AGLIPAYISM. — This name and that of the “Philippine Independent Church” designate the sect founded by the apostate priest Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan, b. at Batao (Philippines) on 7 May 1870. We know of him that, with the help of the Recollect Friars of Manila, after his early studies he entered the seminary where he was ordained priest in 1889. A fiery partisan of Philippine independence from Spain, he aided the leader of the insurrection, Aguinaldo, serving as military chaplain to the revolutionary government, heedless of the warnings and censures of the Archbishop of Manila, Nozaleda.
When the Philippines were occupied by the Americans in 1898 and these did not grant independence to the islands, Aglipay continued the struggle against them; but he had to surrender in 1901. In August 1902, disheartened at not having obtained the political independence of his homeland, he sought to give it religious independence and established the “Philippine Independent Church,” of which he constituted himself “pontifex maximus,” consecrating as bishops some priests who had followed him in the rebellion.
In its early days Aglipay did not stray far from Catholic doctrine and worship, and when some Protestants, with whom he was on excellent terms, urged him to go further, he replied “that the break with the Catholic Church should appear as little as possible.” When asked by a Protestant what he thought of the future of his Church, he answered that the first step was separation from Rome, and to the question what would be the second, he replied without hesitation: “Protestantism.” Indeed he went so far as to espouse anti-trinitarianism. In a public address, attended by many of his followers and Protestants, speaking of Mary Magdalene and the Apostles, he said: “It was they who deified the Master with that legend (of the Resurrection), but modern man, progressive by nature, has rejected these puerile illusions...” and in conclusion he stated: “Jesus, gentlemen, neither died on the cross nor rose again.”
At first Aglipay had many followers among Philippine nationalists, and he prepared the ground for the American sects that flooded the archipelago; these, however, although at first praising him greatly because with his break with Rome “he had broken through the barrier of fear and freed some who wished to find the open path to God,” now make no mention of him in the list of Philippine Protestant Churches.