Isabelo de Los Reyes - Marriage and Family

Marriage and Family

At the age of 20, de los Reyes married in the Catholic Church, despite his personal feelings about its problems. He and his wife had children, but she died of illness in 1897 while he was in Bilibid Prison.

In late December 1898 in Madrid, he married Maria Angeles Lopez Montero, daughter of a retired Spanish infantry colonel. They also married in the Catholic Church. She died in 1910 during the birth of their ninth child.

De los Reyes married a third time in 1912, to Maria Lim, an 18-year-old mestiza of Chinese and Filipina descent, from Tondo. They married in the independent Aglipayan Church, which he had helped found. They also had several children before Maria died in childbirth in 1923. Before her death, she asked that they be married according to Catholic rites, which Don Belongo arranged. He and his three wives had a total of 27 children. He survived all his wives and 12 of his children.

With his own family spanning Catholic and Aglipayan traditions, Don Belong was tolerant of religious practice among his children. Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr., a son by his second marriage, was ordained as a priest and rose to Bishop of the Aglipayan Church. Four of his daughters: Angeles, Elisa, and Elvira by his second marriage, and Crescencia by his third marriage, became nuns of the Catholic Church.