Santiago Fonacier

Santiago Antonio Fonacier y Suguitan (May 21, 1885 – December 8, 1977) was a Filipino priest, bishop, writer, educator, and politician who became a senator and the second Obispo Maximo of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, also informally known as the Aglipayan Church.

Early life
Santiago Fonacier was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte on 21 May 1885 to Dionisio Fonacier y Romero and Feliciana Suguitan y Manuel. He studied his secondary education and took a bachelor of arts course at the Escuela Docente de Laoag which was then accredited by the University of Santo Tomas and the Liceo de Manila. He was one of the pioneering seminarians in one of the first and early seminaries of the nationalist church Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) at Ilocos Norte to which he entered in October 1902, and later continued and completed his remaining theological training in another IFI seminary in Manila. He was ordained as a priest one year later in 1903.

Literary career
During his priesthood, he taught at the Instituto Docente (former Escuela Docente de Laoag), his alma mater, for two years in the primary grade, but left teaching to concentrate on journalism. He edited and translated Spanish periodicals and Jose Rizal’s two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo into Ilocano. He later on became a reporter for the newspapers La Democracia and El Grito del Pueblo.

Political career
In 1912, Fonacier was elected to the Philippine Assembly as representative of the first district of Ilocos Norte, serving until 1916. In 1919, he was elected to the Philippine Senate to represent the first district, composed of Abra, Batanes, Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Isabela.

He was also a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, the Philippine Independence missions to the United States, and a member of the Institute of National Textbook Board.

Religious and clerical career
Fonacier was an early follower of the schismatic Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) founded by Isabelo de los Reyes and Gregorio Aglipay in 1902. He served as personal secretary to Aglipay at one point. He also became a military chaplain and was assigned priest at the first national cathedral of the IFI, the "Tondo Cathedral" in Tondo, Manila. He was consecrated as bishop in January 1933. He was elected in accordance with the constitution of the church and became the church's second Obispo Maximo (Supreme Bishop) after Aglipay's death in 1940 and served until 1946. Just like his predecessor Aglipay, he was a firm adherent of the Unitarianism theology. Fonacier spearheaded the establishment of the now-defunct Iglesia Filipina Independiente Central Seminary (IFICS) which used to be located at 1108 Taft Avenue in Manila and served the seminary training of the church's aspiring priests until the mid 1940s.

Fonacier's tenure as Supreme Bishop was mired in challenges and controversy. Having had to lead the IFI during the Second World War and the Japanese occupation, he also faced dissent within the church's ranks, which surfaced after the war when Fonacier asked a bishop to transfer from the Diocese of Cavite to Cebu. This led to a Supreme Council of Bishops meeting on 4 December 1945, which charged him with violating the IFI's Constitution in consecrating bishops, moving the church headquarters to another town and failing to give an accounting of church funds. The following year, he was dismissed from office by the council. After losing a legal challenge against his successors, Fonacier seceded from the IFI and established the Independent Church of Filipino Christians (ICFC) in 1955, which later became a member of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), and also later produced another separate denomination called "Aglipay Memorial Church" (AMC). The ICFC and AMC remained Unitarian.

A polarizing figure in the church's history, on 8 December 2020, then-IFI Obispo Maximo Rhee Timbang released an official church statement commemorating Fonacier's 43rd death anniversary, "to celebrate his life and ministry, and remember his contribution". The statement emphasized on urging its congregation "to give it with distinction to seek and extend forgiveness and understanding, to offer and reach-out for love and reconciliation", as well as "thanking God for the life and ministry of Fonacier".

Personal life and death
Fonacier died aged 92 on 8 December 1977. Also nicknamed "Ago", he was married to Carmen Jamias – who was introduced to him by Gregorio Aglipay – in September 1909 and had eight children. Jamias was a niece of Aglipay's wife, Pilar. Fonacier's son Anos was a lawyer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who was best known by the moniker, the "Father of Bohol Tourism" and "Father of Cebu's Tourism Industry".

Santiago Fonacier was featured in a 1985 commemorative stamp in the Philippines.