Decolonization, Rizal and the Pantheon of Heroes in the Early Aglipayan Texts
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
5-3-2025
Abstract
The chapter investigates the early texts published in the 1900s by the Philippine Indigenous church dubbed the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). The chapter employs textual analysis on catequesis, novenarios and oraciones to serve as testimony to the establishment of a new and Indigenous church juxtaposed and standing in opposition to the colonial Judaeo Roman Church institutions in the Philippines. The texts laid the foundations of a nationalist theology providing the bases for the universality of sacrosanctity and profanity however standing on local Indigenous rituals, beliefs and practices. Furthermore, it provides evidence on the ethos of heroism and patriotism where love of country and love of God are categories worthy of reverence. Using these published texts the chapter expounds on the nationalist struggles of local Filipino heroes such as Andres Bonifacio and Dr. Jose Rizal as bases of supplication that is opposed to the veneration of Caucasian Catholic Saints in the Roman Catholic tradition.
Recommended Citation
Gealogo, Francis A. "Decolonization, Rizal and the Pantheon of Heroes in the Early Aglipayan Texts." The Palgrave Handbook on Decoloniality in Asia, edited by Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, pp. 593–602, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68936-9.
