The Early Periodicals of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (1903–1904) and the Emergence of a Transregional and Transcontinental Indigenous-Christian Public Sphere

Abstract

The early periodicals of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), La Verdad (1903) and La Iglesia Filipina Independiente: Revista Católica (1903–1904), have been quoted as primary sources but have not been explored in their own right. Since its beginnings, the IFI understood itself as belonging to a transcontinental, global movement of independent Catholic churches. The periodicals published various letters that the IFI had received from foreign Catholic groups that were similarly independent of Rome. This research note focuses on these periodicals and locates the IFI in an emerging transregional and transcontinental indigenous-Christian public sphere.

Keywords: Iglesia Filipina Independiente • Periodicals • Indigenous-Christian Elite • Public Sphere