Bro. Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino nationalist, revolutionary leader and a Freemason.
Bro. Andres was born to Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro in Tondo, Manila and was the eldest of six children. His father was a tailor who served as a teniente mayor (municipal official) of Tondo while his mother (a mestiza of Spanish descent) worked in a cigarette factory. He was orphaned in his late teens - his mother died of tuberculosis in 1881 and his father followed a year after. Bro. Andres was forced to drop out of school and work to support his family. He worked as a mandatorio (clerk/messenger) for the English trading firm Fleming and Company, where he rose to become a corredor (agent) of tar and other goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he worked as a bodeguero (warehouseman/agent). He also set up a family business of selling canes and paper fans. Bro. Andres was married twice. His first wife was a certain Monica who died of leprosy. His second wife was Gregoria de Jesús of Caloocan, whom he married in 1893. who would later be deeply involved in the activities of the Katipunan and would even-tually carve a name for herself in the annals of the Revolution.They had one son who died in infancy. Despite not finishing formal education, Bro. Andres was self-educated. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the Presidents of the United States, the colonial penal and civil codes, and novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Bro. Andres was a member of the Liga Filipina along with Bro. Jose Rizal, Bro. Marcelo Del Pilar, Bro. Graciano Lopez-Jaena. Like most of his peers in the Liga Filipina, Bro. Andres was a freemason. He is a member of Taliba Lodge No. 165 under the Gran Oriente Español (Spanish Grand Lodge). His association with freemasonry substantially influenced the conceptual underpinnings of the Katipunan, particularly on its features of organizational structure, cabalistic rituals and secrecy. When Bonifacio lost hope regarding the attainment of the political reforms sought for by the Liga Filipina, he decided , along with Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa and others to establish the Katipunan, a revolutionary secret society for the purpose of overthrowing Spanish colonial rule. Thus, on July 7, 1892, by the light of a flickering lamp in a house on Azcarraga Street (now known as C.M. Recto) in Tondo, the Kataas-taasan, Kagalanggalangan na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan was formally launched with solemn rituals involving the ancient blood compact, with the Katipuneros signing their membership with their own blood. The secret society rapidly grew in numbers. The publication of the Kalayaan which was edited by Bro Andres’ close friend and confidant Bro. Emilio Jacinto hastened the proliferation of the Katipunan membership not only in the neighboring provinces but also as far as Panay and Mindanao. By August, the member-ship was estimated at 400,000 strong.
On May 10, 1897, at the hills of Maragondon, the Supremo and his brother Procopio were executed by the squad led by Lazaro Makapagal. There are conflicting reports as to the manner of execution. The official report states that they were shot and then buried in a shallow grave. Other subsequent accounts allege that Bonifacio was hacked to death and left unburied in the wilderness. He was only thirty three years old.
