Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-02

the representatives of the Vatican.
The War Department recently received an
account of the new religious movement pre-
pared by one of it's leaders, from which the
following extracts are taken:
The National Filipino Church.
"Who is Archbishop Gregorio Aglpay?"
What constitutes the National Filipino
church,"
Such are the questions which must soon
be asked by the people of the United States
in particular and the ecclesiastical world in
general.
Deeply underlying these two questions
| and the subsequent issues which they in
| volve, flicker the dim rays of the approach
| ing light of an ecclesiastical controversy,
| coupled with a bitter legal contest-the
| united FIJI pino people against the friar
| orders-for the dominion and control of the
government of the church in these islands
| and for the possession of certain church
| properties and estates now claimed and
| held by the friars.
| ITO the first question 1t may be answered
| that Archbishop Gregorio Aglipay merely
! typifies and represents a grand ideal. born
| in the hearts and minds of the Filipino peO-
| pie, and begotten by many generations of
| friar oppression. in the blood of the oppres-
! sors freely mingled with that Of the op-
pressed. 1t is an ideal founded upon the
| true principles Of liberty and of justice, and
| which these people have been taught to ap-
preciate in it's highest form, by the people
| and the government of the United States
| through their representatives in this archi-
| pelago.
ITO the second question it may be said, a
| posteriori, that. like the potter and his clay,
| 1t is the molding into practical effect-the
! realization of this ideal 1t is the declara-
| ton of the Filipino people Of their ecclesas-
| teal Independence under the liberty grant
| ed and vouchsafed to them part Of the
great Union, the flag of which symbolizes
| the sovereignty of these islands.
N hot hiy Of ho irir
| people is worthy of the highest considera-
! ton and sincere encouragement at the
hands of the people and government of the
United States would be tantamount to the
/ reputation of the fmperisha BILE glory of our
| political institutions. The Filipino people,
| of right, petition that this issue shall be
| fairly met and not answered with an argu-
mentum ad hominem, but rather to turn
our thoughts to the investigation Of the
| causes which sap the foundation Of mighty
| states, and lay the work of statesmen and
| soldiers in the dust.
| when the civil government of these
islands was organized. representative Fill
pinos were called to fill many of the high
| est offices In the administration, and from
| that time to the present it has been the
| policy of the American government to con-
| tinue to appoint Filipinos to official positions
| throughout the entire archipelago.
Attitude OF. Rome.
But how has Rome treated the Filipino
| clergy in this respect? While this magnani-
nous policy of the United States is being
| carried out, the pope and his advisers con-
| tnue to refuse to recognize the Filipino
| clergy, and the result of this object lesson
| has been to embitter the people, who believe
that this action is inspired by the desire Of
| Rome to retain the friars here. The od!um
| theologcum which has ever existed be-
| tween the Filipino clergy and the friar
| orders is a breach too wide for the most
| skilled and cunning diplomatists to mend.
| no matter what may be said to the con-
| trary. Those acquainted with the history
| of the friars in Spanish colnies must ap-
| preciate this fact. In 1870, Senior Moret.
| SPANS minister OF foreign affairs at Mad
rid issued decree under which all the
| friars in the Philippines were deprived from
participation in the government of the
| church, and curtailing their powers to the
propagation of the faith. The effect of this
| decree would have been to place the gov
eminent of the church in the hands of the
| priests, the Overwhelming majority Of whom
| were Filipinos. But such was the power Of
the friar orders here and at their headquar-
| tiers in Madrid, that they caused this de-
| cree to be promptly quashed. and, as a re-
| suit of the agitation among the priests
| which followed this blow to their ecclesias-
| teal aspirations, three Of Their number were
| publicly garroted at Cavite, martyrs to
| their cause.
Power Of the Friars.
"In the days of Spain in these islands,
by friar influence In the ayuntamiento
| building there hung a painting In the office
of the captain general. The picture repre-
scented military governor seated at his
| desk In the act Of signing some decree
| Through a private door, behind his desk,
| there enters a cassocked friar, who touches
| the governor on the shoulder, making him
! pause in the act of signing. One can almost
| hear the monk say, No, senior; no Sc puede,
| and one could see at a glance the whole
| history of these unhappy islands.
THE church owned the state, body and
| soul, and as an evidence of this ownership
| and the supremacy of the former over the
| once each year. to desecrate the Spanish
| flag by publicly tramplng it beneath his
| feet during a ceremony in the cathedral.
NO better testimony of the power of the
| friars in these islands can be desired than
that contained in the report of the first civil
| commission, which says: The fr!ar was the
| embodiment of all authority. governmental
as we'll religious. In his locality, and not
| single function of government could be
performed without his assistance and par
| ticipation.' Now, what did the Filipino
| people do in their efforts to cast off this
| slavish friar yoke? Through many genera
| tions, marked by trail of blood and sac
| rif1ce, they bravely struggled against this
| pernicious power. They saw the church
| reared, not upon the altar of liberty but
| upon the infamous horrors of the Spanish
| Irquistion. While the multitude silently
wept tears of blood, patriots came forward
and offered themselves to the slaughter The
history of this struggle presents many Jose
RiZals. The noble patriot. the Filipino
Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, inspired by the
spirit of reform acquired by world travel
had not gone far before he too fell martyr
to this intolerance, and his soul, like that
OF John Brown, Is marching on, and now
another generation is erecting monument
to his memory, under the DatrOnape NJ tha