he suburb of Tondo proclaimed himself _Obispo Maximo_
(_Pontifex Maximus_) of his new Church.

His sect at once found many followers in the provinces of Rizal,
Bulacan and Ilocos, and eventually spread more or less over the other
christian provinces. The movement is strongest in Ilocos, where several
parishes, indeed, have no other priest than an Aglipayan. This district
is part of the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, now administered by the
American Bishop Dougherty. As to the number of Aglipayan adherents, no
reliable figures are procurable from any source, but it is certain they
amount to thousands. I found Aglipayans as far south as Zamboanga. Just
a few priests ordained in the Roman Catholic Church have joined the
schismatic cause. One of these repented and offered his submission
to the administrator of the archbishopric (Father Martin Alcocer),
who pardoned his frailty and received him again into the Church. No
period of preparation was necessary, at least in the beginning, for
the ordination of an Aglipayan priest. He might have been a domestic
servant, an artisan, or a loafer shortly before; hence many would-be
converts refused to join when they saw their own or their friends'
retainers suddenly elevated to the priesthood. At Yligan (Mindanao
Is.) an American official arrested a man, tonsured and robed as
a priest in an Aglipayan procession, on a charge of homicide. In
1904 they had not half a dozen well-built churches of their own, but
mat-sheds for their meetings were to be seen in many towns. In the year
1903 these sectarians made repeated raids on Roman Catholic property,
and attempted to gain possession of the churches by force. Riots
ensued, religion seemed to be forgotten by both parties in the _melee_,
and several were given time for reflection in prison. In April, 1904,
at Talisay and Minglanilla (Cebu Is.), they succeeded in occupying
the churches and property claimed by the friars, and refused to vacate
them. In the following month an Aglipayan priest, Bonifacio Purganan,
was fined $25 for having taken forcible possession of the Chapel of
Penafrancia (Paco suburb of Manila). In the province of Yloilo the
Aglipayans were forcibly ejected from the church of La Paz. In 1904
they entered a claim on the novel plea that, as many churches had
been subscribed to or partially erected at their expense before they
seceded from the Catholic Church, they were entitled to a restitution
of their donations. The Catholics