Life, Works and Writings of Dr.

Jose Rizal

Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

On May 12, 1956, a compromise inserted by
The Making of the National Hero Committee on Education chairman Laurel that accommodated
the objections of the Catholic Church was approved
Why is Rizal our Greatest National Hero? unanimously. The bill specified that only college (university)
students would have the option of reading unexpurgated versions
1. Rizal is our greatest hero because, as a towering figure in the of clerically-contested reading material, such as Noli Me Tangere
Propaganda Campaign, he took an “admirable part” in that and El Filibusterismo. The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956,
movement which roughly covered the period from 1882-1896. Flag Day.

2. Rizal’s writings contributed tremendously to the formation of Important Provisions of Rizal Law
Filipino nationality.
Section 1. Courses on the life, works and writings of
3. Rizal becomes the greatest Filipino hero because no Filipino Jose Rizal, particularly his novels Noli Me Tangere and El
has yet been born who could equal or surpass Rizal as “a person Filibusterismo, shall be included in the curricula of all schools,
of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in colleges and universities, public or private; Provided, That in the
suffering.” collegiate courses, the original or unexpurgated editions of the
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their English
4. Rizal is the greatest Filipino hero that ever lived because he is translations shall be used as basic texts.
“a man honored after death by public worship, because of
exceptional service to mankind”. Section 2. It shall be obligatory on all schools, colleges
and universities to keep in their libraries an adequate number of
Who made Rizal the foremost National Hero of the copies of the original and expurgated editions of the Noli Me
Philippines? Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as Rizal's other works and
biography.
No single person or groups of persons were
responsible for making the Greatest Malayan the Number One Section 3. The board of National education shall cause
Hero of his people. Rizal himself, his own people, and the the translation of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as
foreigners all together contributed to make him the greatest hero well as other writings of Jose Rizal into English, Tagalog and the
and martyr of his people. No amount of adulation and principal Philippine dialects; cause them to be printed in cheap,
canonization by both Filipinos and foreigners could convert Rizal popular editions; and cause them to be distributed, free of
into a great hero if he did not possess in himself what Palma charge, to persons desiring to read them, through the Purok
calls “excellent qualities and merits”. organizations and the Barrio Councils throughout the country.

Rizal Law Summary

Republic Act No. 1425, known as the Rizal Law, Section 1 mandated that the students were to read the
mandates all educational institutions in the Philippines to offer novels as they were written in Spanish, although a provision
courses about José Rizal. The full name of the law is An Act to ordered that the Board of National Education create rules on how
Include in the Curricula of All Public and Private Schools, these should be applied. The last two sections were focused on
Colleges and Universities Courses On the Life, Works and making Rizal's works accessible to the general public: the
Writings of Jose Rizal, Particularly His Novels Noli Me Tangere second section mandated the schools to have "an adequate
and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and Distribution number" of copies in their libraries, while the third ordered the
Thereof, and for Other Purposes. board to publish the works in major Philippine languages.

History The works of Dr. Jose Rizal, especially the Noli Me

Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are excellent inspiring sources of
Senator Claro M. Recto was the main proponent of the nationalism or patriotism in which the Filipino youths should also
then Rizal Bill. He sought to sponsor the bill at Congress. recognize and put into practice. Since also in school, the minds
However, this was met with stiff opposition from the Catholic of these youths are carefully molded with proper knowledge and
Church. During the 1955 Senate election, the church charged discipline. Therefore, in school, the enacted curricula, course or
Recto with being a communist and an anti-Catholic. After Recto's subject is also a way of teaching the youths of being a good
election, the Church continued to oppose the bill mandating the Filipino citizen.
reading of Rizal's novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,
claiming it would violate freedom of conscience and religion.
DR. JOSE PROTACIO MERCADO RIZAL ALONSO Y
The measure was strongly opposed by the Roman REALONDA
Catholic Church in the Philippines due to the anti-clerical themes
in Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. MEANING OF NAME

"Attacked dogmas, beliefs and practices of the Church. Doctor - He completed his medical course in Spain and was
The assertion that Rizal limited himself to castigating conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine by the Universidad
undeserving priests and refrained from criticizing, ridiculing or Central de Madrid.
putting in doubt dogmas of the Catholic Church, is absolutely
gratuitous and misleading." Jose - It was chosen by his mother who was a devotee
of the Christian saint San Jose (St. Joseph.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 1
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

She is the oldest of the Rizal children-nicknamed

Protacio - It came from Gervacio P. which came from a Christian Neneng and married to Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan,
calendar. Batangas.

Mercado - It was adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lamco, the Paciano (1851-1930)

paternal great-great-grandfather of Jose Rizal, which the Spanish
term mercado means “market” in English. He is the older brother and confident of Jose Rizal-was
a second father to Rizal-immortalized him in Rizal’s first novel
Rizal - It came from the word racial in Spanish means a field Noli Me Tangere as the wise Pilosopo Tasio-Rizal regarded him
where wheat, cut while still green, sprouts again. as the “most noble of Filipinos”-became a combat general in the
Alonso - It is the old surname of his mother. Philippine Revolution-died on April 13, 1930, an old bachelor
aged 79-had two children by his mistress (Severina Decena)—a
Y - Means “and”. boy and a girl.

Realonda - It was used by Doña Teodora from Narcisa (1852-1939)

the surname of her godmother based on the culture by that
time. Her pet name was Sisa and married to Antonio Lopez
(nephew of Father Leoncio Lopez), a school teacher of Morong.
June 19, 1861 - moonlit of Wednesday between eleven and
midnight Jose Rizal was born in the lakeshore town of Calamba, Olimpia (1855-1887)
Laguna.
Ypia was her pet name-married Silvestre Ubaldo, a
June 22, 1861 - aged three (3) days old, Rizal was baptized in telegraph operator from Manila.
the Catholic church.
Lucia (1857-1919)
Father Rufino Collantes - a Batangueño, the parish priest who
baptized Rizal. She was married to Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who
was a nephew of Father Casanas-Herbosa died of cholera in
Father Pedro Casańas - Rizal’s godfather, native of Calamba 1889 and was denied Christian burial because he was a brother-
and close friend of the Rizal family. in-law of Dr. Rizal.

Lieutenant-General Jose Lemery – he is the governor general Maria (1859-1945)

of the Philippines when Rizal was born.
Biang was her nickname-married Daniel Faustino Cruz
RIZAL’S PARENTS of Biñan, Laguna.

Don Francisco Mercado (1818-1898) Jose (1861-1896)

He was born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11, 1818- He is the greatest Filipino hero and peerless genius-
studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in nickname was Pepe - lived with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl
Manila-became a tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned from Hong Kong-had a son but this baby-boy died a few hours
hacienda-a hardy and independent-minded man, who talked less after birth; Rizal named him “Francisco” after his father and
and worked more, and was strong in body and valiant in spirit- buried him in Dapitan.
died in Manila on January 5, 1898 at the age of 80-Rizal
affectionately called him
“a model of fathers”. Concepcion (1862-1865)

Her pet name was Concha-died of sickness at the age

of 3-her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in life.

Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda (1826-1911) Josefa (1865-1945)

He was born in Manila on November 8, 1826-educated Her pet name was Panggoy-died an old maid at the
at the College of Santa Rosa, a well-known college for girls in the age of 80.
city-a remarkable woman, possessing refined culture, literary
talent, business ability, and the fortitude of Spartan women-is a Trinidad (1868-1951)
woman of more than ordinary culture: she knows literature and
speaks Spanish (according to Rizal)-died in Manila on August 16, Trining was her pet name-she died also an old maid in
1911 at the age of 85. 1951 aged 83.

THE RIZAL CHILDREN Soledad (1870-1929)

Eleven children—two boys and nine girls. She is the youngest of the Rizal children-her pet name
was Choleng-married Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba
Saturnina (1850-1913)

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 2
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Rizal always called her sisters Doña or Señora (if married) and •At the age of five (5), Rizal began to make sketches
Señorita (if single). with his pencil and to mould in clay and wax
objectswhich attracted his fancy
• Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso
Realonda married on June 28, 1848, after which
they settled down in Calamba. •Sa Aking Mga Kabata (To My Fellow Children)

• The real surname of the Rizal family was It Rizal’s first poem in native language at the age of eight-
Mercado, which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo reveals Rizal’s earliest nationalist sentiment
Lamco (the paternal great-great grandfather of Jose Rizal),
who was a full blooded Chinese). • At the age of eight (8), Rizal wrote his first dramatic work which
was a Tagalog comedy
• Rizal’s family acquired a second surname—Rizal—which was
given by a Spanish alcalde mayor (provincial governor) of INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S BOYHOOD
Laguna, who was a family friend.
(1) Hereditary influence
THE RIZAL HOME (2) Environmental influence
(3) Aid of Divine Providence
It was one of the distinguished stone houses in
Calamba during the Spanish times-it was a two-storey building, Tio Jose Alberto
rectangular in shape, built of adobe stones and hard-woods and
roofed with red tiles-by day, it hummed with the noises of He studied for eleven years in British school in
children at play and the songs of the birds in the garden; by Calcutta, India and had traveled in Europe inspired Rizal to
night, it echoed with the dulcet notes of family prayers. develop his artistic ability
• The Rizal family belonged to the principalia, a town aristocracy
in Spanish Philippines Tio Manuel
Has a husky and athletic man, encouraged Rizal to
• The Rizal family had a simple, contented and happy life develop his frail body by means of physical exercises

CHILDHOOD YEARS IN CALAMBA Tio Gregorio

Calamba was named after a big native jar -Calamba He is a book-lover, intensified Rizal’s voracious reading
was a hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican Order, of good book
which also owned all the lands around it

Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town)

It is a poem about Rizal’s beloved town Father Leoncio Lopez

written by Rizal in 1876 when he was 15 years old and was
student in the Ateneo de Manila. He is the old and learned parish priest of Calamba,
foster Rizal’s love for scholarship and intellectual honesty.
• The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his
happy days in the family garden when he was three EARLY EDUCATION IN CALAMBA AND BIÑAN
years old.
• The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was remarkable
• Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus prayer. By woman of good character and fine culture—her mother.
nightfall, Rizal related, his mother gathered all the children at the
house to pray the Angelus. Maestro Celestino - Rizal’s first private tutor.
• Another memory of Rizal’s infancy was the nocturnal walk in the Maestro Lucas Padua - Rizal’s second tutor.
town, especially when there was a moon.
Leon Monroy - a former classmate of Rizal’s father became
•The death of little Concha brought Rizal his first sorrow. Rizal’s tutor that instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. He died
five months later.
•At the age of three (3), Rizal began to take a part in the family
prayers. Sunday afternoon in June, 1869 - Rizal left Calamba for
Biñan accompanied by Paciano.
•When Rizal was five years old, he was able to read haltingly the
Spanish family bible. • Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz - Rizal’s teacher in a private
school in Biñan-Rizal described his teacher as follows:
The Story of the Moth He was thin, long-necked, with a sharp nose and a
body slightly bent forward.
The story made the profoundest impression on
Rizal-“died a martyr to its illusions”. • Pedro- the teacher’s son which Rizal challenged to a fight.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 3
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Andres Salandanan- challenged Rizal to an arm-wrestling • Messrs. Francisco de Marcaida and Manuel Marzano - the
match. most famous lawyers of Manila that defended Doña Teodora.

• Juancho - an old painter who was the father-in-law of SCHOLASTIC TRIUMPHS AT ATENEO DE MANILA (1872-1877)
the school teacher; freely give Rizal lessons in drawing
and painting. • Ateneo Municipal - a college under the supervision of the
Spanish Jesuits
• Jose Guevara - Rizal’s classmate, who also loved painting,
became apprentices of the old painter. • Escuela Pia (Charity School) - formerly name of Ateneo,
a school for poor boys in Manila which was established
• “the favorite painters of the class”- because of his artistic by the city government in 1817
talent.
• Escuela Pia--- Ateneo Municipal---Ateneo de Manila
• Christmas in 1870 - Rizal received a letter from his
sister Saturnina, informing him of the arrival of the  June 10, 1872- Rizal accompanied by Paciano went to Manila.
steamer Talim which would take him from Biñan to Calamba.
• Saturday afternoon, December 17, 1870 - Rizal left Biñan • Father Magin Ferrando - was the college registrar, refused to
after one year and a half of schooling. admit Rizal in Ateneo for two reasons:

• Arturo Camps- a Frenchman friend of Rizal’s father who took (1) he was late for registration
care of him on board. (2) he was sickly and undersized for his age

DAILY LIFE IN BIÑAN •Manuel Xerez Burgos-because of his intercession,

nephew of Father Burgos, Rizal was reluctantly
Heard the four o’ clock mass then at ten o’ clock went admitted at the Ateneo.
home at once and went at school at two and came out at five-
The day was unusual when Rizal was not laid out on a bench • Jose was the first of his family to adopt the surname
and given five or six blows because of fighting. “Rizal”. He registered under this name at Ateneo
because their family name “Mercado” had come under the
MARTYRDOM OF GOM-BUR-ZA suspicion of the Spanish authorities

• Night of January 20, 1872 - about 200 Filipino • Rizal was first boarded in a house outside Intramuros, on
soldiers and workmen of the Cavite arsenal under the Caraballo Street. This was owned by a spinster named Titay who
leadership of Lamadrid, Filipino sergeant, owed the Rizal family the amount of 300 pesos.
rose in violent mutiny because of the abolition of
their usual privileges. JESUIT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

• Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora - It trained the character of the student by rigid discipline
were executed at sunrise of February 17, 1872, by order of and religious instructions-Students were divided into two groups:
Governor General Izquierdo. • Roman Empire- consisting of internos (boarders); red banner
• Carthaginian Empire- composed of the externos (non-
• The martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za in 1872 truly inspired boarders); blue banner
Rizal to fight the evils of Spanish tyranny and redeem • Emperor- the best student in each “empire”
his oppressed people. • Tribune- the second best
• Decurion- the third best
•Rizal dedicated his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to Gom-Bur- • Centurion-the fourth best
Za. • Stand-bearer- the fifth best

INJUSTICE TO HERO’S MOTHER • The Ateneo students in Rizal’s time wore a uniform which
consisted of “hemp-fabric trousers” and “striped cotton coat” The
• Before June, 1872 - D o ñ a T e o d o r a w a s coat material was called rayadillo.
suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that
s h e a n d h e r brother, Jose Alberto, tried to poison the latter’s FIRST YEAR IN ATENEO (1872-1873)
perfidious wife.
• Father Jose Bech - Rizal’s first professor in Ateneo whom he
• Antonio Vivencio del Rosario - Calamba’s gobernadorcillo, described as a “tall thin man, with a body slightly bent
help arrest Doña Teodora. forward, a harried walk, an ascetic face, severe and
inspired, small deep-sunken eyes, a sharp nose that was
• After arresting Doña Teodora, the sadistic Spanish lieutenant almost Greek, and thin lips forming an arc whose ends fell toward
forced her to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz (capital of the chin.
Laguna province), a distance of 50 kilometers.
• A Religious picture - Rizal’s first prize for being the brightest
• Doña Teodora was incarcerated at the provincial prison, where pupil in the whole class.
she languished for two years and a half.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 4
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• To improve his Spanish, Rizal took private lessons in Santa

Isabel College during the noon recesses. He paid three pesos • Rizal cultivated his literary talent under the guidance of Father
for those extra Spanish lessons. Sanchez.

• At the end of the school year in March, 1873, Rizal returned to • Father Jose Vilaclara - advised Rizal to stop communing with
Calamba for summer vacation. the Muse and pay more attention to more practical studies.

• When the summer vacation ended, Rizal returned to Manila for • Rizal studied painting under the famous Spanish painter,
his second year term in Ateneo. This time he boarded inside Agustin Saez, and sculpture under Romualdo de Jesus, noted
Intramuros at No. 6 Magallanes Street. His landlady was an old Filipino sculptor.
widow named Doña Pepay.
• Rizal carved an image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of
SECOND YEAR IN ATENEO (1873-1874) batikuling (Philippine hardwood) with his pocket-knife.

At the end of the school year, Rizal received excellent • Father Lleonart - impressed by Rizal’s sculptural
grades in all subjects and a gold medal. talent, requested him to carve for him an image
of Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - the first
favorite novel of Rizal which made a deep impression on him.
ANECDOTES ON RIZAL, THE ATENEAN
• Universal History by Cesar Cantu - Rizal persuaded his
father to buy him this set of historical work that was a great aid in •Felix M. Roxas - one of Rizal’s contemporaries in the Ateneo,
his studies. related an incident of Rizal’s school days in Ateneo which
reveals hero’s resignation to pain and forgiveness.
• Dr. Feodor Jagor - a German scientist-traveler who “Neither bitterness nor rancor towards the guilty
visited the Philippines in 1859-1860 who wrote Travels party”
in the Philippines-Rizal was impressed in this book because of
• Manuel Xerez Burgos – This anecdotes illustrates Rizal’s
(1) Jagor’s keen observations of the defects of Spanish predilection to help the helpless at the risk of his own life
colonization and
(2) his prophecy that someday Spain would lose the Philippines POEMS WRITTEN IN ATENEO
and that America would come to succeed her as colonizer.
It was Doña Teodora who was first discovered the
THIRD YEAR IN ATENEO (1874-1875) poetic genius of her son, and it was also she who first
encouraged him to write poems. However it was Father Sanchez
Rizal grades remained excellent in all subjects but he who inspired Rizal to make full use of his God-given gift in poetry
won only one medal—in Latin-At the end of the school year
(March 1875), Rizal returned to Calamba for the summer • Mi Primera Inspiracion (My First Inspiration), 1874- the first
vacation. He himself was not impressed by his scholastic work poem Rizal probably wrote during his days in Ateneo which was
dedicated to his mother on her birthday; Rizal wrote it before he
FOURTH YEAR IN ATENEO was 14 years old

• June 16, 1875 - Rizal became an interno in the Ateneo In 1875, inspired by Father Sanchez, Rizal wrote more
poems, as such:
• Padre Francisco de Paula Sanchez - a great
educator and scholar, one of Rizal’s professors who 1. Felicitacion (Felicitationi);
inspired him to study harder and to write poetry-Rizal described 2. El Embarque: Himno a la Flota de Magallanes (The Departure:
this Jesuit professor as “model of uprightness, earnestness, Hymn to Magellan’s Fleet);
and love for the advancement of his pupils”.
3. Y E s E s p a n o l ; E l c a n o ,
• Rizal topped all his classmates in all subjects and won five el Primero en dar la Vuelta al Mundo (An
medals at the end of the school term d H e i s S p a n i s h : E l c a n o , t h e F i r s t t o Circu
mnavigate the World)
LAST YEAR IN ATENEO (1876-1877)
4. El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo (The Battle:
Rizal’s studies continued to fare well. As a matter-of- Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo).
fact, he excelled in all subjects. The most brilliant Atenean of his
time, he was truly “the pride of the Jesuits”. In 1876, Rizal wrote poems on various topics - religion,
education, childhood memories and war. They were as follows:
• March 23, 1877 - Commencement Day, Rizal, who
was 16 years old, received from his Alma Mater, 1. Un Recuerdo a Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town) - a tender
Ateneo Municipal, the degree of Bachelor of Arts, with highest poem in honor of Calamba, the hero’s natal town;
honors.
2. Alianza Intima Entre la Religion y la Buena Educacion
• Marian Congregation - a religious society wherein Rizal (Intimate Alliance between Religion and Good Education)-Rizal
was an active member and later became the secretary. showed the importance of religion in education;
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 5
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

3. Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la Patria (Through Education • Father Pablo Ramon - R e c t o r o f A t e n e o , w h o
the Country Receives Light) - Rizal believed in thesignificant role had been good to him during his student days
which education plays in the progress and welfare of a nation; i n t h a t college, asking for advice on the choice of a career but
unfortunately he was in Mindanao.
4. El Cautiverio y el Triunfo: Batalla de Lucena y Prision de
Boabdil (The Captivity and the Triumph: Battle of Lucenaand the • It was during the following term (1878-1879) that
Imprisonment of Boabdil)- this martial poem describes the Rizal, having received the Ateneo Rector’s advice to
defeat and capture of Boabdil, last Moorish sultan of Granada; study medicine.
• During Rizal’s first school term in the University of
5. La Entrada Triunfal de los Reyes Catolices en Santo Tomas (1877-1878), Rizal also studied in
Granada (The Triumphal Entry of the Catholic Ateneo. He took the vocational course leading to the title of perito
Monarchs into Granada)- this poem relates the agrimensor (expert surveyor).
victorious entry of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel
into Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain • Rizal excelled in all subjects in the surveying course in Ateneo,
obtaining gold medals in agriculture and topography
A year later, in 1877, Rizal wrote more poems. It was
his last years in Ateneo. Among the poems written that year • November 25, 1881- the title was issued to Rizal for
were: passing the final examination in the surveying course.

1. El Heroismo de Colon (The Heroism of Columbus)- this poem • Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary Lyceum) of
praises Columbus, the discoverer of America; Manila - a society of literary men and artists, held a
literary contest in the year 1879.
2. Colon y Juan II (Columbus and John II) - this poem relates
how King Kohn II of Portugal missed fame and richesby his • A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) - Rizal, who
failure to finance the projected expedition of Columbus to the was then 18 years old, submitted this poem-is an inspiring poem
New World; of flawless form. Rizal beseeched the Filipino youth to rise from
lethargy, to let genius fly swifter than the wind and descend with
3. Gran Consuelo en la Mayor Desdicha (Great Solace in Great art and science to break the chains that have long bound the
Misfortune)- this is a legend in verse of the tragic lifeof spirit of the people-this winning poem of Rizal is a classic
Columbus; in Philippine literature for two reasons:

4. Un Dialogo Aluviso a la Despedida de los ( 1 ) i t w a s t h e g r e a t p o e m i n Spanish written by a

Colegiales (A Farewell Dialogue of the Students) - this Filipino, whose merit was recognized by Spanish literary
was the last poem written by Rizal in Ateneo; it is a poignant authorities;
poem of farewell to his classmate.
(2) it expressed for the first time the nationalistic concept that the
• Al Niño Jesus (To the Child Jesus) - this poem was written in Filipinos, and not the foreigners, were the “fair hope of the
1875 when Rizal was 14 years old; it was a brief ode Fatherland”;

• A La Virgen Maria (To the Virgin Mary) - another religious • The Board of Judges, composed of Spaniards, was impressed
poem which doesn’t have exact date when it was written by Rizal’s poem and gave it the first prize which consisted of a
silver pen, feather-shaped and decorated with a gold ribbon
• San Eustacio, Martir (St. Eustace, the Martyr) - a drama
based on the prose story of St. Eustace whichhe wrote in poetic • El Consejo de los Dioses (The Councils of the Gods) - an
verses during the summer vacation of 1876 and finished it on allegorical drama written by Rizal which he entered in the literary
June 2, 1876 contest of Artistic-Literary Lyceum in 1880 to commemorate the
fourth centennial of the death of Cervantes-was a literary
MEDICAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS (1877- masterpiece based on the Greek classics
1882)
• The prize was awarded to Rizal, a gold ring on which was
After finishing the first year of a course in Philosophy engraved the bust of Cervantes.
and Letters (1877-1878), Rizal transferred to the medical course
- “Don’t send him to Manila again; he knows • D.N. del Puzo - a Spanish writer, who won the second prize.
enough. If he gets to know more, the Spaniards
will cut off his head.” • Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig) - a zarzuela which was
staged by the Ateneans on December 8, 1880, on the occasion
Doña Teodora, vigorously opposed the idea that Rizal of the annual celebration of the Feats Day of the Immaculate
pursue higher learning in the university Conception, Patroness of the Ateneo - Rizal wrote it as President
of the Academy of Spanish Literature in Ateneo.
• April 1877 - Rizal who was then nearly 16 years old,
matriculated in the University of Santo Tomas, taking the course • A Filipinas - a sonnet written by Rizal for the album of the
on Philosophy and Letters because Society of Sculptors; in this sonnet, he urged all Filipino artists to
glorify the Philippines.
(1) his father like it
(2) he was “still uncertain as to what career to pursue”.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 6
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma - Rizal composed a poem in 1879

which was declaimed by an Atenean, Manuel Fernandez, on the • Jose Mercado - Rizal used this name.
night of December 8, 1879, in honor of the Ateneo’s Patroness.
• May 3, 1882 - Rizal departed on board the Spanish streamer
• Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon - Rizal composed a poem in 1881, as Salvadora bound for Singapore.
an expression of affection to Father Pablo Ramon, the Ateneo
rector, who had been so kind and helpful to him. SINGAPORE

• Vicenta Ybardolaza - a pretty girl colegiala who skillfully played • Donato Lecha - the ship captain from Asturias, Spain
the harp at the Regalado home, whom Rizal was infatuated in befriended Rizal-Rizal described him as an affable man, “much
Pakil. more refined than his other countrymen and colleagues that
I have met.”
• Rizal mentioned Turumba (wherein the people dancing in the
streets during the procession in honor of the miraculous • Rizal played chess with his fellow passengers who were much
Birhen Maria de los Dolores) in Chapter VI of Noli Me older than he
Tangere and Pagsanjan Falls in his travel diary (united
States—Saturday, May 12, 1888), where he said that Niagara • May 8, 1882 - while the steamer was approaching Singapore,
Falls was the “greatest cascades I ever saw” but “not so Rizal saw a beautiful island, fascinated by its scenic beauty, he
beautiful nor fine as the falls at Los Baños, Pagsanjan”. remembered “Talim Island with the Susong Dalaga”.

• Compañerismo (Comradeship) - Rizal founded • May 9, 1882 - the Salvadora docked at Singapore.
a secret society of Filipino students in University • Hotel de la Paz - Rizal registered here and spent two days on a
of Santo Tomas in 1880. sightseeing soiree of the city, which was a colony of England.

• Companions of Jehu - members of the society whose after the FROM SINGAPORE TO COLOMBO
valiant Hebrew general.
• In Singapore, Rizal transferred to another ship
• Galicano Apacible -Rizal’s cousin from Batangas who is the Djemnah, a French steamer, which left
secretary of the society. Singapore for Europe on May 11, 1882.

UNHAPPY DAYS AT THE UST

• May 17, 1882 - Djemnah reached Point Galle, a seacoast town
Rizal found the atmosphere at the University of Santo in southern Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
Tomas suffocating to his sensitive spirit. He was unhappy at this
Dominican institution of higher learning because • Rizal wrote on his travel diary: “The general appearance of
Point Galle is picturesque but lonely and quiet and at the
(1) the Dominican professors were hostile to him; same time sad”.
(2) the Filipino students were racially discriminated against by the
Spaniards; and • Colombo - capital of Ceylon-Rizal was enamoured by Colombo
(3) the method of instruction was obsolete and repressive. because of its scenic beauty and elegant buildings- “Colombo is
In Rizal’s novel, El Filibusterismo, he more beautiful, smart and elegant than Singapore, Point
described how the Filipino students were humi Galle and Manila”.
l i a t e d a n d i n s u l t e d b y t h e i r Dominican professors and
how backward the method of instruction was, especially in the • For the first time, Rizal sighted the barren coast of
teaching of the natural sciences. He related in Chapter XIII, “The Africa, which he called an “inhospitable land but
Class in Physics”. famous”.

IN SUNNY SPAIN (1882-1885) • Aden - city hotter than Manila where Rizal was amused to see
the camels, for the first time.
After finishing the 4th year of the medical course in the
University of Santo Tomas, Rizal decided to complete his studies • City of Suez - the Red Sea terminal of the Suez Canal-Rizal
in Spain. was impressed in the beautiful moonlight which reminded him of
Calamba and his family.
Aside from completing his studies in Spain, Rizal has
his “secret mission”— was to observe keenly the life and • Suez Canal – the canal which built by
culture, languages and customs, industries and commerce, and Ferdinand de Lesseps (French diplomat
government and laws of the European nations in order to prepare engineer) which was inaugurated on November
himself in the mighty task of liberating his oppressed people from 17, 1869.
Spanish tyranny.
• Port Said- the Mediterranean terminal of the Suez Canal.
This Rizalian secret mission was likewise disclosed by
Paciano in his letter to his younger brother dated Manila, May 20, NAPLES AND MARSEILLES
1892.
• June 11, 1882 - Rizal reached Naples-Rizal was pleased on
Rizal’s departure for Spain was kept secret to avoid this Italian city because of its business activity, its lively people,
detection by the Spanish authorities and the friars. and its panoramic beauty.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 7
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• November 3, 1882 - Rizal enrolled in the Universidad Central

• Night of June 12, 1882 - the steamer docked at the French de Madrid (Central University of Madrid) in two courses—
harbor of Marseilles. Medicine and Philosophy and Letters.

• Rizal visited the famous Chateau d’If, where Dantes, hero of • Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando - Rizal studied
the Count of Monte Cristo, was imprisoned. painting and sculpture.

• Rizal stayed two and a half days in Marseilles. • Rizal’s only extravagance was investing a
few pesetas for a lottery ticket in every draw of the
BARCELONA Madrid Lottery.

• Afternoon of May 15, 1882 - Rizal left Marseilles by train for • Rizal spent his leisure time reading and writing at his boarding
the last lap of his trip to Spain house, attending the reunions of Filipino students at the house of
the Paterno brothers (Antonio, Maximo and Pedro) and practicing
• Rizal crossed the Pyrenees and stopped for a day at the frontier fencing and shooting at the gymnasium.
town of Port Bou.
• Antigua Café de Levante - during the summer twilights, this is
• June 16, 1882 - Rizal finally reached his destination— where Rizal sipped coffee and fraternized with the students from
Barcelona. Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, etc.

• Rizal’s first impression of Barcelona, the greatest city of • On Saturday evenings, Rizal visited the home of Don Pablo
Cataluña and Spain’s second largest city, was unfavorable. Ortiga y Rey who lived with his son (Rafael) and daughter
(Consuelo).
• Las Ramblas - the most famous street in Barcelona.
• Circulo Hispano-Filipino (Hispano-Philippine Circle) - a
• Amor Patrio (Love of Country) - nationalistic essay, Rizal’s society of Spaniards and Filipinos which Rizal joined shortly after
first article written on Spain’s soil-under his pen-name Laong his arrival in Madrid in 1882.
Laan, appeared in print in Diariong Tagalog on August 20, 1882 -
it was published in two texts—Spanish and Tagalog—the • Me Piden Versos (They Ask Me For Verses) - upon the
Spanish text was the one originally written by Rizal in Barcelona, request of the members of this society, Rizal’s wrote this
the Tagalog text was a Tagalog translation made by M.H. poem which he personally declaimed during the New
del Pilar. Year’s Eve reception of the Madrid Filipinos held in the
evening of December 31, 1882-in this sad poem, Rizal poured
• Basilio Teodoro Moran - a friend of Rizal in Manila and out the cry of his agonizing heart.
the publisher of Diariong Tagalog where Rizal sent this
article. • Rizal economized on his living expenses, and with
the money he saved, he purchased books from a
• Diariong Tagalog - the first Manila bilingual second-hand book store owned by a certain Señor Roses.
newspaper (Spanish and Tagalog).
• Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene
• Los Viajes (Travels) - Rizal’s second article for Diariong Sue’s The Wandering Jew - t h e s e t w o b o o k s
Tagalog. aroused Rizal’s sympathy for the oppressed and unfortunate
people.
• Revista de Madrid (Review of Madrid) - Rizal’s third article
written in Madrid on November 29, 1882 but returned to him FIRST VISIT TO PARIS (1883)
because the Diariong Tagalog had ceased publication for lack of
funds. -During his first summer vacation in Madrid, Rizal went to Paris,
gay capital of France-The prices of food, drinks, theatre, tickets,
• Rizal received sad news about the cholera that was laundry, hotel accommodations, and transportation were too high
ravaging Manila and the provinces according to for Rizal’s slender purse so that he commented in a letter to his
Paciano’s letter, dated September 15, 1882. family: “Paris is the costliest capital in Europe”.

• Another sad news from the Philippines was the chatty letter of • June 17 to August 20, 1883 - Rizal sojourn in Paris.
Chengoy recounting the unhappiness of Leonor Rivera.
• Hotel de Paris - located on 37 Rue de Maubange wherein
• In one of his letters (dated May 26, 1882), Paciano Rizal billeted but later, he moved to a cheaper hotel on 124 Rue
advised his younger brother to finish the medical de Rennes in the Latin Quarter.
course in Madrid.
• Laennec Hospital - where Rizal observed Dr. Nicaise treating
• Rizal left Barcelona in the fall of 1882 and established himself in Madrid, the his patients.
capital of Spain.
• Lariboisiere Hospital - where Rizal observed the examination
LIFE IN MADRID of different diseases of women.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 8
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Rizal was impressed by the way the Spanish Mason openly and thesis required for graduation nor paid the corresponding fees,
freely criticized the government policies and lambasted the friars, he was not awarded his Doctor’s diploma.
which could not be done in Philippines.
• June 19, 1885 - on his 24th birthday, Rizal was awarded the
• March 1883 - Rizal joined the Masonic lodge called Acacia in degree of Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters by the Universidad
Madrid. Central de Madrid with the rating of “Excellent”:
• Rizal’s reason for becoming a mason was to secure (Sobresaliente).
Freemansory’s aid in his fight against the friars in the Philippines.
• November 26, 1884 - a letter to Rizal’s family written in Madrid
• Lodge Solidaridad (Madrid) – Rizal transferred where he wherein he said “My doctorate is not of very much value to
became a Master Mason on November 15, 1890. me… because although it is useful to a university
professor, yet, I believe they (Dominican friars—Z) will
• February 15, 1892 - Rizal was awarded the diploma as Master never appoint me as such in the College of Santo Tomas. I say
Mason by Le Grand Orient de France in Paris. the same thing of philosophy and letters which may serve also for
a professorship, but I doubt if the Dominican fathers will grant it
• Science, Virtue and Labor - Rizal’s only Masonic writing; a to me.”
lecture which he delivered in 1889 at Lodge Solidaridad, Madrid.
PARIS TO BERLIN (1885-1887)
• After Rizal’s departure for Spain, things turned from bad to
worse in Calamba: Rizal went to Paris and Germany in order to specialize
in ophthalmology—Rizal chose this branch of medicine because
(1) harvests of rice and sugarcane failed on account of he wanted to cure his mother’s eye ailment.
drought and locusts
(2) the manager of the Dominican-owned hacienda increased IN GAY PARIS (1885-1886)
the rentals of the lands
(3) a dreadful pest killed most of the turkeys. •Maximo Viola - a medical student and a member of a rich family
of San Miguel, Bulacan, Rizal’s friend.
Due to hard times in Calamba, the monthly
allowances of Rizal in Madrid were late in arrival and there were • Señor Eusebio Corominas - editor of the newspaper La
times when they never arrived. Publicidad and made a crayon sketch of Don Miguel
Morayta, owner of La Publicidad and a statesman.
• June 24, 1884 - a touching incident in Rizal’s life in Madrid
wherein he was broke and was unable to take breakfast- Rizal  Rizal gave Editor Corominas and article on the Carolines
attended his class at the university, participated in the contest in Question, then a controversial issue, for publication.
Greek language and won the gold medal.
 November 1885, Rizal was living in Paris where he sojourned for about four
• Evening of June 25, 1884 - a banquet was sponsored by the months
Filipino community to celebrate the double victory of the Filipino
artist in the National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid—Luna’s •D r . L o u i s d e W e c k e r t ( 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 0 6 ) – The
Spoliarium winning the first prize and Hidalgo’s Christian Virgins leading French ophthalmologist wherein Rizal
Exposed to the Populace (Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al as assistant from November 1885 to February
Populacho), second prize. 1886.

• November 20, 21, and 22, 1884 - the serene city of Madrid • Paz Pardo de Tavera - was a pretty girl, who was engaged to
exploded in bloody riots by the students of the Central University. Juan Luna.

• These student demonstrations were caused by the address of • At the studio of Luna, Rizal spent many happy hours.
Dr. Miguel Morayta, professor of history, at the opening Rizal helped Luna by posing as model in several
ceremonies of the academic year on November 20, in which he paintings.
proclaimed “the freedom of science and the teacher”.
• In Luna’s canvas “The Death of Cleopatra”, Rizal
• The Rector, who also took the side of the students, posed as an Egyptian priest. In another of Luna’s great
was forced to resign and was replaced by Doctor Creus, paintings, “The Blood Compact,” he posed as Sikatuna, with
“a very unpopular man, disliked by everybody”. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera taking the role of Legazpi.

• November 26, 1884 - Rizal wrote the recounting tumultuous • November 27, 1878 - Rizal told
riots to his family. E n r i q u e L e t e t h a t h e “learned the solfeggio, the
piano, the voiceculture in one month and a half”.
• June 21, 1884 - Rizal completed his medical course in Spain;
he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine by the • By sheer determination and constant practice, Rizal came to
Universidad Central de Madrid. play the flute fairly well. He was a flutist in various impromptu
reunions of Filipinos in Paris.
• The next academic year (1884-
1885), Rizal studied and passed all subjects leading • Alin Mang Lahi (Any Race) -a patriotic song written
to the degree of Doctor of Medicine but he did not present the by Rizal which asserts that any race aspires
for freedom.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 9
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• La Deportacion (Deportation) - a sad danza which Rizal • Rizal also translated into Tagalog for his nephews and niece
composed in Dapitan during his exile. Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.

IN HISTORIC HEIDELBERG • Rizal found out that the cost of living in Leipzig was cheapest in
Europe so that he stayed two months and a half.
• February 1, 1886 - Rizal reluctantly left gay Paris for Germany.
• Because of his knowledge of German, Spanish, and other
• February 3, 1886 - Rizal arrived in Heidelberg, a historic city in European languages, Rizal worked as proof-reader in a
Germany famous for its old university and romantic surroundings. publisher’s firm.

• Chess Player’s Club - a club wherein the students • October 29, 1886 - Rizal left Leipzig for Dresden
made Rizal as a member because of being a good where he met Dr. Adolph B. Meyer, Director of the
chess player. Anthropological and Ethnological Museum.

• Dr. Otto Becker - distinguished German ophthalmologist where • Rizal heard Mass in a Catholic church; evidently, this Mass
Rizal worked—University Eye Hospital. impressed him very much, for he wrote on his diary: “ T r u l y I
have never in my life heard a Mass whose
• April 22, 1886 - Rizal wrote a fine poem “A Las Flores de m u s i c h a d g r e a t e r s u b l i m i t y a n d intonation.”
Heidelberg” (To the Flowers of Heidelberg).
• Morning of November 1, 1886 - Rizal left Dresden by train
• In the spring of 1886, Rizal was fascinated by the reaching Berlin in the evening.
blooming flowers along the cool banks of
the Neckar River. Among them was his favorite flower—the BERLIN
light blue “forget-me-not”.
• Rizal was enchanted by Berlin because of its scientific
• Wilhelmsfeld - a mountainous village near Heidelberg where atmosphere and the absence of race prejudice.
Rizal spent a three-month summer vacation.
• Rizal met for the first time Dr. Feodor Jagor, celebrated
•Dr. Karl Ullmer - a kind Protestant pastor where Rizal stayed, German scientist-traveler and author of Travels in the
who became his good friend and admirer. Philippines, a book which Rizal read and admired during his
student days in Manila.
• June 25, 1886 - Rizal ended his sojourn at Pastor Ullmer’s
home. • Dr. Rudolf Virchow – he introduced to Rizal by Dr. Jagor;
famous German anthropologist.
• May 29, 1887- Rizal wrote from Munich (Muchen) to Friedrich
(Fritz), son of Pastor Ullmer. • Dr. Hans Virchow- son of Dr. Rudolf Virchow, professor of
Descriptive Anatomy.
• July 31, 1886 - Rizal wrote his first letter in German
(which he had improved after his stay with theUllmers) • Dr. W. Joest - noted German geographer.
to Professor Blumentritt, Director of the Ateneo of Leitmeritz,
Austria. • Dr. Ernest Schweigger (1830-1905) - famous German
ophthalmologist where Rizal worked.
• Aritmetica (Arithmetic) -Rizal
sent this book he mentioned and was • Rizal became a member of the Anthropological Society, the
p u b l i s h e d i n t w o l a n g u a g e s — Spanish and Tagalog— Ethnological Society, and the Geographical Society of Berlin,
by the University of Santo Tomas Press in 1868. The author was upon the recommendation of Dr. Jagor and Dr. Meyer.
Rufino Baltazar Hernandez, a native of Santa Cruz, Laguna.
• Tagalische Verkunst (Tagalog Metrical Art) - Rizal wrote this
• August 6, 1886 - the famous University of Heidelberg held its scholarly paper in German which he read before the society in
fifth centenary celebration. April 1887-this paper was published by the society in
the same year, and elicited favorable comments from
IN LEIPZIG AND DRESDEN all scientific quarters.

• August 9, 1886 - Rizal left Heidelberg. • Rizal lived in Berlin, famous capital of unified Germany for five
reasons:
• August 14, 1886 - boarded by a train. Rizal arrived in Leipzig.
(1) to gain further knowledge of ophthalmology;
• Professor Friedrich Ratzel - a famous German historian, Rizal (2) to further his studies of sciences and languages;
befriend with him. (3) to observe the economic and political conditions of the
German nation; and
• Dr. Hans Meyer - German anthropologist, a friend of Rizal (4) to associate with famous German scientists and scholars
(5)to publish his novel, Noli Me Tangere.
• In Leipzig, Rizal translated Schiller’s William Tell from German
into Tagalog so that Filipino might know the story of that
champion of Swiss independence.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 10
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Madame Lucie Cerdole -Rizal’s professor of French in • Berliner Buchdruckrei-Action-Gesselschaft - a printing

order to master the idiomatic intricacies of the French shop which charged the lowest rate, that is, 300 pesos
language. for 2, 000 copies of the novel.

• Unter den Linden - the most popular boulevard of • March 21, 1887- the Noli Me Tangere came off the press.
Berlin wherein Rizal enjoyed promenading, sipping
beer in the city’s inns and talking with the friendly Berliners. • March 29, 1887- Rizal, in token of his appreciation and
gratitude, gave Viola the galley proofs of the Noli carefully
• March 11, 1886 - one of Rizal’s important letters written while rolled around the pen that he used in writing it and a
he was in Germany that addressed to his sister, Trinidad-in this complimentary copy, with the following inscription: “To
letter, Rizal expressed his high regard and admiration my dear friend, Maximo Viola, the first to read and
for German womanhood-The German woman, said Rizal appreciate my work—Jose Rizal”.
to his sister, is serious, diligent, educated, and
friendly. She is not gossipy, frivolous and quarrelsome. • The title Noli Me Tangere
i s a L a t i n p h r a s e w h i c h m e a n s “Touch Me Not”.
• Aside from the German women, Rizal admired the German It is not originally conceived by Rizal, for he admitted
customs which he observed well. taking it from the Bible.

NOLI ME TANGERE PUBLISHED IN BERLIN (1887) • Rizal, writing to Felix Hidalgo in French on March 5, 1887, said:
“Noli Me Tangere, words taken from the
The bleak winter of 1886 in Berlin was Rizal’s darkest G o s p e l o f S t . L u k e , signify “do not touch me” but Rizal
winter because no money arrived from Calamba and he was flat made a mistake, it should be the Gospel of St. John (Chapter 20
broke. The diamond ring which his sister, Saturnina, gave him Verses 13 to 17).
was in the pawnshop. It was memorable in the life of Riza lfor
two reasons: • Rizal dedicated his Noli Me Tangere to the Philippines
—“To My Fatherland”.
(1) it was a painful episode for he was hungry, sick • The cover of Noli Me Tangere was designed
and despondent in a strange city; and b y R i z a l . I t i s s ketch of explicit symbols.
(2) it brought him great joy after enduring so much sufferings, A woman’s head atop a Maria Clara
because his first novel, Noli Me Tangere came off the press in bodice represents the nation and the
March, 1887; w o m e n , v i c t i m s o f t h e social cancer. One of the
causes of the cancer is symbolized in the friar’s feet,
• Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin - inspired Dr. outsized in relation to the woman’s head. The other
Rizal to prepare a novel that would depict the miseries of his aggravating causes of oppression and discrimination
people under the lash of Spanish tyrants. are shown in the guard’s helmet and the iron chains,
the
• January 2, 1884 - in a reunion of Filipinos in the Paterno teacher’swhip and the alferez’s scourge. A slight cluster of bam
residence in Madrid, Rizal proposed the writings of a novel about boo stands at the backdrop; these are the people, forever in the
the Philippines by a group of Filipinos. background of their own country’s history. There
are a cross, a maze, flowers and thorny plants,
• Toward the end of 1884, Rizal began writing the novel in Madrid a flame; these are indicative of the religious policy, the
and finished about one-half of it. misdirected ardor, the people strangled as a result of these all.

• When Rizal went to Paris, in 1885, after completing • The novel Noli Me Tangere contains 63 chapters and an
his studies in the Central University of Madrid, he epilogue.
continued writing the novel, finishing one half of the second half.
• Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor - Filipino patriot and lawyer
• Rizal finished the last fourth of the novel who had been exiled due to his complicity in the Cavite
in Germany. He wrote the last few chapters of Mutiny of 1872, read avidly the Noli and was very much
t h e N o l i i n Wilhelmsfeld in April-June, 1886. impressed by its author.

• In Berlin during the winter days of February, 1886, Rizal made CHARACTERS OF NOLI
the final revisions on the manuscript of the Noli.
• The Noli Me Tangere was a true story of the Philippine
• Maximo Viola - Rizal’s friend from Bulacan, arrived conditions during the last decades of Spanish rule.
in Berlin at the height of Rizal despondency and loaned
him the needed funds to publish the novel; savior of Noli. • Maria Clara - was Leonor Rivera, although in real life she
became unfaithful and married an Englishman.
• After the Christmas season, Rizal put the finishing touches on
his novel. To save printing expenses, he deleted • Ibarra and Elias - represented Rizal himself.
certain passages in his manuscript, including a whole chapter
—“Elias and Salome”. • Tasio - the philosopher was Rizal’s elder brother Paciano.

• February 21, 1887 - the Noli was finally finished and ready for • Padre Salvi - was identified by Rizalists as Padre Antonio
printing. Piernavieja, the hated Augustinian friar in Cavite who was killed
by the patriots during the Revolution.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 11
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Capitan Tiago -was Captain Hilario Sunico of San Nicolas. • Hotel Metropole - where Rizal and Viola stayed.

• Doña Victorina - was Doña Agustina Medel. • In Vienna, Rizal received his lost diamond stick pin.

• Basilio and Crispin - were the children of Sisa. DANUBIAN VOYAGE TO LINTZ

• Padre Damaso – a typical of a domineering friar during the • May 24, 1887 - Rizal and Viola left Vienna on a river boat to
days of Rizal, who was arrogant, immoral and anti-Filipino. see the beautiful sights of the Danube River.

RIZAL’S GRAND TOUR OF EUROPE WITH VIOLA (1887) • Rizal particularly noticed that the passengers on the
river boat were using paper napkins during the meals,
• May 11, 1887 - Rizal and Viola left Berlin by train. which was a novelty to him. Viola, commented that the paper
napkins were “more hygienic and economical than cloth
•Dresden- one of the best cities in Germany. napkins”.

• Prometheus Bound -painting wherein Rizal was deeply FROM LINTZ TO RHEINFALL
impressed.
• Munich - where Rizal and Viola sojourned for a short time to
• Teschen (now Decin, Czechoslovakia) - next stopover after savor the famous Munich beer, reputed to be the best in
leaving Dresden. Germany.

LEITMERITZ • Nuremberg - one of the oldest cities of Germany.

• At 1:30pm of May 13, 1887 - the train, with Rizal • The Cathedral of Ulm - the largest and tallest cathedral in all
and Viola on board, arrived at the railroad station Germany.
of Leitmeritz, Bohemia-for the first time, the two great scholars—
Rizal and Blumentritt—met in person. • From Ulm, they went to Stuttgart, Baden and then
Rheinfall (Cascade of the Rhine). At Rheinfall, they
• Professor Blumentritt - a kind-hearted, old Austrian professor. saw the waterfall, “the most beautiful waterfall of Europe”.

• May 13 to May 16, 1887 - Rizal and Viola stayed in Leitmeritz. CROSSING THE FRONTIER TO SWITZERLAND

• Burgomaster – the town mayor. • June 2 to 3, 1887- stayed at Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

• Tourist’s Club of Leitmeritz -which Blumentritt was GENEVA

the secretary; Rizal spoke extemporaneously in fluent
Germany to the officers and members. • This Swiss city is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe,
visited by world tourists every year.
• Dr. Carlos Czepelak - renowned scientist of Europe.
• June 19, 1887 - Rizal treated Viola to a blow-out. It was his
• Professor Robert Klutschak - an eminent naturalist. 26th birthday.
• Rizal and Viola spent fifteen delightful days in Geneva.
• May 16, 1887 at 9:45 AM - Rizal and Viola left Leitmeritz by
train. • June 23, 1887 - Viola and Rizal parted ways—Viola returned
to Barcelona while Rizal continued the tour to Italy.
PRAGUE
• Exposition of the Philippines in Madrid, Spain - Rizal was
• Dr. Willkomm - professor of natural history in the University of outraged by this degradation of his fellow countrymen
Prague. the Igorots of Northern Luzon.

• According to Viola, “nothing of importance happened” in this RIZAL IN ITALY

city.
• June 27, 1887 - Rizal reached Rome, the “Eternal City” and
VIENNA also called the “City of the Caesars”.

• May 20, 1887 - Rizal and Viola arrived in the beautiful city • Rizal was thrilled by the sights and memories of the Eternal
of Vienna, capital of Austria-Hungary. City. Describing to Blumentritt, the “grandeur that was Rome”,
he wrote on June 27, 1887.
• Vienna was truly the “Queen of Danube” because of its beautiful
buildings, religious images, haunting waltzes and majestic • June 29, 1887- the Feast Day of St. Peter and St.
charm. Paul, Rizal visited for the first time the Vatican, the
“City of the Popes”and the capital of Christendom.
• Norfentals - one of the greatest Austrian novelists was
favorably impressed by Rizal, and years later he spoke highly of
Rizal, “whose genius he so much admired”.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 12
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Every night, after sightseeing the whole day, Rizal returned to • Rizal opened a gymnasium for young folks, where he
his hotel, very tired. “I am tired as a dog,” he wrote introduced European sports.
to Blumentritt, “but I will sleep as a God”.
• Rizal suffered one failure during his six months of sojourn in
• After a week of wonderful sojourn in Rome, Rizal prepared to Calamba—his failure to see Leonor Rivera.
return to the Philippines. He had already written to his father that
he was coming home. STORM OVER THE NOLI

• Governor General Emilio Terrero (1885-1888) -requesting

Rizal to come to Malacańang Palace.
FIRST HOMECOMING (1887-1888)
• Don Jose Taviel de Andrade -a young Spanish
Because of the publication of the Noli Me lieutenant assigned by Governor General Terrero to
Tangere and the uproar it caused among the friars, posed as bodyguard of Rizal.
Rizal was warned by Paciano (his
brother), Silvestre Ubaldo (his brother-in-law), • Msgr. Pedro Payo (a Dominican) - sent a copy of Noli to
Chengoy (Jose M. Cecilio) and other friends Father Rector Gregorio Echavarria of the University of Sto.
not to return home.-Rizal was determined to return to the Tomas for examination by a committee of the faculty.
Philippines for the following reasons:
• The report of the faculty members of University of
(1) to operate on his mother’s eyes; Santo Tomas stated that the Noli was “heretical,
(2) to serve his people who had long been oppressed impious, and scandalous in the religious order and
by Spanish tyrants; anti-patriotic, subversive of public order injurious
(3) to find out for himself how Noli and his to the government of Spain and its function in the
other writings were affecting Filipinos and Spaniards in the Philippine Islands in the political order”.
Philippines; and
(4) to inquire why Leonor Rivera remained silent. • Permanent Commission of Censorship - a committee
composed of priest and laymen.
• July 29, 1887- Rizal wrote to his father, announcing
his homecoming, “ o n t h e 1 5 th o f J u l y , I s h a l l • Fr. Salvador Font - Augustinian cura of Tondo, head of the
embark for our country, so that from the 15th to the 30th of committee- f o u n d t h e n o v e l t o c o n t a i n s u b v e r s i v e
August, we shall see each other”. ideas against the Church and Spain, and reco
m m e n d e d “that the mportation, reproduction, and
DELIGHTFUL TRIP TO MANILA circulation of this pernicious book in the islands be
absolutely prohibited”.
Rizal left Rome by train for Marseilles, a French port,
which he reached without mishap. • Fr. Jose Rodriguez - Augustinian priest, published a series of
eight pamphlets under the general heading Cuestiones de
• July 3, 1887-Rizal boarded the steamer Djemnah, Sumo Interes (Questions of Supreme Interest) to blast the
the same streamer which brought him to Europe 5 years Noli and other anti-Spanish writings.
ago.
 Vicente Barrantes – Spanish acaademecian of
• July 30, 1887 -at Saigon, Rizal transferred to another steamer, Madrid, who formerly criticized the Noli in an
Haiphong, which was Manila-bounded. article published in La Moderna, a newspaper of
Madrid, in January 1890.
• August 2, 1887 - the steamer left Saigon for Manila.
• What marred Rizal’s happy days in Calamba with Lt.
ARRIVAL IN MANILA Andrade were?

• August 3, 1887 - the moon was full and Rizal slept soundly the (1) the death of his older sister, Olimpia; and
whole night. The calm sea, illuminated by the silvery moonlight, (2) the groundless tales circulated by his enemies that he was “a
was a magnificent sight to him. German spy, an agent of Bismarck, a Protestant, a Mason,
a witch, a soul beyond salvation, etc.”
• Near midnight of August 5, 1887, the Haiphong arrived in Manila.
• Rev. Vicente Garcia - a Filipino Catholic priest-
HAPPY HOMECOMING scholar, a theologian of the Manila Cathedral and a
Tagalog translator of the famous Imitation of Christ by Thomas A.
• August 8, 1887 - Rizal returned to Calamba. Kempis-writing under the penname Justo Desiderio
Magalang, wrote a defense of the Noli which
• In Calamba, Rizal established a medical clinic. His first patient was published in Singapore as an appendix to a pamphlet
was his mother, who was almost blind. dated July 18, 1888, he blasted the arguments of Fr. Rodriguez

• Rizal, who came to be called “Doctor Uliman” because he • Rizal, himself defended his novel against Barrantes’
came from Germany, treated their ailments and soon he acquired attack, in a letter written in Brussels, Belgium in
a lucrative medical practice. February 1880.
FAREWELL TO CALAMBA
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 13
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• The friars asked Governor General Terrero to deport him, but • February 18, 1888 - Rizal, accompanied by Basa, boarded the
latter refused because there was no valid charge against Rizal in ferry steamer, Kiu-Kiang for Macao.
court.
• Don Juan Francisco Lecaros - A Filipino gentleman married
• Rizal was compelled to leave Calamba for two reasons: to a Portuguese lady-Rizal and Basa stayed at his home while in
Macao.
(1) his presence in Calamba was jeopardizing the safety and
happiness of his family and friends; and • February 18, 1888 - Rizal witnessed a Catholic possession, in
(2) he could fight better his enemies and serve his c which the devotees were dressed in blue and purple dresses and
ountry’s cause with greater efficacy by writing in foreign were carrying unlighted candles.
countries.
• February 20, 1888 - Rizal and Basa returned to Hong Kong,
•S h o r t l y b e f o r e R i z a l l e f t C a l a m b a i n 1 8 8 8 , h i s f again on board the ferry steamer Kiu Kiang.
riend from Lipa requested him to write
a p o e m i n commemoration of the town’s elevation to a DEPARTURE FROM HONG KONG
villa (city) by virtue of the Becerra Law of 1888.
• February 22, 1888 - Rizal left Hong Kong on board the
• Himno Al Trabajo (Hymn to Labor) - a poem written by Rizal Oceanic, an American steamer, his destination was Japan.
dedicated to the industrious folks of Lipa.
• Rizal’s cabin mate was a British Protestant missionary who
IN HONGKONG AND MACAO (1888) called Rizal “a good man”

Hounded by powerful enemies, Rizal was forced to ROMANTIC INTERLUDE IN JAPAN (1888)
leave his country for a second time in February 1888. He was
then a full-grown man of 27 years of age, a practicing physician, One of the happiest interludes in the life of Rizal was
and a recognized man-of-letters. his sojourn in the Land of the Cherry Blossoms for one month
and a half (February 28-April 13, 1888)
THE TRIP TO HONGKONG
• February 28, 1888 - early in the morning of Tuesday,
• February 3, 1888 -Rizal left Manila for Hong Kong on board the Rizal arrived in Yokohama. He registered at the Grand
Zafiro. Hotel

• February 7, 1888 - Zafiro made a brief stopover at Amoy. • Tokyo Hotel - Rizal stayed here from March 2 to March 7

• Rizal did not get off his ship at Amoy for three reasons: • Rizal wrote to Professor Blumentritt: “Tokyo is more
expensive than Paris. The walls are built in
(1) he was not feeling well; cyclopean manner. The streets are large and wide.”
(2) it was raining hard; and
(3) he heard that the city was dirty. • Juan Perez Caballero - secretary of the Spanish Legation, who
visited Rizal at his hotel who latter invited him to live at the
• February 8, 1888 - Rizal arrived in Hong Kong. Spanish Legation

• Victoria Hotel - Rizal stayed while in Hong Kong. He was • Rizal accepted the invitation for two reasons:
welcomed by Filipino residents, including Jose
Maria Basa, Balbino Mauricio, and Manuel Yriarte (1) he could economize his living expenses by staying
(son of Francisco Yriarte, alcalde mayor of Laguna). at the legation; and
(2) he had nothing to hide from the prying eyes of the Spanish
• Jose Sainz de Varanda - a Spaniard, authorities
who was a former
secretary of Governor General Terrero, • March 7, 1888 - Rizal checked out of Tokyo Hotel and lived at
shadowed Rizal’s movement in Hong Kong-it is believed that he the Spanish Legation.
was commissioned by the Spanish authorities to spy on Rizal.
• Rizal was favorably impressed by Japan. The things which
• “Hong Kong”, wrote Rizal to Blumentritt on February 16, 1888, favorably impressed Rizal in Japan were:
“is a small, but very clean city”.
(1) the beauty of the country – its flowers, mountains,
streams and scenic panoramas;
(2) the cleanliness, politeness, and industry of the
Japanese people;
VISIT TO MACAO (3) the picturesque dress and simple charm of the
Japanese women;
Macao is a Portuguese colony near Hong Kong.- (4) there were very few thieves in Japan so that the
According to Rizal, the city of Macao is small, low, and gloomy. houses remained open day and night, and in hotel room
There are many junks, sampans, but few steamers. It looks sad one could safely leave money on the table; and
and is almost dead. (5) beggars were rarely seen in the city, streets, unlike in Manila
and other cities.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 14
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

(1) to improve his knowledge of the English language;

• Rickshaws - popular mode of transportation drawn by men that (2) to study and annotate Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas,
Rizal did not like in Japan. a rare copy of which he heard to be available in the British
Museum; and
• April 13, 1888 -Rizal left Japan and boarded the Belgic, an (3) London was a safe place for him to carry on his fight against
English steamer, at Yokohama, bound for the United States. Spanish tyranny.

• Tetcho Suehiro - a fighting Japanese journalist, novelist and TRIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
champion of human rights, who was forced by the Japanese
government to leave the country-passenger which Rizal • The trans-Atlantic voyage of Rizal from New York to Liverpool
befriended on board the Belgic. was a pleasant one.

• April 13 to December 1, 1888 - eight (8) months of intimate • Rizal entertained the American and European passengers with
acquaintanceship of Rizal and Tetcho. his marvelous skills with the yo-yo as an offensive weapon.

• December 1, 1888 - after a last warm handshake and • Yoyo - is a small wooden disc attached to a string from the
bidding each other “goodbye”, Rizal and Tetcho parted finger.
ways—never to meet again.
• May 24, 1888 -Rizal arrived at Liverpool, England
RIZAL’S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES (1888)
• Adelphi Hotel -Rizal spend the night here while staying for one
• April 28, 1888 - the steamer Belgic, with Rizal on board, day in this port city.
docked at San Francisco on Saturday morning.
• According to Rizal, “Liverpool is a big and beautiful
• May 4, 1888 - Friday afternoon, the day Rizal was permitted to city and its celebrated port is worthy of its great
go ashore. fame. The entrance is magnificent and the customhouse is
quite good.”
• Palace Hotel - Rizal registered here which was then
considered a first-class hotel in the city. LIFE IN LONDON

• Rizal stayed in San Francisco for two days—May 4 to 6, 1888. • May 25, 1888 - a day after docking at Liverpool, Rizal went to
London
• May 6, 1888 -Sunday, 4:30PM, Rizal left San Francisco for
Oakland. • Rizal stayed as guest at the home of Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor,
an exile of 1872 and a practicing lawyer in London. By the end of
• M a y 1 3 , 1 8 8 8 -Sunday morning, Rizal reached New May, Rizal found a modest boarding place at No. 37 Chalcot
York, thus ending his trip across the American Crescent, Primrose Hill.
continent.
• Dr. Reinhold Rost - librarian of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Rizal stayed three (3) days in this city, which he called the “big and an authority on Malayan languages and customs. He was
town”. impressed by Rizal’s learning and character and he gladly
recommended him to the authorities of the British Museum. He
• May 16, 1888 - Rizal left New York for Liverpool called Rizal “a pearl of a man” (una perla de hombre).
on board the City of Rome. According to Rizal, this
steamer was “the second largest ship in the world, the • Both good and bad news from home reached Rizal
largest being the Great Eastern”. in London. Of the bad news, were the injustices
committed by the Spanish authorities on the Filipino people and
• Rizal had good and bad impressions of the United States. The the Rizal family.
good impressions were:
• The greatest achievement of Rizal in London was the
(1) the material progress of the country as shown in the great annotating of Morga’s book, Sucesos de las Islas
cities, huge farms, flourishing industries and busy factories; Filipinas (Historical Events of the Philippine Islands), which
(2) the drive and energy of the American people ; was published in Mexico, 1609.
(3) the natural beauty of the land;
(4) the high standard of living; and • September 1888 - Rizal visited Paris for a week in
(5) the opportunities for better life offered to poor immigrants. order to search for more historical materials in the
Bibliotheque Nationale.
• One bad impression Rizal had of America was the
lack of racial equality: “America is the land • Rizal was entertained in this gay French metropolis by Juan
par excellence of freedom but only for the whites”. Luna and his wife (Pas Pardo de Tavera), who proudly showed
him their little son Andres, nicknamed Luling.
RIZAL IN LONDON (1888-1889)
• December 11, 1888 - Rizal went to Spain, visiting Madrid
After visiting the United States, Rizal lived in London and Barcelona
from May, 1888 to March, 1889 for three reasons:

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 15
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Rizal met, for the first time, Marcelo H. del Pilar and 1. “A La Defensa” (To La Defensa), April 30, 1889-
Mariano Ponce, two titans of the Propaganda this was a reply to an anti-Filipino writing of a Spanish
Movement author Patricio de la Escosura which was published by La
Defensa on March 30, 1889.
• December 24, 1888 - R i z a l r e t u r n e d t o L o n d o n
and spent Christmas and New Year’s Day with 2. “La Verdad Para Todos” (The Truth for All), May 31, 1889 -
t h e Becketts. Rizal’s defense against the Spanish charges that the native local
officials were ignorant and depraved.
• Rizal sent as Christmas gift to Blumentritt a bust of Emperador
Augustus and a bust of Julius Caesar to another friend, Dr. 3. “Vicente Barrantes’ Teatro Tagalo”, June 15, 1889 -
Carlos Czepelak, a Polish scholar. in this article, Rizal exposes Barrantes’ ignorance on
the Tagalog theatrical art.
• The Life and Adventures of Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist
- a Christmas gift from Rizal’s landlady, Mrs Beckett. 4. “Una Profanacion” (A Profanation), July 31, 1889
- a bitter attack against the friars for denying
RIZAL BECOMES LEADER OF FILIPINOS IN EUROPE Christian burial to Mariano Herbosa in Calamba because he
was a brother-in-law of Rizal. Herbosa, husband of Lucia died of
• Asociacion La Solidaridad (Solidaridad cholera on May 23, 1889.
Association) - a patriotic society, which cooperates in
the crusade for reforms, was 5. “Verdades Nuevas” (New Truths), July 31, 1889 - a reply to
inaugurated on December 31, 1888, with the following Vicente Belloc Sanchez’ letter published in La Patria, Madrid
officers: Galicano Apacible (President); Graciano Lopez newspaper, on July 4, 1889, which asserted that the
Jaena (Vice-president); Manuel Santa Maria (Secretary); Mariano granting of reforms in the Philippines would ruin the
Ponce (Treasurer) and Jose Ma. Panganiban (accountant). “peaceful and maternal rule” of the friars.

• By unanimous vote of all members, Rizal was chosen honorary 6. “Crueldad” (Cruelty), August 15, 1889 - a brilliant defense of
president. Blumentritt from the scutrillous attack of his enemies.

• January 28, 1889 - Rizal wrote a letter addressed to the 7. “Diferencias’ (Differences), September 15, 1889 - a reply to a
members of the Asociacion La Solidaridad. biased article entitled “Old Truths” published in La Patria on
August 14, 1889, which ridiculed those Filipinos who asked
RIZAL AND THE LA SOLIDARIDAD NEWSPAPER for reforms.

• February 15, 1889 - Graciano Lopez Jaena founded 8. “Inconsequencias” (Inconsequences), November 30, 1889- a
the patriotic newspaper called La Solidaridad in defense of Antonio Luna against the attack of PabloMir Deas in
Barcelona. the Barcelona newspaper El Puieblo Soberano.

• La Solidadridad - fortnightly periodical which served as the 9. “Llanto y Risas” (Tears and Laughter), November
organ of the Propaganda Movement. 30, 1889- a denunciation of Spanish racial prejudice
againstbrown Filipinos
• Its aims were as follows:
1 0 . I n g r a t i t u d e s ” ( I n g r a t i t u d e )
(1) to work peacefully for political and social , J a n u a r y 1 5 , 1 8 9 0 a
reforms; r e p l y t o G o v e r n o r G e n e r a l V a l
( 2 ) t o p o r t r a y t h e deplorable conditions of the Philippines e r i a n o W e y l e r w h o , while visiting Calamba,
so that Spain may remedy them; told the people that they “should not allow themselves to be
(3) to oppose the evil forces of reaction and medievalism; deceived by the vain promises of their ungrateful sons.”
(4) to advocate liberal ideas and progress;
(5) to champion the legitimate aspirations and of the • Simultaneous with Rizal retirement from the Propaganda
Filipino people to life, democracy and happiness. Movement, Rizal ceased writing articles for La Solidaridad.

• • August 7, 1891 - M.H. del Pilar wrote to Rizal

Los Agricultores Filipinos (The Filipino Far begging forgiveness for any resentment and
mers) requesting Rizal to resume writing for the La Solidaridad.

Rizal’s first article which • Rizal stopped writing for La Solidaridad, it was because of
a p p e a r e d i n L a Solidaridad which is published on March several reasons:
25, 1889, six days after he left London for Paris
(1) Rizal needs to work on his book;
ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN LA SOLIDARIDAD (2) He wanted other Filipinos to work also;
(3) Rizal considered it very important to the party
Rizal wrote articles for La Solidaridad in defense of his that there be unity in the work; and
oppressed people and to point out the evils of Spanish rule in the (4) Marcelo H. del Pilar is already at the top and Rizal also has
Philippines. his own ideas, it is better to leave del Pilar alone to direct the
policy.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 16
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

WRITINGS IN LONDON • Rizal was a good friend of the three Pardo de Taveras—Dr.
Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, a physician by vocation and
• While busy in research studies at the British Museum, Rizal philologist by avocation, Dr. Felix Pardo de Tavera, also
received news on Fray Rodriguez’ unabated attack on his Noli. physician by vocation and an artist and sculptor by avocation,
and Paz Pardo de Tavera, wife of Juan Luna.
•L a V i s i o n d e l F r a y R o d r i g u e z ( T h e V i s i o n o f
Fray Rodriguez) • June 24, 1889 - a baby girl was born to Juan Luna and Paz
Pardo de Tavera, she was their second child.
It is a pamphlet wrote by Rizal which
published in Barcelona under his nom-de-plume Dimas Alang in •H e r b a p t i s m a l g o d f a t h e r w a s R i z a l , w h o
order to defense his novel. chose her name “Maria de la Paz, Blanca
, L a u r e a n a , Hermenegilda Juana Luna y Pardo de
In La Vision del Fray Rodriguez, Rizal demonstrated Tavera”.
two things:
• May 6, 1889 - opening of Universal Exposition of Paris.
(1) his profound knowledge of religion; and
(2) his biting satire. • The greatest attraction of this exposition was the Eiffel Tower,
984 feet high, which was built by Alexander Eiffel, celebrated
• Letter to the Young Women of Malolos - a f a m o u s French engineer.
letter wrote by Rizal on February 22, 1889
i n Tagalog-this letter is to praise the young ladies of Malolos for
their courage to establish a school where they could learn
Spanish, despite the opposition of Fr. Felipe Garcia, a Spanish
parish priest of Malolos
KIDLAT CLUB
• The main points of this letter were:
• March 19, 1889 -the same day when he arrived in
(1) a Filipino mother should teach her children love of God, Paris from London, Rizal organized his paisanos
fatherland,and mankind; (compatriots) into a society called Kidlat Club.
(2) the Filipino mother should be glad, like the
Spartan mother, to offer her sons in the defense of the • Kidlat Club - purely a social society of a temporary nature-
fatherland; founded by Rizal simply to bring together
(3) a Filipino woman should know how to preserve her dignity young Filipinos in the French capital so that they
and honor; could enjoy their sojourn in the city during the duration of
(4) a Filipino woman should educate herself, aside from the Universal Exposition
retaining her good racial virtues; and
(5) Faith is not merely reciting long prayers and wearing religious INDIOS BRAVOS
pictures, but rather it is living the real Christian way, with
good morals and good manners. • Rizal was enchanted by the dignified and proud bearing of
the American Indians in a Buffalo Bull show
• Dr Reinhold Rost, editor of Trubner’s Record,
a journal devoted to Asian studies, request Rizal to • Indios Bravos (Brave Indians) - replaced the ephemeral Kidlat
contribute some articles. In response to his request, the latter Club, its members pledged to excel in intellectual and physical
prepared two articles: prowess in order to win the admiration of the foreigners-practiced
with great enthusiasm the use of the sword and pistol and Rizal
(1) Specimens of Tagal Folklore, which published in the journal in taught them judo, an Asian art of self-defense, that he learned in
May, 1889; and Japan
(2) Two Eastern Fables, published in June, 1889.
R.D.L.M SOCIETY
• March 19, 1889 - Rizal bade goodbye to the kind Beckett
Family and left London for Paris • Sociedad R.D.L.M. (R.D.L.M Society) -
a mysterious society founded by Rizal
RIZAL’S SECOND SOJOURN IN PARIS AND THE UNIVERSAL i n P a r i s d u r i n g t h e Universal Exposition of 1889-its
EXPOSITION IN 1889 existence and role in the crusade reforms are really enigmatic-Of
numerous letters written by Rizal and his fellow
In March, 1889, it was extremely difficult for a visitor to propagandists, only two mentioned this secret society,
find living quarters in Paris as follows:

• Valentin Ventura - a f r i e n d o f R i z a l w h e r e h e (1) Rizal’s Letter to Jose Maria Basa, Paris, September 21, 1889;
lived—No. 45 Rue Maubeuge, where he and
p o l i s h e d h i s annotated edition of Morga’s book. (2) Rizal’s Letter to Marcelo H. del Pilar, Paris, November 4,
1889.
• Rizal used most of his time in the reading room of the
Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library) checking up his • According to Dr. Leoncio Lopez-Rizal, grandnephew of the
historical annotations on Morga’s book. hero, the society has a symbol or counter sign represented by a
circle divided into three parts by two semi-circles having in the
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 17
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

center the interlocked letters I and B meaning Indios

Bravos and the letter R.D.L.M. placed outside an • Shortly after New Year, Rizal made a brief visit to London. It
upper, lower, left and right sides of the circle. may be due to two reasons:

• The letters R.D.L.M. are believed to be the initials of the (1) to check up his annotated edition of Morga’s Sucesos with the
society’s secret name Redencion de los Malayos (Redemption of original copy in the British Museum; and
the Malays)—Redemption of the Malay Race. (2) to see Gertrude Beckett for the last time.

• It was patterned after Freemasonry. It had various

degrees of membership, “with the members not
knowing each other.”
IN BELGIAN BRUSSELS (1890)
• The aim of the secret society, as stated by Rizal, was “the
propagation of all useful knowledge—scientific, artistic, and January 28, 1890
literary, etc.—in the Philippines”. Evidently, there was another
aim that is, the redemption of the Malay race. Rizal left Paris for Brussels, capital of Belgium-Two
reasons impelled Rizal to leave Paris, namely:
• It must be noted that Rizal was inspired by a famous
book entitled Max Havelaar (1860) written by Multatuli (1) the cost of living in Paris was very high because of the
(pseudonym of E.D. Dekker, Dutch author) Universal Exposition; and
(2) the gay social life of the city hampered his literary
ANNOTATED EDITION OF MORGA PUBLISHED works, especially the writing of his second novel,
El Filibusterismo.
• Rizal’s outstanding achievement in Paris was the publication in
1890 of his annotated edition of Morga’s Sucesos, which LIFE IN BRUSSELS
he wrote in the British Museum. It was printed
by Garnier Freres. The prologue was written by Professor • Rizal was accompanied by Jose Albert when
Blumentritt upon the request of Rizal. he moved to Brussels. They lived in a modest
boardinghouse on 38 Rue Philippe Champagne, which was run
• Rizal dedicated his new edition of Morga to the Filipino people by two Jacoby sisters (Suzanne and Marie). Later Albert, left the
so that they would know of their glorious past. city and was replaced by Jose Alejandro, an engineering student.

• The title page of Rizal’s annotated edition of Morga • Rizal was the first to advocate the Filipinization of its
reads: “Paris, Liberia de Garnier Hermanos, 1890”. orthography.

• The Philippines Within a Century - article written by Rizal • Sobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagala (The New
which he expressed his views on the Spanish colonization in the Orthography of the Tagalog Language)
Philippines and predicted with amazing accuracy the tragic end
of Spain’s sovereignty in Asia. - was published in La Solidaridad on April 15, 1890-in
this article, he laid down the rules of the new Tagalog
• The Indolence of the Filipinos - other essay of Rizal is also a orthography and with modesty and sincerity, he gave credit for
prestigious work of historical scholarship. It is an able defense of the adoption of this new orthography to Dr. Trinidad
the alleged indolence of the Filipinos-Rizal made a critical study H. Pardo de Tavera, author of the celebrated work El
of the causes why his people did not work hard during the Sanscrito en la Lengua Tagala (Sanskrit in the Tagalog
Spanish regime. His main thesis was that the Filipinos are not by Language) which was published in Paris, 1884** “I put this on
nature indolent. record,” wrote Rizal, “so that when the history of this
orthography is traced, which is already being adopted by
 International Association of the enlightened Tagalists, that what is Caesar’s be
Filipinologists-association proposed by given to Caesar. This innovation is due solely to
R i z a l t o e s t a b l i s h t a k i n g advantage of world Dr. Pardo de Tavera’s studies on Tagalismo. I was one of
attention which was then focused at the Universal its zealous propagandists.”**
Exposition in 1889 in Paris and has its inaugural
convention in the French capital. • Letters from home which Rizal received in Brussels worried him
were:
• Project for Filipino College in Hong Kong - another
magnificent project of Rizal in Paris which also fizzled (1) the Calamba agrarian trouble was getting worse; and
out was his plan to establish a modern college in Hong Kong (2) the Dominican Order filed a suit in court to dispossess the
Rizal family of their lands in Calamba.
• Por Telefono
• In his moment of despair, Rizal had bad dreams
Another satirical work as a reply during the nights in Brussels when he was restless
t o a n o t h e r s l a n d e r e r , Fr. Salvador Font, w because he was always thinking of his unhappy family in
h o masterminded the banning of his Noli, in the fall of 1889 - it Calamba.
was published in booklet form in Barcelona, 1889.
This satirical pamphlet under the authorship of “Dimas
Alang” is a witty satire which ridicules Father Font.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 18
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Rizal feared that he would not live long. He was not afraid to 5. Rizal-Del Pilar Rivalry —toward the closing days of 1890
die, but he wanted to finish his second novel before he went to where arose an unfortunate rivalry between Rizal and M.H. del
his grave. Pilar for supremacy. Because of this, the Filipinos were divided
into two hostile camps—the Rizalistas and the Pilaristas. The
• In the face of the sufferings which afflicted his situation was becoming explosive and critical. Despite of winning
family, Rizal planned to go home. He could not stay in the votes, Rizal graciously declined the coveted position.
Brussels writing a book while his parents, relatives, and friends in
the distant Philippines were persecuted. • Rizal wrote a brief note thanking his compatriots for electing
him as Responsible. It was the last time he saw Madrid.
• July 29, 1890 - another letter to Ponce written at
Brussels by Rizal, he announced that he was leaving BIARRITZ VACATION
Brussels at the beginning of the following month and would arrive
in Madrid about the 3rd or 4th (August). To seek solace for his disappointments in
Madrid, Rizal took a vacation in the resort city of
• “To my Muse’” (A Mi…) - 1890, Rizal wrote this pathetic Biarritz on the fabulous French Riviera. He was a guest of
poem, it was against a background of mental anguish in the rich Boustead family at its winter residence — Villa Eliada.
Brussels, during those sad days when he was worried by family
disasters. • February, 1891 - Rizal arrived in Biarritz.

MISFORTUNES IN MADRID (1890-91) • Frustrated in romance, Rizal found consolation in writing.

Evidently, while wooing Nellie and enjoying so “many
Early in August, 1890, Rizal arrived in Madrid-Upon magnificent moonlight nights” with her, he kept working on his
arrival in Madrid, Rizal immediately sought help of the Filipino second novel which he began to write in Calamba 1887.
colony, The Asociacion Hispano-Filipina, and the liberal Spanish
newspaper in securing justice for the oppressed Calamba • March 29, 1891 - the eve of his
tenants. departure from Biarritz to Paris, he finished
t h e m a n u s c r i p t o f E l Filibusterismo.
• El Resumen - a Madrid newspaper which sympathized with the
Filipino cause, said: “To cover the ear, open the purse, and • March 30, 1891 - Rizal bade farewell to the hospitable and
fold the arms—this is the Spanish colonial policy. friendly Bousteads and proceeded to Paris by train.

• La Epoca - an anti-Filipino newspaper in Madrid. • April 4, 1891 - Rizal wrote to his friend, Jose Ma. Basa, in
Hong Kong from Paris, expressing his desire to go to that British
1. Jose Ma. Panganiban, his talented co-worker in the colony and practice ophthalmology in order to earn his living.
Propaganda Movement, died in Barcelona on August19, 1890,
after a lingering illness. • Middle of April, 1891 - Rizal was back in Brussels.

2. A b o r t e d D u e l w i t h A n t o n i o L u n a •S i n c e a b d i c a t i n g h i s l e a d e r s h i p i n M a d r i d i n J a
nuary, 1891, owing to the intrigues
Luna was bitter because of his o f h i s j e a l o u s compatriots, Rizal retired from the
f r u s t r a t e d r o m a n c e w i t h N e l l i e Boustead. Deep in Propaganda Movement or reform crusade.
his heart, he was blaming Rizal for his failure to win her, although
Rizal had previously explained to him that he had nothing to •May 1, 1891 -Rizal notified the Propaganda
do about it. Luna uttered certain unsavory remarks authorities in Manila to cancel his monthly allowance
about Nellie, Rizal heard him end angered by the and devote the money to some better cause.
slanderous remarks, he challenged Luna, his friend, to a duel.
Fortunately, Luna realized that he had made a fool of himself • Rizal’s notification was contained in a letter
during his drunken state, he apologized for his bad remarks addressed to Mr. A.L. Lorena (pseudonym of Deodato
about the girl and Rizal accepted his apology and they became Arellano).
good friends again.
• May 30, 1891 -revision of the finished manuscript of
3. Rizal challenges Retana to Duel - Wenceslao E. Retana, his El Filibusterismo was mostly completed.
bitter enemy of the pen, a talented Spanish scholar, was then a
press agent of the friars in Spain. He used to attack the Filipinos • June 13, 1891 -Rizal informed Basa that he was negotiating
in various newspapers in Madrid and other cities in Spain. with a printing firm.
Retana wrote an article in La Epoca, asserting that the family and
friends of Rizal had not paid their rents so they were ejected from EL FILIBUSTERISMO PUBLISHED IN GHENT (1891)
their lands in Calamba by the Dominicans. Such as insult stirred
Rizal to action, immediately he sent his seconds to Retana with Rizal was busy revising and polishing the manuscript of
his challenge to a duel. El Filibusterismo so that it could be ready for the press-Rizal had
begun writing it in October, 1887, while practicing medicine in
4. Infidelity of Leonor Rivera — Rizal received a letter from Calamba, the following year (1888), in London; he made some
Leonor, announcing her coming marriage to an Englishman (the changes in the plot and corrected some chapters already written.
choice of her mother) and asking his forgiveness. He wrote more chapters in Paris and Madrid, and finished the
manuscript in Biarritz on March 29, 1891. It took him, therefore,
three (3) years to write his second novel.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 19
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• July 5, 1891 - Rizal left Brussels for Ghent, a famous university • El Filibusterismo is a sequel to the Noli. It has little humor, less
city in Belgium. idealism and less romance than the NoliMe Tangere. It is more
revolutionary, more tragic than the first novel.
• Rizal reasons for moving to Ghent were:
• The characters in El Filibusterismo were drawn by
(1) the cost of printing in Ghent was cheaper than in Brussels; Rizal from real life. Padre Florentino was Father Leoncio
and Lopez, Rizal’s friend and priest of Calamba; Isagani , the poet
(2) to escape from the enticing attraction of Petite Suzanne. was Vicente Ilustre, Batangueño friend of Rizal in Madrid and
Paulita Gomez , the girl who loved Isagani but married Juanito
• Rizal met two Pelaez, was Leonor Rivera.
compatriots while in Ghent, Jose Alejandro
(from Pampanga) and Edilberto Evangelista (from COMPARISON BETWEEN NOLI and FILI
Manila), both studying engineering in the world-famed University
of Ghent. Noli is a romantic novel, a “work of the heart”—a book
of feeling”, it has freshness, color, humor, lightness, and wit, and
• F. Meyer-Van Loo Press (No. 66 Viaanderen Street) - a it contains 64 chapters.
printing shop that give Rizal the lowest quotation for the
publication of his novel, who was willing to print his book on While, Fili is a political novel, a “work of the head”—a
installment basis. book of the thought, it contains bitterness, hatred, pain, violence,
and sorrow, and it contains 38 chapters.
• August 6, 1891 - the printing of his book had to be
suspended because Rizal could no longer give the • The original intention of Rizal was to make the Fili longer than
necessary funds to the printer. the Noli.

• Valentin Ventura - the savior of the Fili when Ventura learned • The friends of Rizal and our Rizalistas today differ in opinion
of Rizal’s predicament and immediately sent him the necessary as to which is the superior novel—the Noli or the Fili. Rizal
funds. himself considered the Noli as superior to the Fili as a novel,
thereby agreeing with M.H. del Pilar who had the same opinion.
• September 18, 1891 - El Filibusterismo came off the press.
Rizal immediately sent on this date two printed copies to Hong • September 22, 1891 - four (4) days after the Fili came off the
Kong—one for Basa and other for Sixto Lopez. press, Rizal wrote to Blumentritt: “I am thinking of writing a
third novel, a novel in the modern sense of the word, but this
• Rizal gratefully donated the original manuscript and an time politics will not find much space in it, but ethics will
autographedprinted copy to Valentin Ventura. play the principal role.”

• La Publicidad • October 18, 1891 - Rizal boarded the steamer Melbourne in

Marseilles bound for Hong Kong. During the voyage, Rizal began
- writing the third novel in Tagalog, which he intended for Tagalog
a Barcelona newspaper, wherein it published a readers.
tribute eulogizing the novel’s original style which “is
comparable only to the sublime Alexander Dumas” • The unfinished novel has no title. It consists of 44
and may well be offered as “a model and a precious pages (33 cm x 21 cm) in Rizal’s handwriting, still in
jewel in the now decadent literature of Spain”. manuscript form; it is preserved in the National Library, Manila.
The story of this unfinished novel begins with the solemn burial of
• El Nuevo Regimen - the liberal Madrid newspaper Prince Tagulima. The hero of the novel was Kamandagan, a
that serialized the novel in its issues of October, 1891. descendant of Lakan-Dula, last king of Tondo. It is said that Rizal
was fortunate not to have finished this novel, because it would
• Rizal dedicated El Filibusterismo to Gom-Bur- have caused greater scandal and more Spanish vengeance on
Za (Don Mariano G o m e z , 73 years old; Don him.
J o s e B u r g o s , 3 5 y e a r s o l d ; J a c i n t o Zamora, 37 • Makamisa - other unfinished novel of Rizal in Tagalog written in
years old). a light sarcastic style and is incomplete for only two chapters are
finished. The manuscript consists of 20 pages, 34.2 cm x 22 cm.
•T h e original manuscript of
El Filibusterismo in Rizal’sown Dapitan - another novel which Rizal started to write but it is
handwriting in now preserved in the Filipiana unfinished, written in ironic Spanish. He wrote it during his
Division of the Bureau of Public Libraries, Manila. It exile in Dapitan to depict the town life and customs.
consists of 270 pages of long sheets of paper. The manuscript consists of 8 pages, 23 cm x 16 cm.

• Two features in the manuscript do not appear in • A novel in Spanish about the life in Pili, a town in Laguna, is
the printed book, namely: the FOREWORD and the also unfinished. The manuscript consists of 147 pages, 8” x 6.5”,
WARNING. These were not put into print to save printing cost. without title.

• The title page of El Filibusterismo contains an inscription written • Another unfinished novel of Rizal, also without title is about
by Ferdinand Blumentritt. Cristobal, a youthful Filipino student who has returned from
Europe. The manuscript consist of 34 pages, 8 ½” x 6 ¼”.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 20
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• The beginnings of another novel are contained in two

notebooks—the first notebook contains 31 written pages, 35.5 • March 7, 1892 - Rizal went to Sandakan on board the ship
cm x 22 cm and second 12 written pages, 22cm x Menon to negotiate with the British authorities for the
17cm. this unfinished novel is written in Spanish and establishment of a Filipino colony.
style is ironic.
• Rizal looked over the land up the Bengkoka River in Maradu
OPHTHALMIC SURGEON IN HONG KONG (1891-1892) Bay which was offered by the British North Borneo Company.

Rizal left Europe for Hong Kong, where he • April 20, 1892 - Rizal was back in Hong Kong.
lived from November, 1891 to June, 1892. His reasons
for leaving Europe were: • Hidalgo - Rizal’s brother-in-law, objected to the colonization
project.
(1) life was unbearable in Europe because of his political
differences with M.H. del Pilar and other Filipinos in Spain; and • Governor Valeriano Weyler - Cubans odiously called “The
(2) to be near his idolized Philippines and family. Butcher”.

• October 3, 1891 - two weeks after the publication of Fili, Rizal •Governor Eulogio Despujol - the Count of Caspe, a new
left Ghent for Paris, where he stayed a few d a y s t o s a y governor general after Weyler.
goodbye to the Lunas, the Pardo de Taveras,
t h e V e n t u r a s a n d o t h e r f r i e n d s ; R i z a l proceeded • December 23, 1891 - first letter of Rizal to Governor Despujol.
by train to Marseilles.
• March 21, 1892 - Rizal’s second letter and gave it to a
• October 18, 1891- Rizal boarded the steamer Melbourne ship captain to be sure it would reach
bound for Hong Kong. Governor Despujol’s hand-in this second letter, he requested
the governor general to permit the landless Filipinos to establish
• Father Fuchs - a Tyrolese, Rizal enjoyed playing chess. Rizal themselves in Borneo.
describe him to Blumentritt as “He is a fine fellow, A Father
Damaso without pride and malice”. • Despujol could not approve the Filipino immigration
to Borneo, alleging that “the Philippines lackedlaborers”
• November 20, 1891 - Rizal arrived in Hong Kong. and “it was not very patriotic to go off and cultivate foreign
soil.”
• Rizal established his residence at No. 5 D’ Aguilar
Street No. 2 Rednaxola Terrace, where he also opened WRITINGS IN HONG KONG
his medical clinic.
• “Ang Mga Karapatan Nang Tao - which is a Tagalog
• December 1, 1891 - Rizal wrote his parents asking their translation of “The Rights of Man” proclaimed by the French
permission to return home. O n t h e s a m e d a t e , h i s Revolution in 1789.
brother-in-law, Manuel T. Hidalgo, sent him
a l e t t e r r e l a t i n g t h e s a d n e w s o f t h e “deportation • “A la Nacion Española” (To the Spanish Nation) - Rizal
of twenty-five persons from Calamba, including father, wrote in 1891, which is an appeal to Spain to right the wrongs
Neneng, Sisa, Lucia, Paciano and the rest of us.” done to the Calamba tenants.

• The Christmas of 1891 in Hong Kong was one of the happiest • “Sa Mga Kababayan” (To my Countrymen) -
Yuletide celebrations in Rizal’s life: For he had a happy family another proclamation written in December, 189
reunion. 1 explaining the Calamba agrarian situation.

• January 31, 1892 - Rizal wrote to Blumentritt, recounting  The Hong Kong Telegraph - a British daily
pleasant life in Hong Kong. newspaper whose editor is Mr. Frazier Smith, a friend
of Rizal-Rizal contributed articles to this newspaper.
• To earn a living for himself and for his family, Rizal practiced
medicine. • “Una Visita a la Victoria Gaol” (A Visit to Victoria Gaol) -
Rizal wrote on March 2, 1892, an account of his visit to the
• Dr. Lorenzo P. Marques - a Portuguese physician, who colonial prison of Hong Kong. In this article, Rizal contrasted the
became Rizal’s friend and admirer, who helped him to build up a cruel Spanish prison system with the modern and more humane
wide clientele. In recognition of Rizal’s skill as an ophthalmic British prison system.
surgeon, he turned over to him many of his eye cases.
• “Colonisation du British North Borneo, par de
• Rizal successfully operated on his mother’s left eye so that she Familles de Iles Philippines” (Colonization
was able to read and write again. of British North Borneo by Families from the
Philippine Islands)
BORNEO COLONIZATION PROJECT
An article in French which Rizal elaborated on
• Rizal planned to move the landless Filipino families to North the same idea in another article in Spanish, “Proyecto de
Borneo (Sabah), rich British-owned island and carve out of its Colonizacion del British NorthBorneo por los Filipinos” (Project of
virgin wildness a “New Calamba”. the Colonization of British North Borneo by the Filipinos).

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 21
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• “La Mano Roja” (The Red Hand) - Rizal wrote in June, 1892, ARRIVAL IN MANILA WITH SISTER
which was printed in sheet form in HongKong. It denounces the
frequent outbreaks of intentional fires in Manila. • June 26, 1892 - Sunday at 12:00 noon, Rizal and his widowed
sister Lucia (wife of late Mariano Herbosa) arrived in Manila.
• Constitution of La Liga Filipina - the most
important writing made by Rizal during his Hong Kong • In the afternoon, at 4:00 o’clock, he went to
sojourn, which was printed in Hong Kong, 1892, to deceive the Malacañang Palace to seek audience with the Spanish
Spanish authorities, the printed copies carried the false governor general, General Eulogio Despujol, Conde de Caspe.
information that the printing was done by the LONDON PRINTING
PRESS. • June 27, 1892 - at 6:00pm, Rizal boarded a train in
Tutuban Station and visited his friends in Malolos
• Domingo Franco - a friend of Rizal in Manila whom the copies (Bulacan), San Fernando (Pampanga), Tarlac (Tarlac), and
of the printed Liga constitution were sent. Bacolor (Pampanga).

DECISION TO RETURN TO MANILA • Rizal returned by train to Manila on the next day, June 28, at 5
o’clock in the afternoon.
• May, 1892 - Rizal made up his mind to return to Manila.
FOUNDING OF THE LIGA FILIPINA
• This decision was spurred by the following:
• July 3, 1892 - on the evening of Sunday, following his morning
(1) to confer with Governor Despujol regarding his Borneo interview with Governor General Despujol, Rizal attended a
colonization project; meeting with patriots at the home of the Chinese-Filipino mestizo,
(2) to establish the La Liga Filipina in Manila; and Doroteo Ongjunco, on Ylaya Street, Tondo, Manila.
(3) to prove that Eduardo de Lete was w r o n g i n a t t a c k i n g
him in Madrid that he (Rizal), being • Rizal explained the objectives of the Liga Filipina, a civic league
comfortable and safe in Hong Kong, of Filipinos, which he desired to establish and its role in the
h a d abandoned the country’s cause. socio-economic life of the people.

• Lete’s attack, which was printed in La Solidaridad on • The officers of the new league were elected, as follows:
April 15, 1892, portrayed Rizal as cowardly, egoistic, Ambrosio Salvador (President); Deodato Arellano (Secretary);
opportunistic—a patriot in words only. Bonifacio Arevalo (Treasurer); and Agustin de la Rosa (Fiscal).

• June 20, 1892 - Rizal wrote two letters which • Unus Instar Omnium (One Like All) - the motto of the Liga
he sealed, inscribed on each envelope “to be opened Filipina.
after my death” and gave them to his friend Dr. Marques for
safekeeping. • The governing body of the league was the Supreme
Council which had jurisdiction over the whole country.
•T h e f i r s t l e t t e r , a d d r e s s e d T O M Y P A R E It was composed of a president,
NTS, BRETHREN, AND FRIENDS. The sec a secretary, a treasurer, and a fiscal. There
o n d l e t t e r , addressed TO THE FILIPINOS. was a Provincial Council in every province and a Popular
Council in every town.
• June 21, 1892 - Rizal penned another letter in Hong Kong
for Governor Despujol, incidentally his third letter to that • The duties of the Liga members are as follows:
discourteous Spanish chief executive.
(1) obey the orders of the Supreme Council;
•I m m e d i a t e l y a f t e r R i z a l ’ s departure from (2) to help in recruiting new members;
Hong Kong, the (3) to keep in strictest secrecy the decisions of the Liga
Spanish consul general who issued the authorities;
government guarantee of safety, sent a cablegram to Governor (4) to have symbolic name which he cannot change until
Despujol that the victim “is in the trap”. On the same day (June he becomes president of his council;
21, 1892), a secret case was filed in Manila against Rizal and his (5) to report to the fiscal anything that he may hear which
followers “for anti-religious and anti-patriotic agitation”. affect the Liga;
(6) to behave well as befits a good Filipino;
• Luis de la Torre - secretary of Despujol, ordered to find out if (7) to help fellow members in all ways.
Rizal was naturalized as a German citizen.
RIZAL ARRESTED AND JAILED IN FORT SANTIAGO
SECOND HOMECOMING AND THE LIGA FILIPINA
• J u l y 6 , 1 8 9 2 - Wednesday, Rizal went to
Rizal’s bold return to Manila in June, 1892 was his Malacañang Palace to resume his series of interviews
second homecoming-Rizal firmly believed that the fight for with governor general.
Filipino liberties had assumed a new phase: it must be fought in
the Philippines not in Spain. “The battlefield is in the • Pobres Frailles (Poor Friars) - incriminatory leaflets which
Philippines,” he told countrymen in Europe, “There is where allegedly found in Lucia’s pillow cases; it is under the authorship
we should meet…There we will help one another, there of Fr. Jacinto and printed by the Imprenta de los Amigos del Pais,
together we will suffer or triumph perhaps.” Manila.

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 22
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

• Rizal was placed under arrest and escorted to Fort

Santiago by Ramon Despujol, nephew and aide • In all his letters to Father Pastells, Rizal revealed his anti-
of Governor General Despujol. Catholic ideas which he had acquired in Europe and
embitterment at his persecution by the bad friars.
• J u l y 7 , 1 8 9 2 - the Gaceta de Manila published • According to Rizal, individual judgment is a gift from
the story of Rizal’s arrest which produced indignant God and everybody should use it like a lantern to show
commotion among the Filipino people, particularly the members the way and that self-esteem, if moderated by judgment, saves
of the newly organized Liga Filipina man from unworthy acts.

• The same issue of the Gaceta (july 7, 1892) • Imitacion de Cristo (Imitation of Christ) - a famous
contained Governor General Despujol’s decree Catholic book by Father Thomas a Kempis which
deporting Rizal to “one of the islands in the South”. Father Pastells gave to Rizal.

• July 14, 1892, shortly after midnight (that is 12:30 • Mr. Juan Lardet - a businessman, a French acquaintance in
am of July 15, 1892) – Rizal was brought under heavy Dapitan, Rizal challenge in a duel, this man purchased many logs
guard to the steamer Cebu which was sailing from the lands of Rizal.
for Dapitan. This steamer under Captain Delgras
departed at 1:00 AM, July 15, sailing south, • Antonio Miranda - a Dapitan merchant and friend of Rizal.
passing Mindoro and Panay and reaching
D a p i t a n o n Sunday, the 17th of July at 7:00 in the evening. • Father Jose Vilaclara - cura of Dipolog.

• Captain Ricardo Carnicero - Spanish commandant of • Pablo Mercado - friar’s spy and posing as a relative,
Dapitan whom Captain Delgras handed Rizal. secretly visited Rizal at his house on the night
of November 3, 1891; he introduced himself as a friend
• July 17, 1892- July 31, 2896 - Rizal began his exile in lonely and relative, showing a photo of Rizal and a pair of
Dapitan, a period of four (4) years. buttons with the initials “P.M.” (Pablo Mercado) as
evidence of his kinship with the Rizal family.
EXILE IN DAPITAN (1892-1896)
• Captain Juan Sitges - who succeeded Captain
Rizal lived in exile far-away Dapitan, Carnicero on May 4, 1893 as commandant of Dapitan,
a remote town in Mindanao which was under the Rizal denounced to him the impostor.
missionary jurisdiction of the Jesuits, from 1892 to 1896.
Rizal practiced medicine, pursued scientific studies, continued • Florencio Namanan - the real name of “Pablo Mercado”, a
his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge native of Cagayan de Misamis, single and about 30 years old. He
of languages, established a school for boys, promoted was hired by the Recollect friars to a secret mission in Dapitan; to
developments projects, invented a wooden machine introduce himself to Rizal as a friend and relative, to spy on
for making bricks, and engaged in farming and commerce. Rizal’s activities, and to filch certain letters and writings of Rizal
which might incriminate him in the revolutionary movement.
BEGINNING OF EXILE IN DAPITAN
• As physician in Dapitan
• The steamer Cebu which brought Rizal to Dapitan carried a
letter from Father Pablo Pastells, Superior of the Jesuit Society in Rizal practiced Medicine in Dapitan. He had many
the Philippine, to Father Antonio Obach, Jesuit parish priest patients, but most of them were poor so that he even gave them
of Dapitan. free medicine.-As a physician, Rizal
became interested in local medicine and in the use
• Rizal lived in the house of the commandant, Captain Carnicero. of medicinal plants. He studied the medicinal plants of the
Philippines and their curative values.
• A Don Ricardo Carnicero - Rizal wrote a poem on
August 26, 1892, on the occasion of the captain’s • August 1893 - Rizal’s mother and sister, Maria, arrived in
birthday. Dapitan and lived with him for one year and a half. Rizal operated
on his mother’s right eye.
• September 21, 18792 - the mail boat Butuan was approaching
the town, with colored pennants flying in the sea breezes. • Rizal held the title of expert surveyor (perito agrimensor),
which obtained from the Ateneo. In Dapitan, Rizal applied his
• Butuan - the mail boat, brought the happy tidings that knowledge of engineering by constructing a system of
the Lottery Ticket No. 9736 jointly owned by Captain waterworks in order to furnish clean water to the townspeople.
Carcinero, Dr. Jose Rizal, and Francisco Equilior
(Spanish resident of Dipolog, a neighboring town • Mr. H.F. Cameron - an American engineer who praised Rizal’s
of Dapitan) won the second prize of P20,000 in the government- engineering.
owned Manila Lottery.
COMMUNITY PROJECTS FOR DAPITAN
• Rizal’s winning in the Manila Lottery reveals an aspect of his
lighter side. He never drank hard liquor and never smoked but he • When Rizal arrived in Dapitan, he decided to improve
was a lottery addict—this was his only vice. it, to the best of his God-given talents and to awaken
• During his exile in Dapitan, Rizal had a long and scholarly the civic consciousness of its people:
debate with Father Pastells on religion.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 23
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

(1) Constructing the town’s first water system; their primitive system of tillage and adopt the modern agricultural
(2) Draining the marshes in order to get rid of malaria that methods.
infested Dapitan;
(3) Equip the town with its lighting system—this • Rizal as Businessman
lighting system consisted of coconut oil lamps placed
in the dark streets of Dapitan; and Rizal engaged in business in partnership with
(4) Beautification of Dapitan—remodeled the town plaza in order Ramon Carreon, a Dapitan merchant, he made profitable
to enhance its beauty. business ventures in fishing, copra, and hemp industries
• Rizal as Teacher
 January 19, 1893 - Rizal wrote a letter to Hidalgo expressing
Rizal exile to Dapitan gives him the opportunity to put his plan to improve the fishing industry of Dapitan. The most
into practice his educational ideas. In 1893 he established a profitable business venture of Rizal in Dapitan was in the hemp
school which existed until the end of his exile in July, 1896. Rizal industry. May 14, 1893-Rizal formed a business partnership with
taught these boys reading, writing, languages (Spanish and Ramon Carreon in lime manufacturing.
English), geography, history, mathematics (arithmetic and
geometry), industrial work, nature study, morals and  J a n u a r y 1 , 1 8 9 5 – Rizal organized Association of
gymnastics. He trained them how to collect specimens Dapitan Framers to break the Chinese monopoly on business in
of plants and animals, to love work and to “behave like men”. Dapitan.

• Hymn to Talisay (Himno A Talisay) - Rizal wrote this poem in • Rizal’s Inventive Ability - Rizal invented a cigarette
honor of Talisay for his pupils to sing. lighter which he sent as a gift to Blumentritt. He called
it “sulpukan”. This unique cigarette lighter was made of wood.
• Contributions to Science “Its mechanism”, said Rizal “is based on the principle of
compressed air.” During his exile in Dapitan, he invited a
During his fouryear exile in Dapitan, wooden machine for making bricks.
R i z a l b u i l t u p a r i c h c o l l e c t i o n o f concology
which consisted of 346 shells representing 203 species. Rizal • My Retreat (Mi Retiro) - Rizal wrote this beautiful poem about
also conducted anthropological, ethnographical, his serene life as an exile in Dapitan and sent it to her mother
archaeological, geological, and geographical studies, on October 22, 1895, which acclaimed by literary
as revealed by his voluminous correspondence with his critics as one of the best ever penned by Rizal.
scientists friends in Europe.
RIZAL AND THE KATIPUNAN
• Linguistic Studies
• Andres Bonifacio
In Dapitan, he learned the Bisayan, Subanum,
and Malay languages. He wrote The “Great Plebeian”, sowing the
Tagalog grammar, made a comparative study seeds of an armed uprising—the
of the Bisayan and Malayan s e c r e t revolutionary society, called Katipunan, which he
languages and studied Bisayan (Cebuan), and founded on July 7, 1892.
Subanum languages. By this time, Rizal could rank with the
world’s great linguists. He knew 22 languages - Tagalog, Ilokano, • May 2, 1896 - a secret meeting of the Katipunan at a little
Bisayan, Subanun, Spanish, Latin, Greek, English, river called Bitukang Manok near the town of Pasig, Dr. Pio
French, German, Arabic, Malay, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Valenzuela was named emissary to Dapitan, in order
Dutch, Catalan, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, to inform Rizal of the plan of the Katipunan to launch a
Swedish, and Russian. revolution for freedom’s sake.

• Artistic works in Dapitan • June 15, 1896 - Valenzuela left Manila on board the steamer
Venus.
Rizal continued his artistic pursuits in
Dapitan. Rizal made sketches of persons and things that • To camouflage Valenzuela’s real mission, he brought with him a
attracted him in Dapitan. blind man Raymundo Mata and a guide, ostensibly going to
Dapitan to solicit Rizal’s expert medical advice.
 The Mother’s Revenge - a statuette made by Rizal
representing the mother-dog killing the crocodile, by way • June 21, 1896 - evening, Dr. Pio Valenzuela arrived in Dapitan.
of avenging her lost puppy-Other sculptural works of Rizal in
Dapitan were a bust of Father Guerrico (one of his Ateneo • Rizal objected to Bonifacio’s audacious project to plunge the
professors), a statue of a girl called “the Dapitan Girl”, a country in bloody revolution because he was of sincere belief that
woodcarving of Josephine Bracken (his wife) and a bust of St. it was premature, for two reasons:
Paul which he gave to Father Pastells.
(1) the people are not ready for a revolution; and
• Rizal as Farmer (2) arms and funds must first be collected before raising the cry
of revolution.
In Dapitan, Rizal devoted much of his time to
agriculture. Rizal introduced modern methods of • Rizal had offered his services as military doctor in Cuba, which
agriculture which he had observed in Europe and was then in the throes of a revolution and a ranging yellow
America. He encouraged the Dapitan farmers to discard fever epidemic. There was a shortage of physicians to
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 24
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

minister to the needs of the Spanish troops and the d i a r y , “I did two operations of strabotomy, one
Cubans people. operation on the ears and another of tumor.”

• December 17, 1895 - Rizal wrote to Governor General Ramon • In the morning of Monday, August 3, 1896, Rizal
Blanco, Despujol’s successor, offering his services as military left Cebu going to Iloilo. Rizal landed at Iloilo, went
doctor in Cuba. shopping in the city and visited Molo. From Iloilo,
Rizal’s ship sailed to Capiz. After a brief stopover, it
• July 30, 1896 - Rizal received the letter from Governor General proceeded towards Manila via Romblon.
Blanco dated July 1, 1896 notifying him of acceptance of his
offer. • August 6, 1896 - morning of Thursday, the España arrived in
Manila Bay.
• “The Song of the Traveler” (El Canto del Viajero) -Rizal
wrote this heart-warming poem because of his joy in receiving • Rizal was not able to catch the mail ship Isla de Luzon for Spain
the gladsome news from Malacañang. because it had departed the previous day at 5:00 P. M.

• July 31, 1896 - Rizal’s four-year exile in Dapitan came to an • Near midnight of the same day, August 6, Rizal was transferred
end-Midnight of that date, Rizal embarked on board the steamer to the Spanish cruiser Castilla, by order of Governor General
España. Ramon Blanco. He was given good accommodation by the
gallant captain, Enrique Santalo.
• As farewell music, the town brass band strangely played the
dolorous Funeral March of Chopin. Rizal must have felt it • August 6 to September 2, 1896, Rizal stayed on the
deeply, for with his presentment of death, it seemed an cruiser pending the availability of Spain-bound
obsequy or a regimen. steamer.

• Rizal wrote in his diary, “I have been in that district four OUTBREAK OF PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION
years, thirteen days and a few hours”.
•August 19, 1896 - the Katipunan plot to overthrow Spanish rule
LAST TRIP ABROAD (1896) by means of revolution was discovered by Fray Mariano Gil,
Augustinian cura of Tondo.
No longer an exile, Rizal had a pleasant trip from
Dapitan to Manila, with delightful stopovers in Dumaguete, Cebu, • August 26, 1896 – the “Cry of Balintawak” which raised
Iloilo, Capiz and Romblon. by Bonifacio and his valiant Katipuneros.

• Isla de Luzon -a regular steamer that Rizal missed • August 30, 1896 - sunrise, the revolutionists led by Bonifacio
which sailed to Spain the day before he arrived in and Jacinto attacked San Juan, near the city of Manila-in the
Manila Bay. afternoon, after the Battle of San Juan, Governor General Blanco
proclaimed a state of war in the first eight provinces for rising in
• Castilla - a Spanish cruiser wherein Rizal was kept as a “guest” arms against Spain—Manila (as a province), Bulacan, Cavite,
on board. Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.

 August 26, 1896 – Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan raised • Rizal learned of the eruption of the revolution and raging battles
the cry of revolution in the hills of Balintawak, a few miles north of around Manila through the newspapers he read on the
Manila. Castilla. He was worried for two reasons:

• September 3, 1896 - Rizal left for Spain on the steamer Isla de (1) the violent revolution which he sincerely believed
Panay. to be premature and would only cause much suffering
and terrible loss of human lives and property had started;
• July 31, 1896 - Rizal left Dapitan at midnight on board the and
España sailed northward. (2) it would arouse Spanish vengeance against all Filipino
patriots.
• August 1, 1896 - at dawn of Saturday, it anchored at
Dumaguete, capital of Negros Oriental. • August 30, 1896 - Rizal received from
Governor General Blanco two letters of introduction
 “Dumaguete” - wrote Rizal in his travel diary “spreads for the Minister of War and Minister of Colonies, which a
out on the beach. There are big houses, some with covering letter which absolved him from all blame for the raging
galvanized iron roofing. Outstanding are the house of revolution.
a lady, whose name I have forgotten, which is
occupied by the government and another one just begun with • September 2, 1896 - the day before Rizal departure for Spain,
many ipil post.” Rizal, on board the Castilla, wrote to his mother -At 6:00pm,
Rizal was transferred to the steamer Isla de Panay which was
• Herrero Regidor - Rizal friend and former classmate, who was sailing for Barcelona, Spain.
the judge of the province, Dumaguete.
• The next morning, September 3, this steamer left Manila Bay.
• The España left Dumaguete about 1:00pm and reached Cebu
the following morning “In Cebu, R i z a l w r o t e i n h i s • The Isla de Panay arrived at Singapore in the evening of
September 7.
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 25
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

the supreme test, which might mean the sacrifice of his life, but
 Don Pedro Roxas – rich Manila creole industrialist and Rizal’s he was unafraid. The trial that was held shortly after Rizal’s
friend that advised him to stay on Singapore and take advantage homecoming was one of history’s mockeries of justice
of the protection of the British law.
A MARTYR’S LAST HOMECOMING
•Don Manuel Camus - headed several Filipino residents in
Singapore, boarded the steamer, urging Rizalto stay in • October 6, 1896 - Tuesday, Rizal leaved Barcelona,
Singapore to save his life. Rizal conscientiously recorded the events on his diary.

• The Isla de Panay, with Rizal on board, left Singapore at • October 8, 1896 - a friendly officer told Rizal that
1:00pm, September 8. the Madrid newspaper were full of stories about the
bloody revolution in the Philippines and were blaming him for it.
• September 25, 1896 - Rizal saw the steamer Isla de
Luzon, leaving the Suez Canal, crammed with Spanish • October 11, 1896 - before reaching Port Said, Rizal’s diary was
troops. taken away and was critically scrutinized by the authorities.

• September 27, 1896 - Rizal heard from the passengers that a • November 2, 1896 -the diary was returned to Rizal.
telegram arrived from Manila reporting the execution of Francisco
Roxas, Genato and Osorio. • Attorney Hugh- Fort-an English lawyer in Singapore-his friends
(Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor and Sixto Lopez) dispatched frantic
• September 28, 1986 - a day after the steamer had left telegrams to Fort to rescue Rizal from the Spanish steamer when
Port Said (Mediterranean terminus of the Suez Canal), it reached Singapore by means of writ of habeas corpus.
a passenger told Rizal the bad news that he would be
arrested by order of Governor General Blanco and would •Chief Justice Loinel Cox - denied the writ on the ground that
be sent to prison in Ceuta (Spanish Morocco), opposite Gibraltar. the Colon was carrying Spanish troops to the Philippines.

• September 29, 1896 - Rizal wrote in his travel diary: • November 3, 1896 - the Colon reached Manila, where it was
There are people on board who do nothing but slander greeted with wild rejoicings by the Spaniards and friars because
me and invent fanciful stories about me. I’m going to become a it brought more reinforcements and military supplies.
legendary personage.
• November 20, 1896 - the preliminary investigation on Rizal
• September 30, 1896 - at 4:00 P. M., Rizal was officially notified began.
by Captain Alemany that he should stay in his cabin until further
orders from Manila-about 6:25 P. M., the steamer anchored at • Colonel Francisco Olive -the judge advocate.
Malta. Being confined to his cabin, Rizal was not able to visit the
famous island-fortress of the Christian crusaders.  Two (2) kinds of evidence were presented against Rizal,
namely documentary and testimonial. The documentary evidence
• October 3, 1896 - at 10:00 A. M., the Isla de Panay arrived in consisted of fifteen (15) exhibits, as follows:
Barcelona, with Rizal, a prisoner on board.
(1) A letter of Antonio Luna to Mariano Ponce, dated Madrid,
• The trip from Manila to Barcelona lasted exactly thirty (30) days. October 16, 1888, showing Rizal’s connection with the Filipino
Rizal was kept under heavy guard in his cabin for three (3) days. reform campaign in Spain;

• General Eulogio Despujol - military commander of Barcelona (2) A letter of Rizal to his family, dated Madrid,
who ordered his banishment to Dapitan in July, 1892. August 20, 1890, stating that the deportations are
good for they will encourage the people to hate tyranny;
• October 6, 1896 - at 3:00 A. M., Rizal was awakened by the
guards and escorted to the grim and infamous prison-fortress (3) A letter from Marcelo H. del Pilar to Deodato
named Monjuich. Arellano, dated Madrid, January 7, 1889, implicating
Rizal in the Propaganda campaign in Spain;
• About 2:00 in the afternoon, Rizal was taken out of prison
by the guards and brought to the headquarters of General (4) A poem entitled Kundiman, allegedly written by Rizal in
Despujol. Manila on September 12, 1891;

• Colon - a transport ship back to Manila. (5) A letter of Carlos Oliver to an unidentified person dated
Barcelona, September 18, 1891, describing Rizal as the man to
• Rizal was taken aboard the Colon, which was “full of soldiers free the Philippines from Spanish oppression;
and officers and their families.”
(6) A Masonic document, dated Manila, February 9, 1892,
• October 6, 1896 - at 8:00 P. M., the ship left Barcelona with honoring Rizal for his patriotic services;
Rizal on board.
(7) A letter signed Dimasalang (Rizal’s pseudonym) to Tenluz
LAST HOMECOMING AND TRIAL (Juan Zulueta’s pseudonym), dated Hong Kong, May 24, 1892,
stating that he was preparing a safe refuge for Filipinos who may
Rizal’s homecoming in 1896, the last in his life, was his be persecuted by the Spanish authorities;
saddest return to his beloved native land. He knew he was facing
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 26
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

(8) A letter of Dimasalang to an unidentified • Don Luis Taviel de Andrade- 1st Lieutenant of the Artillery,
committee, dated Hong Kong, June 1, 1892, soliciting chosen by Rizal to defend him and brother of Lt. Jose Taviel de
the aid of the committee in the “patriotic work”; Andrade, Rizal’s “bodyguard” in Calamba in 1887.

(9) An anonymous and undated letter to the Editor of the Hong • December 11, 1896 - the information of charges was
Kong Telegraph, censuring the banishment of Rizal to Dapitan; formally read to Rizal in his prison cell, with his
counsel present.
(10) A letter of Idefonso Laurel to Rizal, dated Manila, September
3, 1892, saying that the Filipino people look up to him(Rizal) as • Rizal was accused of being “the principal organizer and the
their savior; living soul of the Filipino insurrection, the founder of
societies, periodicals, and books dedicated to fomenting
(11) A letter of Ildefonso Laurel to Rizal, dated Manila, and propagating ideas of rebellion.”
September 17, 1893, informing an unidentified correspondent
of the arrest and banishment of Doroteo Cortes and Ambrosio • December 13, 1896 - Dominguez forwarded the papers of the
Salvador; Rizal case to Malacañang Palace.

(12) A letter of Marcelo H. del Pilar to Don Juan A. Tenluz (Juan • December 15, 1896 - R i z a l w r o t e t h e Manifesto
Zulueta), dated Madrid, June 1, 1893 recommending the to His People in his prison cell at Fort Santiago,
establishment of a special organization, independent of Masonry, appealing to them to stop the necessary shedding of
to help the cause of the Filipino people; blood and to achieve their liberties by means
of education and industry.
(13) Transcript of a speech of Pingkian (Emilio
Jacinto), in reunion of the Katipunan on July 23, 1893, • December 25, 1896 - a dark and cheerless
in which the following cry was, uttered “Long Live the Christmas for Rizal, his last on earth, was the saddest
Philippines! Long live Doctor Rizal! Unity!”; in Rizal’s life.

(14) Transcript of a speech of Tik-Tik (Jose Turiano Santiago) in • December 26, 1896 - at 8:00am, the court-martial of Rizal
the same Katipunan reunion, where in the katipuneros shouted: started in the military building called Cuartel de España.
“Long live the eminent Doctor Rizal! Death to the oppressor
nation!” and • Lt. Col. Togores Arjona - considered the trial over and ordered
the hall cleared. After a short deliberation, the military court
(15) A poem by Laong Laan (Rizal), entitled A Talisay in which unanimously voted for the sentence of death.
the author makes the Dapitan schoolboys sing that they know
how to fight their rights  December 28, 1896 - Polavieja approved the decision of the
• The testimonial evidence consisted of the oral testimonies of court-martial and ordered Rizal to be shot at7:00 in the morning
Martin Constantino, Aguedo del Rosario, Jose Reyes, Moises of December 30 at Bagumbayan Field (Luneta).
Salvador, Jose Dizon, Domingo Franco, Deodato
Arellano, Ambrosio Salvador, Pedro Serrano Laktaw, Dr. MARTYRDOM AT BAGUMBAYAN
Pio Valenzuela, Antonio Salazar, Francisco Quison, and Timoteo
Paez. After the court-martial, Rizal returned to his cell in Fort
Santiago to prepare his rendezvous with destiny-During his last
• November 26, 1896 - after the preliminary investigation, 24 hours on earth—from 6:00 A. M. December 29 to 6:00 A. M
Colonel Olive transmitted the records of the case to Governor December 30, 1896. Rizal was busy meeting visitors.
Dominguez as special Judge Advocate to institute the
corresponding action against Rizal. • Santiago Mataix - Spanish newspaper correspondent.

• After studying the papers, Judge advocate General, • Pearl of the Orient Sea - Rizal called the Philippines.
Don Nicolas de la Peña, submitted the following
recommendations: • Pearl of the Orient - Rizal’s last poem in an article entitled
“Unfortunate Philippines” published in The Hong Kong
(1) the accused be immediately brought to trial; Telegraph on September 24, 1892.
(2) he should be kept in prison;
(3) an order of attachment be issued against his property to the LAST HOURS OF RIZAL
amount of one million pesos as indemnity; and
(4) he should be defended in court by an army officer, not by a DECEMBER 29, 1896
civilian lawyer.
• 6:00 A. M. - Captain Rafael Dominguez, who was
• The only right given to Rizal by the Spanish authorities was to designated by Governor General Camilo Polavieja to
choose his defense counsel. take charge of all arrangements for the execution of the
condemned prisoner, read the death sentence to Rizal—to be
• December 8, 1896 - Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, shot at the back on December 30,1896 by a firing squad at 7:00
a list of 100 first and second lieutenants in the Spanish Army was am in Bagumbayan (Luneta).
presented to Rizal.
• 7:00 A. M. - Rizal was moved to the prison chapel,
where he spent his last moments. His first visitors

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 27
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

were Father Miguel Saderra Mata (Rector of Ateneo Father Balaguer to Rizal for signature, but the hero rejected it
Municipal), and Father Luis Viza, Jesuit teacher. because it was too long and he did not like it.

• 7:15 A. M. - Rizal, in a jovial mood, reminded Fr. Viza of the DECEMBER 30, 1896
statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which he had carved with
his pen knife as an Ateneo student. Fr. Viza, got the • 3:00 A. M. - Rizal heard Mass, confessed his sins, and took
statuette from his pocket and gave it to Rizal. The Holy Communion
hero happily received it and placed it on his writing table.
• 5:30 A. M. - Rizal took his last breakfast on earth. After this, he
• 8:00 A. M. - Fr. Antonio Rosell arrived to relieve wrote two letters, the first addressed to his family and the second
Father Viza. Rizal invited him to join him at breakfast, to his older brother Paciano.
which he did. After breakfast, Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade
(Rizal’s defense counsel) came, and Rizal thanked him for his Josephine Bracken, accompanied by a sister of Rizal
gallant services. (Josefa), arrived. Josephine, with tears in her eyes, bade him
farewell. Rizal embraced her for the last time and before she left,
• 9:00 A. M. - Fr. Federico Faura arrived. Rizal reminded him that Rizal gave her a last gift - a religious book, Imitation of Christ by
he said that (Rizal) would someday lose his head for writing the Father Thomas a Kempis.
Noli. “Father”, Rizal remarked, “You are indeed a prophet.”
• 6:00 A. M. - As the soldiers were getting ready for the
• 10:00 A. M. - Father Jose Vilaclara (Rizal’s teacher at the death march to Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his last
Ateneo) and Vicente Balaguer (Jesuit missionary in Dapitan who letter to his beloved parents.
had befriended Rizal during the latter’s exile) visited the hero.
After them came Spanish journalist, Santiago Mataix, who • About 6:30 A. M. - a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago,
interviewed Rizal for his newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid. a signal to begin the death march to Bagumbayan, the
designated place for the execution. Rizal was dressed elegantly
• 12:00 Noon to 3:30 P. M. - Rizal was left alone in his cell. He in black suit, black derby hat, black shoes, white shirt and black
took lunch after which he was busy writing. It was probably tie. His arms were tied behind from elbow to elbow. But the rope
during this time when he finished his farewell poem and hid it was quite loose to give his arms freedom of movement.
inside his alcohol cooking stove which was given to him as a gift
by Paz Pardo de Tavera (wife of Juan Luna) during his visit to • Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo - a Spanish military physician, asked
Paris in 1890. At the same time, he wrote his last letter to Rizal permission to feel his pulse and was amazed to find it
Professor Blumentritt in German. normal showing that Rizal was not afraid to die.

• 3:30 P. M. - Father Balaguer returned to Fort Santiago and • 7:03am - Rizal died in the bloom of manhood - aged 35 years,
discussed with Rizal about his retraction of the anti-Catholic five months and 11 days.
ideas in his writings and membership in Masonry.
• Immediately after Rizal’s execution the Spanish
• 4:00 P. M. - Rizal’s mother arrived. Rizal knelt down spectators shouted “Viva España!” “Muerte a
before her and kissed her hands, begging her to losTraidores’ (“Long Live Spain! “Death to the
forgive him. Trinidad e n t e r e d t h e c e l l t o f e t c h h e r Traitors!”) and the Spanish Military Band, joining
mother. As they were leaving, Rizal gave the jubilance over Rizal’s death, played the gay Marcha de
to Trinidad the alcohol cooking stove Cadiz.
whispering to her in English; “There is something
inside” This “something” was Rizal’s farewell poem. • Mi Ultimo Adios (Last Farewell) - f a r e w e l l p o e m
After the departure of Doña Teodora and Trinidad, Fathers of Rizal that originally was without title and
Vilaclara and Estanislao March entered the cell, followed by w a s unsigned.
Father Rosell.
• Father Mariano Dacanay - a Filipino priest-patriot, who gave
• 6:00 P. M. - Rizal received a new visitor, Don Silvino the title Ultimo Adios (Last Farewell) and under such title the
Lopez Tuñon, the Dean of the Manila Cathedral. poem was published for the first time in La Independencia
Fathers Balaguer and March left, leaving Vilaclara with Rizal (General Antonio Luna’s newspaper) on September 25, 1898.
and Don Silvino.
• By Rizal’s writings, which awakened Filipino nationalism and
• 8:00 P. M. - Rizal had his last supper. He informed Captain paved the way for the Philippine Revolution, he proved that “pen
Dominguez who was with him that he forgave his enemies, is mightier than the sword”
including the military judges who condemned him to death.
ROMANCES OF RIZAL
• 9:30 P. M. - Rizal was visited by Don Gaspar Cestaño,
the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of Manila. As a First romance—“that painful experience which
gracious host, Rizal offered him the best chair in the cell. comes to nearly all adolescents”
After a pleasant conversation, the fiscal left with a good
impression of Rizal’s intelligence and noble character. • Julia -from Dampalit, Los Baños, Laguna

• 10:00 P. M. - The draft of the retraction sent by the anti-Filipino • Segunda Katigbak
Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda (1890-1903) was submitted by

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 28
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

Rizal first romance that was then sixteen years old, a Before Rizal romance with Consuelo could blossom into
pretty fourteen-year old Batangueña from Lipa. In Rizal’s own a serious affair, he suddenly backed out for two reasons:
words: “She was rather short, with eyes that were eloquent
and ardent at times and languid at others, rosy-cheeked, (1) he was still engaged to Leonor Rivera; and
with an enchanting and provocative smile that revealed very (2) his friends and co-worker in the Propaganda Movement,
beautiful teeth and the air of a sylph; her entire self-diffused Eduardo de Lete, was madly in love with Consuelo and he
a mysterious charm.” had no wish to break their friendship because of a pretty girl.

She was the sister of Rizal’s friend, Mariano Katigbak, • Seiko Usui
close friend of Rizal’s sister Olimpia, was a boarding student in
La Concordia College, engaged to be married to her town mate, Rizal affectionately called her O-Sei-San. A pretty Japanese girl
Manuel Luz. The love of Rizal and Segunda was indeed “a that Rizal saw walking past the legation gate. Rizal was attracted
Love at first sight”. The last time they talked to each by her regal loveliness and charm-a lonely samurai’s daughter of
other was one Thursday in December, 1877 when the 23 years old and had never yet experienced the ecstasy of true
Christmas vacation was about to begin. Rizal returned love. Rizal saw in her the qualities of his ideal womanhood—
home, dazed and desolate, with his first romance “ruined by his beauty, charm, modesty and intelligence. The beautiful romance
own shyness and reserve.” between Rizal and O-Sei-San inevitably came to a dolorous
ending. Sacrificing his personal happiness, Rizal had to carry on
• Miss L (Jacinta Ibardo Laza) his libertarian mission in Europe, leaving behind the lovely O-Sei-
San married Mr. Alfred Charlton, a British teacher of chemistry,
A young woman in Calamba. Rizal described her as and was blessed by only one child—Yuriko-died on May 1, 1947
“fair with seductive and attractive eyes.” After visiting her at the age of 80.
in her house several times, Rizal suddenly stopped
his wooing, and the romance died a natural death. • Gertrude Beckett

Rizal gave two reasons for his change of heart namely: Oldest of the three Beckett sisters-called Gettie or
Tottie by her friends-a buxom English girl with brown hair, blue
(1) the sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh in his heart; and eyes, and rosy cheeks. Rizal affectionately called her “Gettie”, in
(2) his father did not like the family of “Miss L”. reciprocation; she fondly called him “Pettie”. Rizal suddenly
realized that he could not marry Gettie for he had a mission to
• Leonor Valenzuela fulfill in life.

During Rizal sophomore year at the University of Santo • Petite Suzanne Jacoby
Tomas, he boarded in the house of Doña Concha Leyva in
Intramuros wherein the next-door neighbors of Doña Concha Pretty niece of his landladies. Rizal found certain bliss
were Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela, charming in the company of this pretty Belgian girl. Rizal might flirted with
daughter of Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela from Petite Suzanne, but he could not stoop low to a deceptive
Pagsanjan, Laguna, a tall girl with a regal bearing-Rizal sent her amorous relationship, she fell in love with Rizal and cried when
love notes written in invisible ink - consisted of common table salt Rizal left toward the end of July, 1890 for Madrid, stopping for a
and water—the secret of reading any note written in the invisible few days in Paris.
ink by heating it over a candle or lamp so that the words may
appear . Orang was her pet name. Rizal stopped short of • Nellie Boustead
proposing marriage to Orang.
The prettier and younger daughter of Eduardo
• Leonor Rivera Boustead. Rizal found her to be a real Filipina, highly intelligent,
vivacious in temperament, and morally upright, also called Nelly.
Rizal’s cousin from Camiling, Tarlac. In 1879, at the Rizal wrote to his intimate friends, except Professor Blumentritt,
start of his junior year at the university, Rizal lived in “Casa of his love for Nellie and his intention to propose marriage to her.
Tomasina” at No. 6 Calle Santo Tomas, Intramuros owned by his Rizal’s marriage proposal failed for two reasons:
uncle Antonio Rivera. A student at La Concordia College, where
Soledad, youngest sister, was then studying-born in Camiling, (1) he refused to give up his Catholic faith and be
Tarlac on April 11, 1867. She was a frail, pretty girl “tender as a converted to Protestantism, as Nelly demanded; and
budding flower with kindly, wistful eyes.” (2) Nelly’s mother did not like Rizal as a son-in-law.
In her letters to Rizal, she signed her name as
“Taimis” in order to camouflage their intimate relationship from • Josephine Bracken
their parents and friends-died on August 28, 1893
An Irish girl of sweet eighteen, “slender, a chestnut
• Consuelo Ortiga y Perez blond, with blue eyes, dressed with elegant simplicity, with
an atmosphere of light gayety.” Born in Hong Kong on
A young woman in Madrid-prettier of Don Pablo Ortiga October 3, 1876 of Irish parents—James Bracken, a
y Rey’s daughters. Rizal was attracted by Consuelo’s beauty and corporal in the British garrison and Elizabeth Jane
vivacity. Rizal composed a lovely poem on August 22, Macbride, she was adopted by Mr. George Taufer, who later
1883 dedicated to her, entitled A La Señorita became blind*Rizal and Josephine fell in love with each other at
C.O.y.P (to Miss C.O.y.P) expressing his admirations for her. first sight. After a whirlwind romance for one month, they agreed

Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.

Chair, Social Sciences Department 29
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus
 Life, Works and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal

to marry but Father Obach, the priest of Dapitan, refused to determination and constant practice, Rizal came to play flute
marry them without the permission of the Bishop of Cebu. fairly well. He was a flutist in various impromptu reunions of
Filipinos in Paris.
Since no priest would marry them, Rizal and Josephine
held hands together and married themselves before the eyes of RIZAL AS HISTORIAN
God. They lived as man and wife in Dapitan.
Rizal’s research studies in the British Museum
Rizal wrote a poem for Josephine. In the early part of (London) and in Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris) enriched his
1896, Rizal was extremely happy because Josephine was historical knowledge. His splendid annotations to Morga’s
expecting a baby. Unfortunately, Rizal played a prank on her, book showed his familiarity with the basic principles
frightening her so that she prematurely gave birth to an eight- of historiography. As Rizal once told Isabelo de los Reyes: “A
month baby boy who lived only for three (3) hours. historian ought to be rigorously imparted… I never assert
anything on my own authority. I cite texts and when I do, I
The lost son of Rizal was named “Francisco” in honor have them before me.” His knowledge of foreign languages
of Don Francisco (hero’s father) and was buried in Dapitan. enabled Rizal to read historical documents and books in
languages in which they were originally written.
RIZAL AS BOY MAGICIAN

Since early manhood Rizal had been interested in

magic. With his dexterous hands, he learned vicarious tricks,
such as making a coin appear or disappear in his fingers
and making handkerchief vanish in thin air. He entertained his
town folks with magic-lantern exhibitions. He also gained skill
in manipulating marionettes (puppet shows). In later years when
he attained manhood, he continued his keen predilection for
magic. He read many books on magic and attended the
performances of the famous magicians in the world. In Chapter
XVII and XVIII of his second novel, El Filibusterismo (Treason),
he revealed his wide knowledge of magic.

RIZAL AS LOVER OF BOOKS

A favorite pastime of Rizal in Madrid was reading.

Instead of gambling and flirting with women, as many young
Filipino did in Spanish metropolis, he stayed at home and read
voraciously until midnight. Since early childhood, he liked to
read-Rizal economized on his living expenses, and with the
money he saved, he purchased books form a second-hand
bookstore owned by certain Señor Roses. He was able to build
a fair-sized private library-Rizal was deeply affected by
Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene
Sue’s The Wandering Jew. These books aroused his
sympathy for the oppressed and unfortunate people.

RIZAL AS A MASON

In Spain, Rizal came in close contact with

prominent Spanish liberal and republican Spaniards,
who were mostly Mason. R i z a l w a s i m p r e s s e d b y
the way the Spanish
Masons openly and freely criticized the govern
- m e n t p o l i c i e s a n d lambasted the friars, which could not
be done in Philippines-Rizal’s reason for becoming a mason was
to secure Freemasonry’s aid in his fight against the friars in the
Philippines. Since the friars used the Catholic religion as a shield
to entrench themselves in power and wealth and to persecute the
Filipino patriots, he intended to utilize Freemasonry as his shield
to combat them. As a mason, Rizal played a lukewarm role in
Freemasonry.

RIZAL AS MUSICIAN

Rizal had no natural aptitude for music, and this he

admitted. But he studied music because many of his
schoolmates at the Ateneo were taking music lessons. By sheer
Clarence D. Verceles, Ph. D.
Chair, Social Sciences Department 30
Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus