Apostle of democracy and internationalism … Francisco Afan Delgado was born in Bulacan, Bulacan on January 25, 1886. He later studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Ateneo de Manila, and Colegio Filipino. In 1903, being among the first group of Filipinos to study in the United States, he attended Compton High School, in San Francisco, California. From there, he went to the University of Indiana to take up Bachelor of Laws. He received his Master of Laws degree, cum laude, from Yale in 1908. (In 1945, he would be conferred an Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Indiana. Indeed, he was the first Filipino to obtain active membership in the American Bar Association). In 1912 he joined the executive bureau in the Office of the Governor General, but a year later returned to private practice. From 1931 to 1935, he served as a member of the House of Representatives; from 1934 to 1936, he was a Resident Commissioner to the United States. He had to give up his lucrative law practice when he accepted his appointment as Associate Justice in the Court of Appeals. Together with one other Filipino, Dr. Carlos P. Romulo, the 13th Grand Master is one of the distinguished designers of the United Nations Charter. Besides, he was Past President of the Philippine Bar Association. He was, furthermore, a delegate of the Philippine Commonwealth to the International Committee of Jurists, which prepared the draft of the Statutes for the International Court of Justice of the United Nations. Then, too, he was the lone Filipino member of the United States War Damage Commission, appointed by Past Grand Master and President Truman, from 1946 to 1951. Delgado was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1951. After the end of his term in 1957, he was appointed permanent delegate to the United Nations and served as such until he retired from public service. From then on, to private law practice, he devoted his time. As outstanding as his law practice and his public service was his Masonic life. Here is a quotation about him by Grand Master Camilo Osias: His fame as a good and worthy Mason transcended the confines of his Mother Lodge. The Brethren of our jurisdiction elevated him to the most exalted seat of the East voting for him at an Annual Communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines. In that exalted seat, Brother Delgado did much to uphold the prestige of Masonry and to defend the ideals and principles held dear and sacred by members of the ancient and venerable Fraternity. Bagumbayan Lodge No. 4, F & A.M., was where Delgado first saw Masonry’s light on July 5, 1916. It was there where he became a Master Mason on August 16, 1916, and it there was where he came to be a Worshipful Master in 1919. In the Scottish Rite, he was a member of the Manila Bodies and became a Master of the Royal Secret in 1917. He was one of the Charter Members of the Luzon Bodies, which was organized in 1948. Delgado was one of the first active members of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the Philippines. He first held office as Grand Secretary General of the Supreme Council from 1949 to 1950. Later, he was elected Venerable Lt. Grand Commander. He remained in that position until his death. Delgado was a Representative of several Supreme Councils, 33°: that of the Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., that of Argentina, and that of France. Delgado will be remembered as one of those who regularly attended the weekly Scottish Rite luncheons at the Scottish Rite Temple. His presence always gave life and dignity to those luncheons. While attending one such meeting – that of September 12, 1964 – nobody thought he was in pain as he occupied the outstanding seat at the meeting. Affably, as was his wont, he gave his closing remarks, this time addressed to non-masons, telling them not to wait for an invitation to join the Craft, because, at his own free will and accord, one should knock at the door of Masonry. A few days later . . . he was taken to St. Paul’s Hospital … As a York Rite Mason, Delgado was equally active and as distinguished in his record. Truth to tell, in 1951, he succeeded the late Christian W. Rosenstock of Manila Chapter No.2, R.A.M., as High Priest, thus becoming the first Filipino to become such. He was, furthermore, a Knight Templar of the Far East Commandery No.1 and a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine, Asoka Conclave No.30. He represented the latter body in the United Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine in New York City in June 1959. Due to Delgado’s intense devotion to Masonry for half a century, Camilo Osias, Past Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council would give the following tribute to him: …Bro. Delgado was ever true and loyal to his oath as a public official and as a Mason. He was a staunch believer in the ideology of the Constitution of the Philippines rooted in justice, liberty, and democracy. He was an independent thinker and a Filipino patriot, believed in the fundamental freedoms – freedom of the press, freedom of thought, freedom of politics, freedom of economics, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, freedom from want. He was irrevocable in his faith in the separation of the church and the state as enshrined in the Malolos Constitution and in the present Constitution under which the Republic of the Philippines operates. He was steeped in our political philosophy and in Masonic philosophy both of which lead “the seeker through starlit chambers of imagery, revealing constellations of truth – truth that makes us men and sets us free from fear – fear of life, fear of death, fear engendered by “those blind thoughts as we know not nor can not name.” He had faith and convictions that were unmoved by superstition, bigotry, prejudice, and pettiness. He was courageous to think, to face the issues of life, and to think things through to their logical conclusions. In his Allocution, Sovereign Grand Commander Conrado Benitez wrote about how Delgado engaged himself in the post-revolution struggle for Philippine Independence: I invite your attention to the death of III. Bro. Francisco A. Delgado, 33°, Ven. Lt. Grand Commander, whose life exemplifies the patriotic response of Filipino youth of his generation to the challenge of a basic transition in the history of the Philippines – the end of the Spanish regime as a result of the Philippine Revolution and the advent of the American rule. Benitez pointed out that Delgado, by qualifying as a government pensionado, in line with Governor Taft’s policy of training young Filipinos in the U.S.A., prepared himself for a life career devoted to the promotion of goodwill and understanding between the American and Filipino peoples; that we could best evaluate Delgado’s contribution to the society in which he lived in the light of his knowledge of the American way of life and the tenet concerning the Brotherhood of Man. Indeed, both as a private citizen and as a public official, the 13th Grand Master was truly “an apostle of Democracy and internationalism.”