Gregorio Aglipay - Establishment of The Filipino Catholic Church

Establishment of The Filipino Catholic Church

In 1898, the Katipunan was led by two leaders, Andrés Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda asked Aglipay to confront the revolutionary leaders, offering them a level of autonomy for the Philippines if they would end the rebellion. 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. When Aglipay returned to Manila and discovered that the Americans had attacked, he joined the revolution. On 20 October 1898 he was appointed Military Vicar General of the revolutionaries. The next day, Aglipay sent a letter to various clergy asking them to ask the Pope to appoint Filipinos in all local church positions. On 5 May 1899, Archbishop Bernardino V. Nozaleda excommunicated Aglipay from the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1902, with the Philippines now a territory of the United States, Isabelo de los Reyes was working towards the formation of a Filipino national church, and on 3 August he suggested that a church independent of Rome with Aglipay as its Supreme Bishop be established. Aglipay, a devout Catholic at the time, initially did not accept. He was approached by Jesuit priests, Francisco Foradada and Joaquin Villalonga. They attempted to get him to sign a document swearing his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. Aglipay said he would sign it if the Church would continue to work towards appointing more Filipino priests. Foradada asked him why he wanted more Filipino priests so badly, as he felt they were inefficient and vicious; this statement offended Aglipay (some reports say that he punched Foranda afterwards). He severed his ties with the Roman Catholic Church, and accepted de los Reyes' offer.

On 18 January 1903, Aglipay was appointed Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church by the bishops of Manila, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Cagayan, Pangasinan, and Abra.

While visiting other churches while travelling abroad, Aglipay rejected the Trinity, becoming theologically Unitarian, however the church refused to accepted his amended theology. Aglipay's unitarian and progressive theological ideas were evident in his novenary, Pagsisiyam sa Birhen sa Balintawak, 1925 and its English translation, Novenary of the Motherland, 1926.