The day the Catholic Church almost died – continuation:
The native Filipino clergy led by Fathers Gregorio Aglipay, Isidoro Perez, Panciano Manuel, Jose Evangelista, and Adriano Garces, actively agitated for the expulsion of the friars from the parishes and their replacement by secular priests. However, Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda, the titular head of the Philippine Roman Catholic church supported the friars and kept them in the parishes with the approval of the Pope.
Archbishop Nozaleda was a bloodthirsty defender of the faith. When the 1896 revolution broke out, he demanded that the Spanish authorities exterminate the Filipino rebels by “fire, sword, and wholesale executions” (Laubach, 106) . But Governor General Blanco did not wish at that moment to infuriate the Filipinos by drastic punishment. For his defiance of Nozaleda’s demands, Blanco was replaced by Polavieja through the intercession of the archbishop.
Archbishop Nozaleda’s bloodthirsty inclination was publicly revealed in his major role in the incarceration and eventual execution of Dr. Jose Rizal. While in prison, Rizal was quoted as saying that if Archbishop Nozaleda’s sane view had been taken and Noli Me Tangere not preached against, he would not have been in prison, and perhaps the rebellion would never have occurred. (Craig, 239)
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