Schism in Cavite

The Filipinization of the parishes was one of the battle cries of the Revolution. While majority of the Filipino clergy remained loyal to Rome, some did join the schismatic church organized by Gregorio Aglipay, former parish priest of Indang, and Isabelo de los Reyes. The failure of Rome to readily address the problem of the Philippine church and the patriotic fervor of some factions in the Revolution brought about the establishment of the Aglipayan Church.

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente of Maragondon, Cavite antedated the church of Gregorio Aglipay. In 1902, Col. Vicente Riego de Dios, together with some residents of Maragondon, founded the said schismatic church, and Fr. Quirino Evangelista said the first mass. For his part, Gregorio Aglipay declared his formal separation from Rome only in 1903. The church in Maragondon later merged with the nationwide movement of Aglipay. In the beginning of the American occupation, inspired by nationalism and hatred for the Spaniards, many towns in Cavite like Bacoor, Noveleta, Maragondon, San Roque, Caridad, Magallanes, Ternate, and Bailen gained a lot of Aglipayan adherents.

The Catholic Church gradually recovered from the adverse effect of the Revolution. After the Philippine-American war, the disputes over friar estates and church properties confiscated by the Aglipayans were readily settled by the American Colonial Government. Almost all the parishes were given to Filipino secular clergy with the exception of Cavite Puerto, which was given back to the Recoletos. It should be remembered that before the eve of the Revolution, all the parishes of Cavite were under the Recoletos and the Dominicans.

On June 30, 1901, the Taft Commission presented its report to President William McKinley regarding the agrarian unrest in the Philippines. The commission recommended to the President of the United States that their government should buy the friar’s hacienda. In June 1902, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sent a special mission to Rome to discuss with the Holy See the proposal of buying the haciendas. On July 2, 1902, Msgr. Pietro Gasparri of the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affair summoned the Superiors of the Augustinians, Dominicans, and the Recollects to the Vatican to discuss the intention of the Holy Father to sell the friar hacienda to the U.S. government. At first, the religious superiors protested. However, in the end, they promised that they put no obstacle to the action of the Holy See as mediator between the American government and the religious orders.

“ The Filipinization of the parishes was one of the battle cries of the Revolution. While majority of the Filipino clergy remained loyal to Rome, some did join the schismatic church organized by Gregorio Aglipay, former parish priest of Indang, and Isabelo de los Reyes. The failure of Rome to readily address the problem of the Philippine church and the patriotic fervor of some factions in the Revolution brought about the establishment of the Aglipayan Church."

However, in one of the pastoral visits of Archbishop Jeremiah Harty in Ternate, a stone almost hit him prompting him to place the entire town under interdict. For almost 30 years, Ternate’s church was closed. This was another reason for the increase of the Aglipayans in the said town.

One of the most interesting phenomena of Cavite church history is the survival of the Catholic faith in Magallanes despite being left without a priest for almost 50 years, in 1896, at the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, most Cavite parishes administered by the Spanish Recollects were left vacant. Fr. Calixto Villafranca, the parish priest of Magallanes, was asked to take over the much bigger parish of Maragondon. Hence, Magallanes was left without a priest and became a satellite parish of Maragondon.

The difficulty of travelling from Maragondon to a more hinterland town of Magallanes made it impossible for the curate of Maragondon to say regular Sunday masses in Magallanes. Masses were said only during the annual fiesta. However, the Catholic faith survived through the effort of a saintly laywoman, Epigenia Ocsit. As a member of the Apostleship of Prayer, she led her people to prayer. Ocsit donated a big piece of land in the middle of the población for the site of the church. She taught catechism to young people, and on Sundays, she would ring the bell of the church to call the people to prayer. She led them in saying the rosary and other devotional prayers.

In 1916, there was a brief revival of the parish, and a priest was assigned. However, very soon, the parish reverted to Maragondon. It was only in 1950 when Fr. Alfredo Reyes revived the parish. Other parishes like that of Noveleta (1937) and Tagaytay (1940) were created during the American occupation. Most of the native-born Caviteño clergy were assigned somewhere else since Cavite remained part of the vast Archdiocese of Manila. Most of the curates assigned in Cavite came from Bulacan.

“ However, in one of the pastoral visits of Archbishop Jeremiah Harty in Ternate, a stone almost hit him prompting him to place the entire town under interdict. For almost 30 years, Ternate’s church was closed. This was another reason for the increase of the Aglipayans in the said town."