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Jos Rizal
death
Calamba, Laguna,
Signature
Jos Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda,[7] widely known as Jos Rizal (Spanish
pronunciation: [xose risal]; June 19, 1861 December 30, 1896), was a Filipino
nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines.
An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.
He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after an anti-dd
revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its
planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals which eventually led to Philippine
independence.
He is widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines and has been recommended to
be so honored by an officially empaneled National Heroes Committee. However, no law, executive
order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure
as a national hero.[8] He was the author of the novels Noli Me Tngere[9] and El filibusterismo,[10] and a
number of poems and essays.[11][12]
Contents
[hide]
1Early life
2Education
3Personal life, relationships and ventures
o 3.1Affair
o 3.2Association with Leonor Rivera
o 3.3Relationship with Josephine Bracken
4In Brussels and Spain (189092)
5Return to Philippines (189296)
o 5.1Exile in Dapitan
o 5.2Arrest and trial
6Execution
7Works and writings
o 7.1Novels and essays
o 7.2Poetry
o 7.3Plays
o 7.4Other works
8Reactions after death
o 8.1Retraction controversy
o 8.2"Mi ltimo adis"
o 8.3Later life of Bracken
o 8.4Polavieja and Blanco
9Criticism and controversies
o 9.1National hero status
9.1.1Made national hero by colonial Americans
9.1.2Made national hero by Emilio Aguinaldo
o 9.2Critiques of books
o 9.3Role in the Philippine revolution
10Legacy
o 10.1Species named after Rizal
11Historical commemoration
12Rizal in popular culture
o 12.1Adaptation of his works
o 12.2Biographical films/TV series
o 12.3Others
13See also
14Notes and references
15Sources
16Further reading
17External links
Early life
Jos Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso in the town of Calamba in
Laguna province. He had nine sisters and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of
a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the
additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in 1849, after Governor General Narciso Clavera y
Zalda decreed the adoption of Spanish surnames among the Filipinos for census purposes (though
they already had Spanish names).
Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mixed origin. Jos's patrilineal lineage could
be traced back to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-Co, a Chinese merchant who
immigrated to the Philippines in the late 17th century.[13][14][note 1][15]Lam-Co traveled to Manila
from Amoy, China, possibly to avoid the famine or plague in his home district, and more probably to
escape the Manchu invasion. He finally decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In 1697, to
escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the Philippines, he converted to Catholicism,
changed his name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter of an indigenous Philippines
resident. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry included Chinese, Japanese and Tagalog blood. His
mother's lineage can be traced to the affluent Florentina family of Chinese mestizo families
originating in Baliuag, Bulacan.[16]
From an early age, Jos showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at
3, and could read and write at age 5.[14] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he
dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and
the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "Jos Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My
family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving
me the appearance of an illegitimate child!"[17] This was to enable him to travel freely and
disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier links to Filipino
priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as Gomburza) who had
been accused and executed for treason.
Rizal's house in Calamba, Laguna.
Despite the name change, Jos, as "Rizal" soon distinguished himself in poetry writing contests,
impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign languages, and later, in
writing essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine
societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El Filibusterismo, this second surname had
become so well known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal
instead of Mercado because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and
be worthy of this family name..."[17]
Education
Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Bian, Laguna, before he was sent
to Manila.[18] As to his father's request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San Juan de
Letran but he then enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated as one of the nine
students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his education at the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a land surveyor and assessor's degree, and at the same time
at the University of Santo Tomas where he did take up a preparatory course in law.[19] Upon learning
that his mother was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine at the medical school of Santo
Tomas specializing later in ophthalmology.
Rizal as a student at the University of Santo Tomas
Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he
traveled alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de
Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended medical lectures at
the University of Paris and the University of Heidelberg. In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of
the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the
famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow. Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April
1887 before the Anthropological Society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language.
He left Heidelberg a poem, "A las flores del Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and a prayer
for the welfare of his native land and the unification of common values between East and West.
At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization under the renowned
professor, Otto Becker. There he used the newly invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann
von Helmholtz) to later operate on his own mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I
spend half of the day in the study of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a
week, I go to the bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to speak German with my student friends." He lived in a
Karlstrae boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and
stayed with them in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli Me Tngere.
Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched, and made
sculptures and woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist whose most famous
works were his two novels, Noli Me Tngere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.[note 2][9]These social
commentaries during the Spanish colonization of the country formed the nucleus of literature that
inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was also a polyglot, conversant in
twenty-two languages.[note 3][note 4][20][21]
Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Bernhard Meyer, as
"stupendous."[note 5] Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master various
skills and subjects.[20][22][22][23] He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer, historian,
playwright and journalist. Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of
expertise, in architecture, cartography, economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics,
martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9
during his time in Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884.
Jos Rizal's life is one of the most documented of 19th century Filipinos due to the vast and
extensive records written by and about him.[24] Almost everything in his short life is recorded
somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and prolific letter writer, much of the material having
survived. His biographers, however, have faced difficulty in translating his writings because of Rizal's
habit of switching from one language to another.
They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of a young Asian encountering the West
for the first time. They included his later trips, home and back again to Europe through Japan and
the United States,[25] and, finally, through his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong.
Shortly after he graduated from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila (now Ateneo de Manila University),
Rizal (who was then 16 years old) and a friend, Mariano Katigbak, came to visit Rizal's maternal
grandmother in Tondo, Manila. Mariano brought along his sister, Segunda Katigbak, a 14-year-old
Batanguea from Lipa, Batangas. It was the first time they met and Rizal described Segunda as
"rather short, with eyes that were eloquent and ardent at times and languid at others, rosycheeked,
with an enchanting and provocative smile that revealed very beautiful teeth, and the air of a sylph;
her entire self diffused a mysterious charm." His grandmother's guests were mostly college students
and they knew that Rizal had skills in painting. They suggested that Rizal should make a portrait of
Segunda. He complied reluctantly and made a pencil sketch of her. Unfortunately for him, Katigbak
was engaged to Manuel Luz.[26]
From December 1891 to June 1892, Rizal lived with his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace,
Mid-levels, Hong Kong Island. Rizal used 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong Kong Island, as
his ophthalmologist clinic from 2 pm to 6 pm. This period of his life included his recorded affections
of which nine were identified. They were Gertrude Beckett of Chalcot Crescent, London, wealthy and
high-minded Nelly Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last descendant of a noble
Japanese family Seiko Usui (affectionately called O-Sei-san), his earlier friendship with Segunda
Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, and eight-year romantic relationship with a distant cousin, Leonor
Rivera (popularly thought to be the inspiration for the character of Mara Clara in Noli me tangere).
Affair
In one recorded fall from grace he succumbed to the temptation of a 'lady of the camellias'. The
writer, Maximo Viola, a friend of Rizal's, was alluding to Dumas's 1848 novel, La dame aux camelias,
about a man who fell in love with a courtesan. While the affair was on record, there was no account
in Viola's letter whether it was more than one-night and if it was more a business transaction than an
amorous affair.[27][28][note 6]
Association with Leonor Rivera
See also: Leonor Rivera
Leonor Rivera is thought to be the inspiration for the character of Maria Clara in Noli Me
Tngere and El Filibusterismo.[29] Rivera and Rizal first met in Manila when Rivera was only 14 years
old. When Rizal left for Europe on May 3, 1882, Rivera was 16 years of age. Their correspondence
began when Rizal left a poem for Rivera saying farewell.[30]
The correspondence between Rivera and Rizal kept Rizal focused on his studies in Europe. They
employed codes in their letters because Rivera's mother did not favor Rizal. A letter from Mariano
Katigbak dated June 27, 1884, referred to Rivera as Rizal's "betrothed". Katigbak described Rivera
as having been greatly affected by Rizal's departure, frequently sick because of insomnia.
When Rizal returned to the Philippines on August 5, 1887, Rivera and her family had moved back
to Dagupan, Pangasinan. Rizal was forbidden by his father Francisco Mercado to see Rivera in
order to avoid putting the Rivera family in danger because at the time Rizal was already labeled by
the criollo elite as a filibustero or subversive[30] because of his novel Noli Me Tngere. Rizal wanted
to marry Rivera while he was still in the Philippines because of Rivera's uncomplaining fidelity. Rizal
asked permission from his father one more time before his second departure from the Philippines.
The meeting never happened. In 1888, Rizal stopped receiving letters from Rivera for a year,
although Rizal kept sending letters to Rivera. The reason for Rivera's year of silence was the
connivance between Rivera's mother and the Englishman named Henry Kipping, a railway
engineer who fell in love with Rivera and was favored by Rivera's mother.[30][31] The news of Leonor
Rivera's marriage to Kipping devastated Rizal.
His European friends kept almost everything he gave them, including doodlings on pieces of paper.
In the home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Prez, he left an impression that was to be
remembered by his daughter, Consuelo. In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent there and
regaled them with his wit, social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In London, during his research
on Antonio de Morga's writings, he became a regular guest in the home of Reinhold Rost of
the British Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a man."[24][note 7] The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor
of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved even buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes.
They were ultimately bequeathed to the Rizal family to form a treasure trove of memorabilia.
Josephine Bracken was Rizal's common-law wife whom he reportedly married shortly before his execution
Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: Left to right: Rizal, del Pilar, and Ponce (c. 1890).
As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, Rizal contributed essays, allegories,
poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona (in this case Rizal used
a pen name, Dimasalang). The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of
individual rights and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people. He shared the same
sentiments with members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a
double-faced Goliath"corrupt friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the following
agenda:[note 8]
That the Philippines be made a province of Spain (The Philippines was a province of New
Spain now Mexico, administered from Mexico city from 1565 to 1821. From 1821 to 1898 it
was administered directly from Spain.)
Representation in the Cortes
Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans in
parishes and remote sitios
Freedom of assembly and speech
Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs)
The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these reforms. Such Spanish intellectuals as
Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others did endorse them.
Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had slighted Rizal by writing an insulting article
in La Epoca, a newspaper in Madrid. He implied that the family and friends of Rizal were evicted
from their lands in Calamba for not having paid their due rents. The incident (when Rizal was ten)
stemmed from an accusation that Rizal's mother, Teodora, tried to poison the wife of a cousin, but
she said she was trying to help. With the approval of the Church prelates, and without a hearing, she
was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz in 1871. She was made to walk the ten miles (16 km) from
Calamba. She was released after two-and-a-half years of appeals to the highest court.[23] In 1887,
Rizal wrote a petition on behalf of the tenants of Calamba, and later that year led them to speak out
against the friars' attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans'
evicting them from their homes, including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the
buildings on the farm torn down.
Upon reading the article, Rizal sent a representative to challenge Retana to a duel. Retana
published a public apology and later became one of Rizal's biggest admirers, writing Rizal's most
important biography, Vida y Escritos del Jos Rizal.[37][note 9]
Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported
to Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.[38] There he built a school, a
hospital and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture.[citation
needed]
Abaca, then the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and his students planted in the
thousands, was a memorial.[citation needed]
The boys' school, which taught in Spanish, and included English as a foreign language (considered
a prescient if unusual option then) was conceived by Rizal and antedated Gordonstoun with its aims
of inculcating resourcefulness and self-sufficiency in young men.[citation needed] They would later enjoy
successful lives as farmers and honest government officials.[citation needed] One, a Muslim, became
a datu, and another, Jos Aseniero, who was with Rizal throughout the life of the school, became
Governor of Zamboanga.[39][citation needed]
In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his return to the fold led by Fray Francisco
de Paula Snchez, his former professor, who failed in his mission. The task was resumed by
Fray Pastells, a prominent member of the Order. In a letter to Pastells, Rizal sails close to the
ecumenism familiar to us today.[40]
We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God. How can I doubt His when I am
convinced of mine. Who so recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt God is to doubt
one's own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life
for? Now then, my faith in God, if the result of a ratiocination may be called faith, is blind, blind in the
sense of knowing nothing. I neither believe nor disbelieve the qualities which many attribute to Him;
before theologians' and philosophers' definitions and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable
being I find myself smiling. Faced with the conviction of seeing myself confronting the supreme
Problem, which confused voices seek to explain to me, I cannot but reply: It could be; but the God
that I foreknow is far more grand, far more good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in
revelation or revelations which each religion or religions claim to possess. Examining them
impartially, comparing them and scrutinizing them, one cannot avoid discerning the human
'fingernail' and the stamp of the time in which they were written... No, let us not make God in our
image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However, brilliant and
sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and in an
instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean
of light. I believe in revelation, but in that living revelation which surrounds us on every side, in that
voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from whom it
proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment we are born until
we die. What books can better reveal to us the goodness of God, His love, His providence, His
eternity, His glory, His wisdom? The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handiwork.[41]
His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in touch with European friends and fellow-
scientists who wrote a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French, German and English and
which baffled the censors, delaying their transmittal. Those four years of his exile coincided with the
development of the Philippine Revolution from inception and to its final breakout, which, from the
viewpoint of the court which was to try him, suggested his complicity in it.[24] He condemned the
uprising, although all the members of the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and had
used his name as a cry for war, unity, and liberty.[42]
He is known to making the resolution of bearing personal sacrifice instead of the incoming
revolution, believing that a peaceful stand is the best way to avoid further suffering in the country
and loss of Filipino lives. In Rizal's own words, "I consider myself happy for being able to suffer a
little for a cause which I believe to be sacred [...]. I believe further that in any undertaking, the more
one suffers for it, the surer its success. If this be fanaticism may God pardon me, but my poor
judgment does not see it as such."[43]
In Dapitan, Rizal wrote "Haec Est Sibylla Cumana", a parlor-game for his students, with questions
and answers for which a wooden top was used. In 2004, Jean Paul Verstraeten traced this book and
the wooden top, as well as Rizal's personal watch, spoon and salter.
Arrest and trial
By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had become a full-blown
revolution, proving to be a nationwide uprising.[citation needed] Rizal had earlier volunteered his services as
a doctor in Cuba and was given leave by Governor-General Ramn Blanco to serve in Cuba to
minister to victims of yellow fever. Rizal and Josephine left Dapitan on August 1, 1896, with letter of
recommendation from Blanco.
Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba via Spain and was imprisoned in Barcelona on October 6, 1896.
He was sent back the same day to Manila to stand trial as he was implicated in the revolution
through his association with members of the Katipunan. During the entire passage, he was
unchained, no Spaniard laid a hand on him, and had many opportunities to escape but refused to do
so.
While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the current revolution in its
present state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their achievement of a national
identity were prerequisites to freedom.
Rizal was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy, was convicted on all
three charges, and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out
of office. The friars, led by then Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, had 'intercalated' Camilo
de Polavieja in his stead, as the new Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines after pressuring
Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus sealing Rizal's fate.
Execution
A photographic record of Rizal's execution in what was then Bagumbayan.
Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896, by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish
Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot the executioners should
they fail to obey orders.[44] The Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was
normal. Aware of this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to silence when
they began raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards.
His last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est", it is finished.[20][45][note 10]
He was secretly buried in Pac Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his grave. His sister
Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards
posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground
burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.
His undated poem, Mi ltimo adis believed to be written a few days before his execution, was
hidden in an alcohol stove, which was later handed to his family with his few remaining possessions,
including the final letters and his last bequests.[46]:91 During their visit, Rizal reminded his sisters in
English, "There is something inside it", referring to the alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras
which was to be returned after his execution, thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This
instruction was followed by another, "Look in my shoes", in which another item was secreted.
Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined,
his burial not on sanctified ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in his shoes
had disintegrated. And now he is buried in Rizal Monument in Manila.[23]
In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be treated...Love
them greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."[24] He gave his family instructions for his burial:
"Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and of my
death. Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence, you can do it. No
anniversaries."[47]
In his final letter, to Blumentritt Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of
rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.[24] Rizal is believed to be the first Filipino
revolutionary whose death is attributed entirely to his work as a writer; and through dissent and civil
disobedience enabled him to successfully destroy Spain's moral primacy to rule. He also
bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.' When
Blumentritt received it in his hometown Litomice (Leitmeritz) he broke down and wept.
Noli Me Tngere, novel, 1887 (literally Latin for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)[48]
El Filibusterismo, (novel, 1891), sequel to Noli Me Tngere
Alin Mang Lahi" ("Whate'er the Race"), a Kundiman attributed to Dr. Jos Rizal[49]
The Friars and the Filipinos (Unfinished)
Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo (Speech, 1884), given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
The Diaries of Jos Rizal
Rizal's Letters is a compendium of Dr. Jose Rizal's letters to his family members, Blumentritt, Fr.
Pablo Pastells and other reformers
"Come se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing the Philippine islands)
Filipinas dentro de cien aos essay, 188990 (The Philippines a Century Hence)
La Indolencia de los Filipinos, essay, 1890 (The indolence of Filipinos)[50]
Makamisa unfinished novel
Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos, essay, 1889, To the Young Women of Malolos
Annotations to Antonio de Moragas, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (essay, 1889, Events in the
Philippine Islands)
Poetry
A La Juventud Filipina
El Canto Del Viajero
Briayle Crismarl
Canto Del Viajero
Canto de Mara Clara
Dalit sa Paggawa
Felicitacin
Kundiman (Tagalog)
Me Piden Versos
Mi primera inspiracion
Mi Retiro
Mi Ultimo Adis
Por La Educacin (Recibe Lustre La Patria)
Sa Sanggol na si Jesus
To My Muse (A Mi Musa)
Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo
A Man in Dapitan
Plays
Retraction controversy
Several historians report that Rizal retracted his anti-Catholic ideas through a document which
stated: "I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and conduct have
been contrary to my character as a son of the Catholic Church."[note 11] However, there are doubts of
its authenticity given that there is no certificate of Rizal's Catholic marriage to Josephine
Bracken.[53] Also there is an allegation that the retraction document was a forgery.[54]
After analyzing six major documents of Rizal, Ricardo Pascual concluded that the retraction
document, said to have been discovered in 1935, was not in Rizal's handwriting. Senator Rafael
Palma, a former President of the University of the Philippines and a prominent Mason, argued that a
retraction is not in keeping with Rizal's character and mature beliefs.[55] He called the retraction story
a "pious fraud."[56] Others who deny the retraction are Frank Laubach,[20] a Protestant minister; Austin
Coates,[31] a British writer; and Ricardo Manapat, director of the National Archives.[57]
Those who affirm the authenticity of Rizal's retraction are prominent Philippine historians such
as Nick Joaquin,[note 12]Nicolas Zafra of UP[58] Len Mara Guerrero III,[note 13] Gregorio
Zaide,[60] Guillermo Gmez Rivera, Ambeth Ocampo,[57]John Schumacher,[61] Antonio Molina,[62] Paul
Dumol[63] and Austin Craig.[23] They take the retraction document as authentic, having been judged as
such by a foremost expert on the writings of Rizal, Teodoro Kalaw (a 33rd degree Mason) and
"handwriting experts...known and recognized in our courts of justice", H. Otley Beyer and Dr. Jos I.
Del Rosario, both of UP.[58]
Historians also refer to 11 eyewitnesses when Rizal wrote his retraction, signed a Catholic prayer
book, and recited Catholic prayers, and the multitude who saw him kiss the crucifix before his
execution. A great grand nephew of Rizal, Fr. Marciano Guzman, cites that Rizal's
4 confessions were certified by 5 eyewitnesses, 10 qualified witnesses, 7 newspapers, and 12
historians and writers including Aglipayan bishops, Masons and anti-clericals.[64] One witness was the
head of the Spanish Supreme Court at the time of his notarized declaration and was highly
esteemed by Rizal for his integrity.[65]
Because of what he sees as the strength these direct evidence have in the light of the historical
method, in contrast with merely circumstantial evidence, UP professor emeritus of history Nicolas
Zafra called the retraction "a plain unadorned fact of history."[58] Guzmn attributes the denial of
retraction to "the blatant disbelief and stubbornness" of some Masons.[64]
Supporters see in the retraction Rizal's "moral courage...to recognize his mistakes,"[60][note
14]
his reversion to the "true faith", and thus his "unfading glory,"[65] and a return to the "ideals of his
fathers" which "did not diminish his stature as a great patriot; on the contrary, it increased that
stature to greatness."[68] On the other hand, senator Jose Diokno stated, "Surely whether Rizal died
as a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts nothing from his greatness as a Filipino... Catholic or
Mason, Rizal is still Rizal the hero who courted death 'to prove to those who deny our patriotism
that we know how to die for our duty and our beliefs'."[69]
"Mi ltimo adis"
Main article: Mi ltimo adis
The poem is more aptly titled, "Adis, Patria Adorada" (literally "Farewell, Beloved Fatherland"), by
virtue of logic and literary tradition, the words coming from the first line of the poem itself. It first
appeared in print not in Manila but in Hong Kong in 1897, when a copy of the poem and an
accompanying photograph came to J. P. Braga who decided to publish it in a monthly journal he
edited. There was a delay when Braga, who greatly admired Rizal, wanted a good job of the
photograph and sent it to be engraved in London, a process taking well over two months. It finally
appeared under 'Mi ltimo pensamiento,' a title he supplied and by which it was known for a few
years. Thus, when the Jesuit Balaguer's anonymous account of the retraction and the marriage to
Josephine was appearing in Barcelona, no word of the poem's existence reached him in time to
revise what he had written. His account was too elaborate that Rizal would have had no time to write
"Adis."
Six years after his death, when the Philippine Organic Act of 1902 was being debated in the United
States Congress, Representative Henry Cooper of Wisconsin rendered an English translation of
Rizal's valedictory poem capped by the peroration, "Under what clime or what skies has tyranny
claimed a nobler victim?"[70] Subsequently, the US Congress passed the bill into law which is now
known as the Philippine Organic Act of 1902.[71]
This was a major breakthrough for a US Congress that had yet to grant equal rights to African
Americans guaranteed to them in the US Constitution and the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in
effect. It created the Philippine legislature, appointed two Filipino delegates to the US Congress,
extended the US Bill of Rights to Filipinos, and laid the foundation for an autonomous government.
The colony was on its way to independence.[71] The Americans, however, would not sign the bill into
law until 1916 and did not recognize Philippine Independence until the Treaty of Manila in 1946fifty
years after Rizal's death.This same poem which has inspired independence activists across the
region and beyond was recited (in its Indonesian translation by Rosihan Anwar) by Indonesian
soldiers of independence before going into battle.[72]
Later life of Bracken
Josephine Bracken, whom Rizal addressed as his wife on his last day,[73] promptly joined
the revolutionary forces in Cavite province, making her way through thicket and mud across enemy
lines, and helped reloading spent cartridges at the arsenal in Imus under the revolutionary General
Pantalen Garca. Imus came under threat of recapture that the operation was moved, with Bracken,
to Maragondon, the mountain redoubt in Cavite.[74]
She witnessed the Tejeros Convention prior to returning to Manila and was summoned by
the Governor-General, but owing to her stepfather's American citizenship she could not be forcibly
deported. She left voluntarily returning to Hong Kong. She later married another Filipino, Vicente
Abad, a mestizo acting as agent for the Tabacalera firm in the Philippines. She died
of tubercolosis in Hong Kong in March 15, 1902, and was buried at the Happy Valley
Cemetery.[74] She was immortalized by Rizal in the last stanza of Mi Ultimo Adios: "Farewell, sweet
stranger, my friend, my joy...".
Polavieja and Blanco
Polavieja faced condemnation by his countrymen after his return to Spain. While visiting Girona,
in Catalonia, circulars were distributed among the crowd bearing Rizal's last verses, his portrait, and
the charge that Polavieja was responsible for the loss of the Philippines to Spain.[75] Ramon Blanco
later presented his sash and sword to the Rizal family as an apology.[citation needed]
Rizal Shrine in Calamba City, Laguna, the ancestral house and birthplace of Jos Rizal, is now a museum
housing Rizal memorabilia.
Jos Rizal's original grave at Paco Park in Manila. Slightly renovated and date repainted in English.
Legacy
Rizal was a contemporary of Gandhi, Tagore and Sun Yat Sen who also advocated liberty through
peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. Coinciding with the appearance of those other
leaders, Rizal from an early age had been enunciating in poems, tracts and plays, ideas all his own
of modern nationhood as a practical possibility in Asia. In the Noli he stated that if European
civilization had nothing better to offer, colonialism in Asia was doomed.[note 17]
Though popularly mentioned, especially on blogs, there is no evidence to suggest that Gandhi or
Nehru may have corresponded with Rizal, neither have they mentioned him in any of their memoirs
or letters. But it was documented by Rizal's biographer, Austin Coates who interviewed Jawaharlal
Nehru and Gandhi that Rizal was mentioned, specifically in Nehru's prison letters to his daughter
Indira.[95][96]
As a political figure, Jos Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that
subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andrs Bonifacio,[note 18], a secret society which would
start the Philippine Revolution against Spain that eventually laid the foundation of the First Philippine
Republic under Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of achieving Philippine self-government
peacefully through institutional reform rather than through violent revolution, and would only support
"violent means" as a last resort.[98] Rizal believed that the only justification for national liberation and
self-government was the restoration of the dignity of the people,[note 19] saying "Why independence, if
the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?"[99] However, through careful examination of his
works and statements, including Mi Ultimo Adios, Rizal reveals himself as a revolutionary. His image
as the Tagalog Christ also intensified early reverence to him.
Rizal, through his reading of Morga and other western historians, knew of the genial image of
Spain's early relations with his people.[100] In his writings, he showed the disparity between the early
colonialists and those of his day, with the latter's injustices giving rise to Gomburza and the
Philippine Revolution of 1896. The English biographer, Austin Coates, and writer, Benedict
Anderson, believe that Rizal gave the Philippine revolution a genuinely national character; and that
Rizal's patriotism and his standing as one of Asia's first intellectuals have inspired others of the
importance of a national identity to nation-building.[31][note 20]
The Belgian researcher Jean Paul "JP" Verstraeten authored several books about Jose Rizal: Rizal
in Belgium and France, Jose Rizal's Europe, Growing up like Rizal (published by the National
Historical Institute and in teacher's programs all over the Philippines), Reminiscences and Travels of
Jose Rizal and Jose Rizal "Pearl of Unselfishness". He received an award from the president of the
Philippines "in recognition of his unwavering support and commitment to promote the health and
education of disadvantaged Filipinos, and his invaluable contribution to engender the teachings and
ideals of Dr. Jose Rizal in the Philippines and in Europe". One of the greatest researchers about
Rizal nowadays is Lucien Spittael.
Several titles were bestowed on him: "the First Filipino", "Greatest Man of the Brown Race", among
others. The Order of the Knights of Rizal, a civic and patriotic organization, boasts of dozens of
chapters all over the globe [3] [4]. There are some remote-area religious sects who venerate Rizal
as a Folk saint collectively known as the Rizalista religious movements, who claim him as a
sublimation of Christ.[102] In September 1903, he was canonised as a saint in the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente, however it was revoked in the 1950s.[103]
Species named after Rizal
Jos Rizal was imprisoned at Fort Santiago and soon after he was banished at Dapitan where he
plunged himself into studying of nature. He then able to collect a number of species of various
classes: insects, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, shells, snakes and plants.
Rizal sent many specimens of animals, insects, and plants for identification to the (Anthropological
and Ethnographical Museum of Dresden[104]), Dresden Museum of Ethnology. It was not in his
interest to receive any monetary payment; all he wanted were scientific books, magazines
and surgical instruments which he needed and used in Dapitan.
During his exile, Rizal also secretly sent several specimens of flying dragons to Europe. He believed
that they were a new species. The German zoologist Benno Wandolleck named them Draco
rizali after Rizal. However, it has since been discovered that the species had already been described
by the Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger in 1885 as Draco guentheri.[105]
There are three species named after Rizal:
Historical commemoration
Although his field of action lay in politics, Rizal's real interests lay in the arts and sciences, in
literature and in his profession as an ophthalmologist. Shortly after his death, the
Anthropological Society of Berlin met to honor him with a reading of a German translation of his
farewell poem and Dr. Rudolf Virchow delivering the eulogy.[107]
The Rizal Monument now stands near the place where he fell at the Luneta in Bagumbayan,
which is now called Rizal Park, a national park in Manila. The monument, which also contains
his remains, was designed by the Swiss Richard Kissling of the William Tell sculpture in Altdorf,
Uri.[note 21] The monument carries the inscription: "I want to show to those who deprive people the
right to love of country, that when we know how to sacrifice ourselves for our duties and
convictions, death does not matter if one dies for those one loves for his country and for others
dear to him."[24]
The Taft Commission in June 1901 approved Act 137 renaming the District of Morong into the
Province of Rizal. Today, the wide acceptance of Rizal is evidenced by the countless towns,
streets, and numerous parks in the Philippines named in his honor.
Second Tallest Jos Rizal statue in the world. Located at Calamba, Laguna, Rizal's hometown. It was
inaugurated on 2011, synchronous on the 150th Birth Celebration of the hero.
Republic Act 1425, known as the Rizal Law, was passed in 1956 by the Philippine legislature
requiring all high school and colleges to offer courses about his life, works and writings.
Monuments erected in his honor can be found in Madrid;[109] Tokyo;[110] Wilhelmsfeld,
Germany; Jinjiang, Fujian, China;[111] Chicago;[112]Jersey City; Cherry Hill Township, New
Jersey; Honolulu;[113] San Diego;[114] Los Angeles including the suburbs Carson and West Covina
(both near Seafood City, Mexico City, Mexico;[115] Lima, Peru;[116]Litomerice, Czech
Republic;[117] Toronto;[citation needed]Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[citation needed]
A two-sided marker bearing a painting of Rizal by Fabin de la Rosa on one side and a bronze
bust relief of him by Philippine artist Guillermo Tolentino stands at the Asian Civilisations
Museum Green marking his visits to Singapore in 1882, 1887, 1891 and 1896.[118]
A Rizal bronze bust was erected at La Molina district, Lima, Peru, designed by Czech sculptor
Hanstroff, mounted atop a pedestal base with four inaugural plaque markers with the following
inscription on one: "Dr. Jos P. Rizal, Hroe Nacional de Filipinas, Nacionalista, Reformador
Political, Escritor, Lingistica y Poeta, 18611896."[119][120]
A Rizal bust sits in front of the Filipino American Council of Chicago, celebrating a one-day visit
Dr. Rizal made to Chicago on May 11, 1888, as seen below.
The National Historical Institute logo for the 150th Birth Anniversary of Jos Rizal
The Hong Kong Government erected a plaque beside Dr. Jos Rizal's residence in Hong Kong
A plaque marks the Heidelberg building where he trained with Professor Becker while in
Wilhemsfeld. There is a small Rizal Park in that city where a bronze statue of Rizal stands. The
street where he lived was also renamed after him. A sandstone fountain in Pastor Ullmer's
house garden where Rizal lived in Wilhelmsfeld, was given to the Philippine government and is
now located at Rizal Park in Manila.[121]
Throughout 2011, the National Historical Institute and other institutions organized several
activities commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Rizal, which took place on June 19 of
that year.
The London Borough of Camden placed a Blue Plaque at 37 Chalcot Crescent, where Rizal
lived for some time, with the words: "Dr. Jos Rizal, Writer and National Hero of the Philippines".
Portrayed by Eddie del Mar in the 1956 film, Ang Buhay at Pag-ibig ni Dr. Jose Rizal
Portrayed by Albert Martinez in the 1997 film, Rizal sa Dapitan.
Portrayed by Dominic Guinto and Cesar Montano in the 1998 film, Jos Rizal.
Portrayed by Joel Torre in the 1999 film, Bayaning 3rd World.
Portrayed by Nasser in the 2013 TV series, Katipunan.
Portrayed by Jhiz Deocareza and Alden Richards in the 2014 TV series, Ilustrado.
Portrayed by Jericho Rosales in the 2014 film, Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo.
Others
Nearly every town and city in Philippines contains a street named after Rizal (Rizal street
and Rizal Avenue)
At least ten towns / cities in Philippines are named "Rizal" (for example: Rizal Cagayan)
A road in the Chanakyapuri area of New Delhi (India) is named Dr. Jose P Rizal Marg
Another road in Medan, Indonesia is named Jalan Jose Rizal after him
The USS Rizal (DD-174) was a Wickes-class destroyer named after Rizal by the United States
Navy and launched on September 21, 1918.
The Jos Rizal Bridge and Rizal Park in the city of Seattle are dedicated to Rizal.[123]
Rizal also appeared in the 1999 video game Medal of Honor as a secret character in multiplayer,
alongside other historical figures such as William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. He can
be unlocked by completing the single-player mode, or through cheat codes.[124][125]
The Tekken series introduced a character by the name of Josie Rizal in acknowledgement of
Jos Rizal.
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Teodora
izal Mercado Manuel Alonso Juan Alonso Gregorio Alonso
Alonso
Narcisa Rizal Lucia Rizal Jos Rizal Josefa Rizal Soledad Rizal
See also
Jos Rizal University
Jos Rizal's Global Fellowship
Rizal Shrine (Calamba City)
Rizal Shrine (Manila)
Rizal Technological University
Makamisa
Rizal Without the Overcoat
Jos Mart, Cuban national hero also executed by the Spanish in 1895
Dr. Jos P. Rizal (sculpture), Houston, Texas
1. Jump up^ When Jos was baptized, the record showed his parents as Francisco Rizal Mercado and
Teodora Realonda."Jos Rizals Lineage"
2. Jump up^ His novel Noli was one of the first novels in Asia written outside Japan and China and was
one of the first novels of anti-colonial rebellion. Read Benedict Anderson's commentary: [1].
3. Jump up^ He was conversant in Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, German, Portuguese, Italian,
English, Dutch, and Japanese. Rizal also made translations from Arabic, Swedish, Russian, Chinese,
Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit. He translated the poetry of Schiller into his native Tagalog. In addition
he had at least some knowledge of Malay, Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilocano, and Subanun.
4. Jump up^ In his essay, "Reflections of a Filipino", (La Solidaridad, c.1888), he wrote: "Man is
multiplied by the number of languages he possesses and speaks."
5. Jump up^ Adolf Bernard Meyer (18401911) was a German ornithologist and anthropologist, and
author of the book Philippinen-typen (Dresden, 1888)
6. Jump up^ Rizal's third novel Makamisa was rescued from oblivion by Ocampo.
7. Jump up^ Dr. Reinhold Rost was the head of the India Office at the British Museum and a renowned
19th century philologist.
8. Jump up^ In his letter "Manifesto to Certain Filipinos" (Manila, 1896), he states: Reforms, if they are
to bear fruit, must come from above; for reforms that come from below are upheavals both violent and
transitory.(Epistolario Rizalino, op cit)
9. Jump up^ According to Laubach, Retana more than any other supporter who 'saved Rizal for
posterity'. (Laubach, op.cit., p. 383)
10. Jump up^ Rizal's trial was regarded a travesty even by prominent Spaniards of his day. Soon after
his execution, the philosopher Miguel de Unamuno in an impassioned utterance recognized Rizal as a
"Spaniard", "...profoundly and intimately Spanish, far more Spanish than those wretched menforgive
them, Lord, for they knew not what they didthose wretched men, who over his still warm body
hurled like an insult heavenward that blasphemous cry, 'Viva Espana!'"Miguel de Unamuno, epilogue
to Wenceslao Retana's Vida y Escritos del Dr. Jos Rizal.(Retana, op. cit.)
11. Jump up^ Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, impresos y conducta ha
habido contrario mi cualidad de hijo de la Iglesia Catlica: Jesus Cavanna, Rizal's Unfading Glory: A
Documentary History of the Conversion of Dr. Jos Rizal (Manila: 1983)
12. Jump up^ Joaquin, Nick, Rizal in Saga, Philippine National Centennial Commission, 1996:""It seems
clear now that he did retract, that he went to confession, heard mass, received communion, and was
married to Josephine, on the eve of his death".
13. Jump up^ "That is a matter for handwriting experts, and the weight of expert opinion is in favor of
authenticity. It is nonsense to say that the retraction does not prove Rizal's conversion; the language
of the document is unmistakable."[59]
14. Jump up^ The retraction, Javier de Pedro contends, is the end of a process which started with a
personal crisis as Rizal finished the Fili.[66][67]
15. Jump up^ Bonifacio later mobilized his men to attempt to liberate Rizal while in Fort Santiago.
(Laubach, op.cit., chap. 15)
16. Jump up^ Antonio Luna denounced the Katipunan, but became a general under Emilio Aguinaldo's
First Republic and fought in the PhilippineAmerican War.
17. Jump up^ Also stated in Rizal's essay, "The Philippines: A Century Hence", The batteries are
gradually becoming charged and if the prudence of the government does not provide an outlet for the
currents that are accumulating, someday the sparks will be generated. (read etext at Project
Gutenberg)
18. Jump up^ Bonifacio was a member of La Liga Filipina. After Rizal's arrest and exile, it was disbanded
and the group splintered into two factions; the more radical group formed into the Katipunan, the
militant arm of the insurrection.[97]
19. Jump up^ Rizal's annotations of Morga's Sucesos de las islas Filipinas (1609), which he copied word
for word from the British Museum and had published, called attention to an antiquated book, a
testimony to the well-advanced civilization in the Philippines during pre-Spanish era. In his essay "The
Indolence of the Filipino" Rizal stated that three centuries of Spanish rule did not do much for the
advancement of his countryman; in fact there was a 'retrogression', and the Spanish colonialists have
transformed him into a 'half-way brute.' The absence of moral stimulus, the lack of material
inducement, the demoralization--'the indio should not be separated from his carabao', the endless
wars, the lack of a national sentiment, the Chinese piracyall these factors, according to Rizal,
helped the colonial rulers succeed in placing the indio 'on a level with the beast'. (Read English
translation by Charles Derbyshire at Project Gutenberg.)
20. Jump up^ According to Anderson, Rizal is one of the best exemplars of nationalist thinking. [101] (See
also Nitroglycerine in the Pomegranate, Benedict Anderson, New Left Review 27, MayJune
2004 (subscription required))
21. Jump up^ Rizal himself translated Schiller's William Tell into Tagalog in 1886.[108]
References
Sources
Craig, Austin (1914). Lineage, Life and Labors of Jose Rizal, Philippine Patriot. Yonker-on-
Hudson World Book Company.
Fadul, Jose (ed.) (2008). Encyclopedia Rizaliana. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu Press. ISBN
978-1-4303-1142-3
Valdez, Maria Stella S.; Valdez; et al. (2007). Doctor Jose Rizal and the Writing of His Story.
Rex Bookstore, Inc. ISBN 978-971-23-4868-6.
"Jos Rizal > Quotes". goodreads. Retrieved March 26, 2015.