GREGORIO L. AGLIPAY (1860-1940) First Bishop of the Iglesia ...

GREGORIO L. AGLIPAY
(1860-1940)
First Bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente
The forefront in the creation of an independent church called the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente was a nationalist former Roman Catholic priest, Father Gregorio Aglipay. He was
born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on May 5, 1860 to Pedro Aglipay Cruz and Victorina Labayan Hilario.
Orphaned at a young age, Gregorio grew up in the care of relatives. As a worker in the
tobacco fields, he learned about the social condition under the colonial masters. He was only
fourteen when he was arrested and brought to the gobernadorcillo for failing to meet the required
quota of tobacco. Because of this, he developed a deep resentment against the Spanish
authorities.
Gregorio started his early education in his hometown. In 1876, he moved to Manila and
studied in the school of Julian Carpio with the financial help of his uncle Francisco del Amor that
kept him through until he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree in San Juan de Letran. He
proceeded to study Law at the University of Santo Tomas only to leave it unfinished for the
priesthood. He entered the seminary in Vigan in 1883. On December 21, 1889, he was ordained
priest of the Roman Catholic Church and celebrated his first mass in January the following year.
He served as coadjutor of various parishes: Indang, Cavite; San Antonio, Nueva Ecija; Bocaue,
Bulacan; San Pablo, Laguna; and Victoria, Tarlac. It was while he was serving as coadjutor in San
Pablo, Laguna when the revolution in 1896 broke out.
One with nationalist sentiments, he sympathized with the cause of the revolution. His
sympathy was turned into actually giving aid to the revolutionists in Victoria, Tarlac where he was
assigned as assistant of the Spanish cura parroco in late 1896. The following year, with the
escalating revolution, the Spanish priest ordered the arrest and execution of many Filipino men
whom he accused of being involved with the revolution but because of Aglipay’s intervention by
appealing to the Cura and vouching their innocence, their lives were spared.
Aglipay finally joined the revolutionist in 1898. He represented Ilocos Norte, his home
province, in the convention in Malolos on September 15 that year and was one of the signatories
of the Malolos Constitution. On October 20, Aglipay was appointed vicario general castrence
(military vicar general) of the revolutionary government. In this capacity, Aglipay pursued the
dreams of the secular priests like Jose Burgos in Filipinizing the church. He visited abandoned
parishes left by the Spanish friars and gathered about sixteen former seminarians and have them
ordained by Father Jose Heria Campomanes, who was then prisoner of the on-going revolution.
Although a nationalist and member of the revolutionary government, he did not allow the
bitter cause of the war to stand between humanitarian reasons. He interceded for the lives of
Jesuit Fathers Antonio Rosell and Felix Mir, who were held prisoners by the revolutionaries. He
freed from humiliation a Spanish friar in Laoag who as a prisoner was asked to cut grass in public.
On November 15, 1898, Bishop Campomanes appointed Aglipay to takeover the diocese
of Nueva Segovia, which he had been administering. With the hope of using Aglipay as link
between the Filipinos and the church, Bishop Nozaleda approved the appointment but things did
not work as he expected because Aglipay was determined to Filipinize the church. He had issued
manifestoes urging the Filipino clergy to unite and take control of the Church, an act that the
Spanish Roman Catholic Church interpreted as rebellion. Consequently, these manifestos were
used as evidences in excommunicating Aglipay from the Church under the decree dated April 20,
1899 of the Ecclesiastical Court.
The independence of the Clergy was a consuming passion for Aglipay. He worked with
Isabelo de Los Reyes, a nationalist labor leader, in persuading the Vatican to recognize their cause
to no avail. Because of this, Aglipay formed a new church, the Philippine Independent Church or

Iglesia Filipina Independiente, on August 3, 1902. During the Church launching, Isabelo de los
Reyes named Aglipay as its Supreme Bishop. This finally sealed Aglipay’s separation with the
Roman Catholic Church. On October 1, 1902, the first constitution of the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente was approved, signed, and promulgated in Sibakong, Manila. Twenty-Six days
after the signing of the constitution, Supreme Bishop Aglipay celebrated his first mass.
Bishop Aglipay, however, had not left the cause of the 1896 Revolution. During the
Filipino-American War, he fought actively with his guerrilla unit against the Americans.
Realizing the futility of fighting the well-equipped American soldiers, he surrendered to Colonel
MacCaskey in Laoag and resumed his leadership in the Church.
In 1931, Gregorio traveled to the United States on invitation of the Unitarian Churches of
America to attend a conference. A nationalist, Aglipay tried to transform his leadership in the
political arena. He ran for president in the 1935 election under the Republican Party but lost to
Manuel L. Quezon. On March 12, 1939, Aglipay married Pilar Jamias from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.
On September 1, 1940, Bishop Aglipay died in Manila of cerebral hemorrhage and was
buried in his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
References:
Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino People 8 th ed. Quezon City:
Garotech, 1990.
Cornejo, Miguel. Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines. Pasay City, 1939.
Fonacier, Tomas S. Gregorio Aglipay Y Labayan: A Short Biography. Manila:
McCullough Printing Co., 1954.
Zaide, Gregorio F. Great Filipinos in History. Manila: Verde Bookstore, 1970.