ISSUE # 37 April-June 2009 | Beacons

Fr. Alfonzo Garzia Baluyot
The First Filipino Missionary Priest

For Alfonzo Baluyot was one of the four early Filipino clerics who
hailed from Pampanga’s Baluyot clan. He was probably the younger
brother or cousin of Fr. Francisco Baluyot, the first Filipino priest. He
belonged to the next group of Filipino ordinandi after Fr. Francisco.
He was ordained on August 14, 1703, almost four years after the
ordination of the first Filipino cleric.

According to the church historian, Dr. Luciano Santiago, that long gap from the ordination of the first Filipino priest to the elevation of the new ones to the priesthood was a result of two contributing factors - waiting and opportunity. Waiting because the next batch of candidates were still underage for ordination; opportunity because the need was yet to come.

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