The Aritao Commune

• In late 1840 an order of excommunication against the Cofradia failed.

• The curate of Lucban joined forces with the gobernadorcillo and the provincial
governor in attempting to intimidate the Cofradia members.

• These difficulties forced the Cofradia, in early 1841 to transfer its center to
Majayjay, Octabio San Jorge’s hometown in nearby Laguna province.

• Sometime in August or September 1841, as a result of pressure from the

friars and growing suspicion in Manila that the Cofradia was anti-Spanish, the
central government ordered the organization suppressed and its leaders
arrested.

• A reunion was raided on the evening of September 19, resulting in the

capture of several leaders including Octabio and Apolinario.

• Most of the leaders of the Cofradia escaped arrest. The leaders now armed
and considered outlaws, established contacts with Apolinario, who had
likewise escaped arrest in Manila.

• From there, they marched together around the western slopes of Mount San
Cristoval, reaching the barrio o f Isabang, which they decided to make their
strongfold.

• A call was made to cofrades in all regions to assembleat Isabang for a

novena- nine days of prayer and purification. According to the curate of
Lucban, the Cofradia was successful in “communicating this fact with
incredible speed, and with the prestige of the founder drawing a large
number of people of all sexes, ages, and conditions, converting that solitary
place within a few hours into a large and bustling encampment.”

• When Gov. Ortega returned to Tayabas he offered amnesty to Apolinario,

who promptly rejected it.

• A force of 300 led by Ortega attacked the Cofradia camp but had to make a
terrified retreat. The governor, abandoned by his own men in the field, was
captured and killed

• Refused a Christian burial by the Cofrades.

• The killing of the Spanish governor was looked upon by the Cofradia as a
“transcendental occurrence,” further increasing their determination.

• The Cofradia next transferred its stronghold to a higher and more strategic
location- Aritao.
 During the period of armed revolt:

• Apolinario spent his time secluded in a small house beside the chapel,
surrounded by trusted men prepared to die for his protection and devout
women who attended to his every need. The cofrades were allowed to see
him only at certain time of the day and with great ceremony. He was now
called by his followers “king of the Tagalogs.”

• Reports show a fascination with the “superstitious beliefs” of the cofrades

and the figure of Apolinario as king.

• A modern Spanish historian admits that “there was a tendency to conceal the
facts and to emphasize the worst, presenting Apolinario as a monster of
vice.”

• Active membership in the Cofradia was a way in which peasants in the region
could make ideal social forms and moral values, as imaged in religious rituals
such as pasyon, a permanent condition of their existence.

Cofradia
Apolinario’s prophecy of a great flood
and the appearance of the Yglesia from
the depths of the mountain
During battle, they woul fight without
fear and with hearts of steel, and that
they would be invulnerable to Spanish
bullets.
Cofrade were prepared to die for
[Apolinario] and for the sustention of his
brotherhood.
Apolinario as the Tagalog Christ
Pasyon
Signs of the Apocalypse.
Repeated warning that the perception of
signs of change should lead to a change
in loob, so that the individual is attuned
to, and participates in, the unfolding
event.
Century later, men compared these
events as the Golgotha.
Christ the King

• The Cofradia had to be suppressed because of its “heretical” practices,

particularly the way it upset the traditional relationship between the parish
priest and his Indio congregation.

• Within a short period of time the Aritao Commune was surrounded by troops
from Manila and peasant volunteers from the surrounding provinces.

• After the battle, three to five hundred rebels lay dead, five hundred cofrades
were taken in prison and the rest managed to escape. On the government
side, there were only eleven wounded.
 • The day after the battle, Apolinario was captured. After a summary trial he
was shot, his body cut up into pieces, his head put in a cage and displayed
atop a pole stuck along the roadside leading to Majayjay.

• 200 hundred of the prisoners were executed. Questioned before their death,
about their purpose of rebelling, their answer was: “to pray.”

• Apolinario taught the cofrades to accept suffering, even death, for the sake of
their union.

• Inhabitants of the region believed that apolinario de le Cruz was alive in the
land of paradise and would return someday to help his people.

• The vitality of the pasyon tradition made it possible for ordinary folk to
recognize the appearance of other Christ-like figures, each bringing the same
message of that Apolinario brought.

The New Jerusalem

• According to Spanish accounts of 1870, Apolinario de la Cruz, together

with hi disciple Apolonio Purgatorio and the Virgin Mary, appeared to
several persons and revealed to them that the Cofradia must be rebuilt
and people taught the proper modes of prayer and devotion.

• The new Cofradia was called “Cofradia of St. Joseph, St. Apolinario and
St. Apolonio .”

• The revived Cofradia was led by Januario Labios

-his father-in-law, Andres Labios, was an inhabitant of the locality to

have been involved in 1841 revolt

-Andres used to walk about the barrios, telling the inhabitants his
communications with Virgin Mary and Apolinario.

• Januario underwent a transformation and wanders in the

mountains and the surrounding barrios, praying and
proselytizing.he seduced the minds of the inhabitants about
reviving the Cofradia and the new religious practices must be
instituted.

• Independencia was the ultimate goal of Labios’ Cofradia.

-During the revival of the Cofradia, Governor-General Jose Maria de la
Torreintroduce liberal reforms. This could have been the reason that
led Labios promise independencia.

• Labios was regarded as a prophet for he is in direct

communication with the Virgin and Apolinario.

• To prevent the inundations and the destruction of their homes,

cofrades must pray. They must take the pilgrimage to the
mountain and there undergo “penitence.”

• The parish priest and civil authorities panicked upon realizing

that the teachings of Labios were leading the masses to defy the
status quo.

• An armed force was sent to disperse the community. Many were

arrested; Labios’ fate, however, could not be ascertained.