful to Aglipay and Isabelo Sr.'s theology), and the other, Trinitarian (led by Isabelo de los Reyes Jr. – the church's then-general secretary who was elected the fourth supreme bishop in 1946).

Before being elected, Fonacier initially committed to steer the IFI back to Trinitarism, however during his tenure, his theological and doctrinal stance was evidently still leaning towards his predecessor's Unitarian beliefs. On January 21, 1946, Fonacier was ousted from his position after a unanimous decree by the church's Supreme Council of Bishops due to controversies regarding certain decisions he imposed, which were deemed allegedly unconstitutional. A schism developed at the tail-end of Fonacier's term, and the Unitarian faction, which included bishop Juan V. Jamias (Aglipay's brother-in-law and brother of Aglipay's wife Pilar Jamias), left the church, claiming the right to the name and possession of church properties. Gerardo Bayaca served as interim supreme bishop until he was succeeded by Isabelo de los Reyes Jr. Under Isabelo Jr.'s leadership, the church's affiliation with revolutionary movements were severed and abrogated, coupled with his pursuit for ecumenism.

On August 4, 1947, a year after the granting of full independence of the Philippines from the United States, the IFI General Assembly under Isabelo Jr. petitioned the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, one of the member churches of the Anglican Communion, to bestow the IFI with valid apostolic succession. Although a significant number of native Filipino Roman Catholic priests have joined the IFI during its inception, however, there were no bishops who joined the movement since the Roman Catholic Church had consecrated no native Filipino bishops before and by the time the IFI broke away, therefore the church lost the historic episcopate of apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic Church started consecrating Filipinos in 1906, correspondingly as enticement for the rest of the Filipino clergy not to affiliate with the movement. Before his death, first supreme bishop Gregorio Aglipay had previously sought bestowal of apostolic succession from other denominations abroad for years, but failed due to his Unitarian theological beliefs and past revolutionary activities. Historically, IFI Bishops prior to the bestowal of apostolic succession were generally addressed and referenced only as "Monsignors" and their "bishop" consecration and designation only served as a title or position as high-ranking clergy whose roles were to head certain dioceses.

On August 5, 1947, the IFI Church officially adopted both a new Constitution and Canons and Declaration of Faith and Articles of Religion that were Trinitarian. According to the latter document, "''the Doctrine and Constitutional Rules of the Philippine Independent Church, adopted on October 28, 1903, and subsequently amended, and the Fundamental Epistles of the Philippine Independent Church, are henceforth not to be held as binding either upon the clergy or laity of the church in matters of doctrine, discipline or order, wherein they differ in substance contained from the new Declaration of Faith or the Articles of Religion. They are, however, to be valued as historical documents promulgated by the founders of the church when they were seeking to interpret the Catholic faith in a manner understood by the people. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the church has sought to eradicate such errors of judgement and doctrine as crept into its life and official documents in times past''".

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America then granted the IFI petition during their meeting in November 1947. On April 7, 1948, at the Episcopal Pro-Cathedral of Saint Luke in Manila, the Trinitarian IFI had its bishops, namely: de los Reyes Jr., Manuel Aguilar, and Gerardo Bayaca (third supreme bishop), reconsecrated and bestowed upon the historic apostolic succession from the Anglican line by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America led by then Missionary Bishop Norman S. Binsted, acting for the Presiding Bishop, and assisted by fellow Episcopal Church bishops Robert F. Wilner and Harry S. Kennedy. Former President Emilio Aguinaldo acted as a sponsor for the three IFI bishops. The Trinitarian IFI then sued the Unitarian faction for sole rights to the name and property of the original IFI.

After prolonged litigation, in 1955, the more dominant Trinitarian faction was finally awarded by the Supreme Court the right to the name and possessions of the original IFI. The IFI then entered into full communion with the entire Anglican Communion in 1961 through the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The Episcopal Church assisted in coming up with the IFI liturgical books with a Filipino missal. The missal shows a marked Anglican influence while retaining the form of the Catholic Mass. Consequently, the IFI officially published ''The Filipino Missal'' and ''The Filipino Ritual'' in 1961, replacing the ''Oficio Divino'' which was first published in 1906. The church later signed a concordat of full communion with the Church of England in October 1963, the Church of England"> ...
of full communion with the Church of England in October 1963, the Scottish Episcopal Church in December 1963, and the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)">Union of Utrecht