A lawyer from Bulacan , Crisostomo was a representative to the Malolos Congress and the publisher of Plaridel, a nationalist paper. Born to Guillermo Crisostomo and Maria Lugo of Atlag, Malolos, Bulacan, on February 3, 1862, Mariano Crisostomo was a nephew of Marcelo H. del Pilar. He worked for some time in the law office of his propagandist uncle after having obtained his Licenciado en Jurispridencia at Santo Tomas in 1892, and as one of the founders of the Caja de Propaganda -- formerly Caja de Jesus, Maria y Jose, a charitable organization soliciting contributions for the propaganda cause. He became judge in the court of first instance of Basili, Cebu, in 1894, and the following year became register of deeds of Misamis until the outbreak of the Revolution in 1896. A leader of the Bulacan chapter of the Katipunan, he was captured by the Spaniards but was set free after the conclusion of the Pact of Biyak-na-bato in 1897. Upon resumption of the revolution in 1898, he was one of those who defended Bulacan and assisted in taking Macabebe, Pampanga. When the Malolos government was established he was named Representative of Bulacan and one of the seven judges of the Tribunal Justicia de Filipinas. Finally he was appointed Secretary-General of the Universidad Literaria del Gobierno Revolucionario de Filipinas. During the American regime he was named provincial fiscal of Bulacan from 1901-1904. He founded the periodical Plaridel in 1907, and also the Liga Agraria de Bulacan. An active civic leader even in the latter part of his life, Crisostomo died on May 11, 1913. He was married to the former Filomena Lopez.