Today in Philippine History: Santiago Fonacier, Obispo Maximo II

MAY 21, 1885

Santiago Fonacier (May 21, 1885 – December 8, 1977), a clergyman, journalist and legislator was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. A priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, he founded and edited Spanish periodicals such as La Lucha and translated Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo into Ilocano. Fonacier was a reporter for La Democracia and El Grito del Pueblo. An assemblyman (1912) and senator (1919), Bishop Fonacier succeeded Gregorio  Aglipay in the Aglipayan Church and became Obispo Máximo II (Second Supreme Bishop). 

Photo credit: http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/18797-bookmarking-rizal-a-dead-tree-hero-in-a-digital-world 

Today in Philippine History: Gregorio Aglipay

MAY 5, 1860

Gregorio Aglipay (May 5, 1860 – September 1, 1940) was born in Batac, Ilocos Norte. He was a Catholic priest who became the Military Vicar General of the revolutionaries during the Philippine-American War. He sent letters to the clergy to ask Rome to appoint Filipino priests in all church positions. For his activism, Aglipay was excommunicated by Manila Archbishop Bernardino Norzaleda on May 5, 1899 with the permission of Pope Leo XIII. He became the first bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, a separate church founded by Isabelo delos Reyes in 1902. 

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/