Published in Manila in 1902, it is one of the few of its kind in English (similar works did appear in Spanish and Tagalog). Another book supporting the position of the friars, but far less extreme in tone is [The Friars in the Philippines] (1899) by Ambrose Coleman.
In an article on the Katipunan published in a masonic magazine, The Builder Magazine, February 1916, James A. Robertson provides a little background on the author.
In Blair & Robertson, The Philippine Islands: 1493–1898 (Cleveland, Clark, 1903–1909), Vol. 46, p. 361, note, I cite this pamphlet, (The Katipunan, Manila, 1902), and say of its author “purporting to be by one Francis St. Clair, although it is claimed by some to have been written by or for the friars.” Its author is really one J. Brecknock Watson, who is an Englishman and a convert to Catholicism. At the time of its publication, Watson was in the employ of, or was actually a lay-brother among, the Dominicans, for whom the pamphlet was compiled. The author himself told me that he was “Francis St. Clair” shortly after my arrival in Manila in February, 1910, when I went to the Philippines to take charge of the Philippine Library. James A. LeRoy, until his death one of the foremost authorities on things Philippine, says in his “Bibliographical Notes” (vol. 52, p. 188 note, of the series above cited) that the pamphlet was “published in order to put before Americans the friar viewpoint of the Filipino revolutionists.” The work is, as might be expected, ultra anti-Masonic in character, and consists of translations into English from Spanish writers who were opposed to Masonry. By the enemies of Masonry, the Katipunan has often been designated “the fighting body of Masonry” in the Philippines, a statement which is as ridiculous as it is erroneous. “Francis St. Clair,” at present an editor on the staff of the Cablenews-American, is writing another book on the Katipunan (this time under his own name) from materials which he claims to have discovered. The book will be anti-Masonic in tone.
He continues to classify the work as “utterly untrustworthy” and provides a short history of masonry in the Philippines and its connection with the Katipunan.
The other book on the Katipunan mentioned above apparently never saw the day of light.
Related Library of Congress catalog page: [03016030].
Related Open Library catalog page (for source): [OL6929061M].
Related Open Library catalog page (for work): [OL3889745W].
Related WorldCat catalog page: [5391381].