23/04/2021
Today we commemorate the 171st Birth Anniversary of the First Filipino Bishop and the 28th Bishop of Nueva Caceres, +Most Rev. Jorge Imperial Barlin, DD.
Bishop Barlin was born in Baao, Ambos Camarines on 23 April 1850, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francisco Gainza, OP in 1874. As a priest, he served as “Capellan de Solio” of the Cathedral, Parish Priest of Siruma, Parish Priest of Libong (now Libon) in Albay, Parish Priest of Sorsogon, and Vicar Forane of the entire Sorsogon Province.
Father Barlin was instrumental in stopping the rise of the schismatic Philippine Independent Church, also known as the Aglipayan Church. In 1902, Fr. Gregorio Aglipay offered him the supreme prelacy of the new Independent Church. Fr. Barlin denied such offer, telling Aglipay: “Prefiero ser lampazero a ser la cabeza de su jerarquia cismatica.” (I prefer to be a sweeper than to be the head of your schismatic hierarchy.)
When many Filipino priests had defected to the Aglipayan Church, commanded the support of their parishioners, and refused to vacate their churches, it was Fr. Barlin who gave the most damaging blow to the new sect from which it never recovered. In 1906, when Fr. Ramirez, refused to vacate the Parish in Lagonoy, Fr. Barlin, who was then-Apostolic Administrator of Nueva Caceres, won the case against Ramirez in the Supreme Court. This forced Ramirez and other Aglipayan priests in the country to vacate their churches and lose the support of their congregation. Had he lost the case, many churches would have remained occupied by the Aglipayans and many would have remained in the sect.
In view of the foregoing, Barlin was named the twenty-eighth Bishop of Nueva Caceres in a secret consistory on 14 December 1905. He was ordained to the Episcopate on 29 June 1906 at the Manila Cathedral, becoming the First Filipino Bishop.
As the First Filipino Bishop, he was given the honor of delivering the invocation at the inaugural session of the Philippine Assembly in 16 October 1906. Two months later, he took a prominent part in the deliberations of the First Provincial Council of Manila, which was convened to discuss Church problems under the new American Government setup.
As Bishop of Nueva Caceres, his administration of the Diocese resembled that of his mentor, Bishop Gainza. In the book “Bikol Annals,” his tenure is described as “in him shone a faithful loyalty to the authorities of the Church and the teachings and dispositions emanating from Rome. He distinguished himself in the zeal, prudence and abnegation of his conduct in the apostolic offices as missionary, parish priest, vicar and bishop as proven by his whole life.”
In 1909, he was stricken with an ailment which caused him to feel an increasing general malaise and loss of weight, which required medical treatment abroad. In July of the same year, he arrived in Rome to make an Ad Limina visit to the Holy Father. Immediately upon his arrival, he was laid on bed at the convent of the Spanish Dominicans for his ailment had worsened. There, he succumbed to his illness on 04 September of the same year, and was interred at the Dominican Mausoleum in Campo Verano, Rome, Italy. Up to this day, attempts to identify his remains and bring them home to the Philippines have been made, but to no avail.
Source:
Abella, D. (1954). Bikol Annals: A Collection of Vignettes of Philippine history. (Vol. I. The See of Nueva Cáceres).
