Rizal at 11 years old

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Introduction

José Rizal

(full name: José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda) (June 19, 1861 - December 30, 1896), was a Filipino polymath, nationalist and the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era and its eventual independence from Spain. He is considered a national hero and the anniversary of Rizal's death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day. Rizal's 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.

The seventh of eleven children born to a middle class family in the town of Calamba, Laguna, Rizal attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain where he studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. Rizal was a polyglot conversant in at least ten languages.He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These are social commentaries on the Philippines that formed the nucleus of literature that inspired dissent among peaceful reformists and spurred the militancy of armed revolutionaries against 333 years of Spanish rule.

As a political figure, Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan[6] led by Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. The general consensus among Rizal scholars, however, attributed his martyred death as the catalyst that precipitated the Philippine Revolution.

Family

José Rizal's parents were Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo, prosperous farmers who were granted lease of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. He was the seventh child of their eleven children (namely, Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olympia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepcion, Josephina, Trinidad and Soledad.)

Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co (Chinese: 柯仪南; Pinyin: Ke Yinan), a Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang, Quanzhou in the mid-17th century.[7] Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, a Sangley native of Luzon. To free his descendants from the anti-Chinese animosity of the Spanish authorities, Lam-co changed the family surname to the Spanish surname "Mercado" (market) to indicate their Chinese merchant roots. Their original application was for the name

"Ricial", apropos their main occupation of farming, which was arbitrarily denied. The name "Rizal" (originally Ricial, the green of young growth or green fields), was adopted by Jose to enable him to travel freely as the Mercados had gained notoriety by their son's intellectual prominence. From early childhood Rizal was already advancing unheard-of political ideas of freedom and individual rights which infuriated the authorities.

Aside from indigenous Filipino and Chinese ancestry, recent genealogical research has found that José had traces of Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. His maternal great-great-grandfather (Teodora's great-grandfather) was Eugenio Ursua, a descendant of Japanese settlers, who married a Filipina named Benigna (surname unknown). These two gave birth to Regina Ursua who married a Sangley mestizo from Pangasinán named Atty. Manuel de Quintos, Teodora's grandfather. Their daughter Brígida de Quintos married a Spanish mestizo named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, the father of Teodora. Austin Craig mentions Lacandula, Rajah of Tondo at the time of the Spanish incursion, also as an ancestor.

Education

Rizal’s first teacher was his mother, Teodora Alonso. As a tutor, Doña Teodora discovered that her son had a creative and in-depth talent for poetry so she encouraged him to write poems to reduce the monotony of memorizing the ABC’s and to stimulate her son’s imagination.

As Rizal grew older, his parents employed private tutors. His first private tutor was Maestro Celestino, followed by Maestro Lucas Padua and later, an old man named Leon Monroy. Monroy lived at the Rizal residence and instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, after 5 months of teaching, he passed away. After Monroy’s death, Rizal’s parents decided to send him to a private school in Biñan.

As a young lad, Jose had a very colourful imagination and a keen sense of observation. At the age of 7, he was able to travel with his father for the first time to Antipolo to fulfil the promise of a pilgrimage made by his mother at the time of his birth. They went aboard on a casco, a ponderous vessel commonly used in the Philippines. It was the first trip on the lake that Jose could recollect. They went to Manila and visited his sister Saturnina in Santa Ana, who was then a boarding student in Concordia College, Manila.

June 1869, on a Sunday afternoon, Jose left Calamba for Biñan. He was accompanied by Paciano, his eldest brother who acted as his second father. The two brothers rode on a carromata. Upon reaching their destination, they proceeded to their aunt’s house, where Jose was to lodge.

The next day, Paciano brought his younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. The school was in Cruz' home, a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the home of Rizal’s aunt.

Rizal succeeded in surpassing many of his older classmates. In his academic studies, he beat all the Biñan boys in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects. With his intellectual superiority, some of his classmates told lies to discredit him before the teacher’s eyes and as a result, the teacher had to castigate him.

Rizal’s life in Biñan was well regulated. He heard mass and studied his lessons diligently, drew sketches, and occasionally, his friends would invite him to play outside with other boys. He left Biñan after a year and a half on board a steamer, Talim.

In 1865, college began to function in the Philippines when the Jesuits returned. Jesuits were considered as the best educators in Spain, and perhaps in Europe. So they established an institution called the Ateneo de Municipal.

The Instruction of Jesuitical system was considered advanced. Their methods were less mechanical and rigid in discipline. Jesuits introduced physical culture as well as art cultivation, such as music, drawing, and painting. Agriculture, commerce, and mechanics were part of their vocational courses. Being a religious institution, Ateneo’s principal purpose was to mold character.

Rizal entered Ateneo de Municipal in 1872. He describe his first professor, Fr. Jose Bech as a “man of high stature; lean body, bent forward; quick gait; ascetic physiognomy, severe and inspired; small, sunken eyes; sharp Grecian nose; thin lips forming an arch with its sides directed toward the chin."

During his second year in Ateneo he had the same professor as in the previous year; but instead of lodging outside the City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes. At the end of the term, he received excellenct grades in all his subjects and was awarded a gold medal.

Rizal devoted most of his time to reading. He particularly admired Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, The Universal History byCesar Cantanu, and Travels in the Philippines by Dr. Feodor Jagor. Rizal also read romantic novels that helped him in enriching his creative views in writing.

June 1874, during his third year in Ateneo, his year opened with a surprise visit from her mother telling him that she was already released from prison. As a result, he became more motivated to study and remain at the top of his class.

Rizal wrote the poem Mi Primera Inspiracion a poem dedicated to his mother. In 1875, he wrote Felicitacion, El Embarque: Himno a la flota de Magallanes, Y Es Español: Elcano El Primero En Dar Vuelta Al Mundo, and El Combate : Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo. In 1876, Rizal wrote poems about religion, education and memories of his youth and war: Un Recuerdo a Mi Puebo, Alianza Intima Entre la Religion y Buena Educacion, Por La Educación Recibe Lustre La Patria, El Cautiverio y el Triunfo, and La Entrada Triunfal de los Reyes Catolices en Granada. During his last year in Ateneo de Municipal, Rizal did not restrain his writing spirit. He wrote more poems: El Heroismo de Colon, Colon y Juan II, Gran Consuelo en la Mayor Desdicha, and Un dialogo Alusivo a la Despidida delos Colegiales.

Having a small built, he tried to cope by attending his gymnastics class regularly in the college. He engaged himself to physical exercises, such as fencing. He also devoted time to painting and sculpture. His drawing and painting instructor was Don Augustin Saez. In sculpture, his instructor was a Filipino, Romualdo de Jesus.

He graduated as Sobresaliente or "Outstanding", the highest recognition in Ateneo.

After graduating, he continued his education at the University of Santo Tomas. He finished a year in Philosophy and Letters, then decided to shift to a medical course. During the year of his studies in University of Sto. Tomas which was under the Dominicans, rival of the Jesuits in education, he remained loyal to Ateneo. He continued to participate in extracurricular activities in Ateneo and he completed a course in surveying there as well. As a Thomasian, he won more literary laurels, had more romances with girls, and had more fights with Spanish students.

Don Francisco and Paciano both agreed that Rizal should pursue a higher learning but on the contrary, Dona Teodora did not want him to study further. She warned them with a premonition that too much knowledge would endanger Rizal's life. She adviced her husband, “Do not send Jose again to Manila. If he gets to know too much, they will cut off his head!”. But his mother's plea never stopped Rizal from continuing his education.

April 1877, Rizal who was just about 16 years old, matriculated in University of Sto. Tomas taking up Philosophy and Letters. He enrolled in this course for two reasons, first, his father wanted him to take the course, and second, he was still uncertain as to which career he would pursue. He asked for Fr. Pablo Ramon's advice about his career. During his first term in 1977 – 1978 in UST, he studied Cosmology, Metaphysics, Theodicy and History of Philosophy. It was during the school term 1978 - 1979 that Rizal pursued his studies in medicine.

Rizal had two main reasons why he studied medicine. First, he wanted to be a physician so that he could cure his mother’s failing eyesight. And second, Fr. Pablo Ramon, the Father Rector of Ateneo whom he consulted for a choice of career, finally answered his letter, and recommended medicine.

In 1878, he finished his vocational course in surveying in Ateneo, achieving the title of Perito agrimensor or Expert surveyor. With the Dominican professor’s hostile treatment, racial discrimination and and the obsolete and repressive methods of teaching, Rizal found the atmosphere in UST suffocating. After finishing his fourth year of his medical course, Rizal decided to study in Spain. He could no longer endure the discriminative and hostile community in the University of Sto. Tomas.

His departure for Spain was kept secret from Spanish authorities, friars and even to his parents especially to his mother because she would not allow him to go. In order to avoid detection from authorities, he used the name Jose Mercado, the name of his cousin in Calamba. On May 3, 1882 he boarded on Salvadora bound for Singapore where he was the only Filipino passenger. During his voyage, he played chess to kill his boredom and always came out victorious against his opponents. On May 9th, they landed on Singapore and registered to Hotel de la Paz and spent a couple of days going to places of interest. On November 3, 1882, he

enrolled in Universidad Central de Madrid taking up two courses: Philosophy and Letters and Medicine.

On June 21, 1884, he conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid. The following academic year, he studied and passed all subjects leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Unfortunately, he was not able to submit the thesis required for graduation nor paid the corresponding fees. With that, he was not awarded his Doctor’s Diploma.

Jose Rizal also finished his studies in Philosophy and Letters with higher grades. He was awarded the Degree of Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters by the Universidad Central de Madrid on June 19, 1885 with the rating of excellent.

In 1885, after studying at the Universidad Central de Madrid, Rizal, who was then 24 yrs old, went to Paris to acquire more knowledge in ophthalmology. He decided to visit his friend, Maximo Viola – a medical student and a member of a rich family in San Miguel, Bulacan who was currently in Barcelona. He stayed for a week and met new friends including Señor Eusebio Corominas – editor of La Publicidad, Don Miguel Morayta – owner of La Publicidad and a statesman. November of the same year, Rizal was living in Paris. He worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert, a leading French ophthalmologist.

On February 3, 1886, after gathering some experience in ophthalmology, he left Paris and went to Heidelberg, a historic city in Germany famous for its old universities and romantic surroundings. He became popular among the Germans because they found out that he was a good chess player. He worked at the University Eye Hospital under the direction of Dr. Otto Becker, a distinguished German ophthalmologist. On April 22, 1886, Rizal wrote a poem entitled A Las Flores de Heidelberg (To the Flowers of Heidelberg) because he was fascinated by the blooming flowers along the Neckar River, which was the light blue flower called “forget-me-not”.

Right after writing A Las Flores de Heidelberg, he spent a three-month summer vacation at Wilhelmsfeld where he stayed at the place of a Protestant pastor, Dr. Karl Ulmer. The pastor had a wife and two children named Etta and Fritz. On August 6, 1886, Rizal had witnessed the fifth centenary celebration of the famous University of Heidelberg. Three days after, he left the city. Riding a train, he traveled to other cities in Germany. On August 14, 1886, Rizal arrived in Leipzig. There, he attended some lectures at the University of Leipzig on history and psychology. He also befriended Prof. Friedrich Ratzel, a famous historian and Dr. Hans Meyer, a German anthropologist. Rizal found out that the cost of living in Leipzig was the cheapest in Europe so he stayed for 2 months and a half. On October 29, he went to Dresden, where he met Dr. Adolph B. Meyer, the director of the Anthropological and Ethnological Museum.

Rizal was enchanted by Berlin because of its scientific atmosphere and the absence of race prejudice. He met scientists like Dr. Feodor Jagor, the German scientist-traveller and author of Travels in the Philippines, Dr. Rudolf Virchow, the famous German anthropologist, Dr. W. Joest, a German geographer and Dr. Karl Ernest Schweigger, a famous German ophthalmologist.

Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: Left to Right: Rizal, del Pilar, and Ponce

There were five reasons why Rizal choose to reside in Germany longer. First, to gain further knowledge in ophthalmology. Second, to further his studies in science and languages. Another was to observe the economic and political conditions of the German nation. Fourth, to associate with famous German scientists and scholars and lastly, to publish his novel, Noli Me Tangere. In Berlin, Rizal worked as an assistant in the clinic of Dr. Schweigger'. At night, he attended lectures in the University of Berlin and took private lessons in French under Madame Lucie Cerdole.

Jose Rizal earned a Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, where he also took courses in philosophy and literature. It was in Madrid that he began writing Noli Me Tangere. He also attended classes in the University of Paris and, in 1887, he completed his eye specialization course at the University of Heidelberg. It was also in that year that Rizal’s first novel was published in Berlin.

Travel

He who knows the surface of the earth and the topography of a country only through the examination of maps..is like a man who learns the opera of Meyerbeer or Rossini by reading only reviews in the newspapers. The brush of landscape artists Lorrain, Ruysdael, or Calame can reproduce on canvas the sun's ray, the coolness of the heavens, the green of the fields, the majesty of the mountains...but what can never be stolen from Nature is that vivid impression that she alone can and knows how to impart--the music of the birds, the movement of the trees, the aroma peculiar to the place--the inexplicable something the traveller feels that cannot be defined and which seems to awaken in him distant memories of happy days, sorrows and joys gone by, never to return.--Rizal, "Los Viajes"

Rizal's life is one of the most documented of the 19th century due to the vast and extensive records written by and about him. Most everything in his short life is recorded somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and prolific letter writer, much of these materials having survived. His biographers, however, have faced the difficulty of translating his writings because of Rizal's habit of switching from one language to another. They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of a young Asian encountering the west for the first time. They included his later trips, home and back again to Europe through Japan and the United States, and, finally, through his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong. This period of his education and his frenetic pursuit of life included his recorded affections. Among them were Gertrude Becket of Chalcot Crescent (London), wealthy and high-minded Nelly Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last descendant of a noble Japanese family Usui Seiko, his earlier friendship with Segunda Katigbak and eight-year romantic relationship with his cousin, Leonor Rivera.

His European friends kept almost everything he gave them, including doodlings on pieces of paper. In the home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Perez, he left an impression that was to be remembered by his daughter, Consuelo. In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent there and regaled them with his wit, social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In London, during his research on Morga's writings, he became a regular guest in the home of Dr. Reinhold Rost of the British Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a man." The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved even buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes. They were ultimately bequeathed to the Rizal family to form a treasure-trove of memorabilia.

Writings of Rizal

José Rizal was a very prolific author from a young age. Among his earliest writings are El Consejo de los Dioses, A la juventud filipina, Canto del viajero, Canto de María Clara, Me piden versos, Por la educación, Junto al Pasig, etc. On his early writings he frequently depicted renowned Spanish explorers, kings and generals, and pictured Education (the Philippines enjoyed a free public system of education established by the Spaniards) as "the breath of life instilling charming virtue". He had even written of one of his Spanish teachers as having brought "the light of the eternal splendor".

While in Berlin, Rizal published an essay in French, Dimanche des Rameaux, mentioning the "entry [of Jesus into Jerusalem] decided the fate of the jealous priests, the Pharisees, of all those who believed themselves the only ones who had the right to speak in the name of God, of those who would not admit the truths said by others because they have not been said by them” and alluded to those in authorities in colonial countries. This made the German police suspect that he was a French spy.

The content of Rizal's writings changed considerably in his two most famous novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These writings angered both the Spaniards colonial elite and some of the hispanized Filipinos due to their insulting symbolism. They are highly critical of Spanish friars and the atrocities committed in the name of the Church. Rizal's friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austria-Hungary born professor and historian wrote that the novel's characters were drawn from real life and that every episode can be repeated on any day in the Philippines.[28] Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not dissuade him however from writing the preface of El filibusterismo after he had translated Noli me Tangere into German. Noli was published in Berlin (1887) and Fili in Ghent (1891) with funds borrowed largely from Rizal's friends. As Blumentritt had warned, these led to Rizal's prosecution as the inciter of revolution and eventually, to a military trial and execution. The intended consequence of teaching the natives where they stood brought about an adverse reaction, as the Philippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently thereafter.

As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, he contributed essays,allegories, poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La

The Triumph of Science over Death

Solidaridad in Barcelona(in this case Rizal used a pen name, Dimasalang). The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people.

He shared the same sentiments with members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a double-faced Goliath"--corrupt friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the following agenda:

That the Philippines be a province of Spain Representation in the Cortes Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars--Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans--in

parishes and remote sitios Freedom of assembly and speech Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs)

The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these reforms even if they were more openly endorsed by Spanish intellectuals like Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others.

Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous sculptural work was "The Triumph of Science over Death", a clay sculpture of a nude young woman standing on a skull bearing a torch upheld high. The woman symbolized the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages, while the torch she bore symbolized the enlightenment science brings over the whole world. He sent the sculpture to his dear friend Blumentritt, together with another one named "The Triumph of Death over Life".

The Triumph of Science over Death is a clay sculpture made by José Rizal as a gift to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt.

The statue is composed of a naked, young woman with overflowing hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch. The woman symbolizes the ignorance of humankind during the dark ages of history, while the torch she bears symbolizes the enlightenment science brings over the whole world. The woman is shown trampling at a skull, a symbol of death, to signify the victory the humankind achieved by conquering the bane of death through their scientific advancements.

The original sculpture is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort Santiago in Intramuros

Manila. A large replica, made of concrete, stands in front of Fernando Calderón Hall of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine along Pedro Gil St. in Ermita, Manila.

Love Life

There were at least nine women linked with Rizal; namely Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, Leonor Rivera, Consuelo Ortiga, O-Sei San, Gertrude Beckette, Nelly Boustead, Suzanne Jacoby and Josephine Bracken. These women might have been beguiled by his intelligence, charm and wit.

Segunda Katigbak and Leonor ValenzuelaSegunda Katigbak was her puppy love. Unfortunately, his first love was engaged to be married to a town mate- Manuel Luz. After his admiration for a short girl in the person of Segunda, then came Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl from Pagsanjan. Rizal send her love notes written in invisible ink, that could only be deciphered over the warmth of the lamp or candle. He visited her on the eve of his departure to Spain and bade her a last goodbye.

Leonor RiveraLeonor Rivera, his sweetheart for 11 years played the greatest influence in keeping him from falling in love with other women during his travel. Unfortunately, Leonor’s mother disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with Rizal, who was then a known filibustero. She hid from Leonor all letters sent to her sweetheart. Leonor believing that Rizal had already forgotten her, sadly consented her to marry the Englishman Henry Kipping, her mother’s choice.

Consuelo OrtigaConsuelo Ortiga y Rey, the prettier of Don Pablo Ortiga’s daughters, fell in love with him. He dedicated to her A la Senorita C.O. y R., which became one of his best poems. The Ortiga's residence in Madrid was frequented by Rizal and his compatriots. He probably fell in love with her and Consuelo apparently asked him for romantic verses. He suddenly backed out before the relationship turned into a serious romance, because he wanted to remain loyal to Leonor Rivera and he did not want to destroy hid friendship with Eduardo de Lete who was madly in love with Consuelo.

O Sei SanO Sei San, a Japanese samurai’s daughter taught Rizal the Japanese art of painting known as su-mie. She also helped Rizal improve his knowledge of Japanese language. If Rizal was a man without a patriotic mission, he would have married this lovely and intelligent woman and lived a stable and happy life with her in Japan because Spanish legation there offered him a lucrative job.

Gertrude BeckettWhile Rizal was in London annotating the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, he boarded in the house of the Beckett family, within walking distance of the British Museum. Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl was the oldest of the three Beckett daughters. She fell in love with Rizal. Tottie

helped him in his painting and sculpture. But Rizal suddenly left London for Paris to avoid Gertrude, who was seriously in love with him. Before leaving London, he was able to finish the group carving of the Beckett sisters. He gave the group carving to Gertrude as a sign of their brief relationship.

Nellie BousteadRizal having lost Leonor Rivera, entertained the thought of courting other ladies. While a guest of the Boustead family at their residence in the resort city of Biarritz, he had befriended the two pretty daughters of his host, Eduardo Boustead. Rizal used to fence with the sisters at the studio of Juan Luna. Antonio Luna, Juan’s brother and also a frequent visitor of the Bousteads, courted Nellie but she was deeply infatuated with Rizal. In a party held by Filipinos in Madrid, a drunken Antonio Luna uttered unsavory remarks against Nellie Boustead. This prompted Rizal to challenge Luna into a duel. Fortunately, Luna apologized to Rizal, thus averting tragedy for the compatriots.

Their love affair unfortunately did not end in marriage. It failed because Rizal refused to be converted to the Protestant faith, as Nellie demanded and Nellie’s mother did not like a physician without enough paying clientele to be a son-in-law. The lovers, however, parted as good friends when Rizal left Europe.

Suzanne JacobyIn 1890, Rizal moved to Brussels because of the high cost of living in Paris. In Brussels, he lived in the boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters. In time, they fell deeply in love with each other. Suzanne cried when Rizal left Brussels and wrote him when he was in Madrid.

Josephine BrackenIn the last days of February 1895, while still in Dapitan, Rizal met an 18-year old petite Irish girl, with bold blue eyes, brown hair and a happy disposition. She was Josephine Bracken, the adopted daughter of George Taufer from Hong Kong, who came to Dapitan to seek Rizal for eye treatment. Rizal was physically attracted to her. His loneliness and boredom must have taken the measure of him and what could be a better diversion that to fall in love again. But the Rizal sisters suspected Josephine as an agent of the friars and they considered her as a threat to Rizal’s security.

Rizal asked Josephine to marry him, but she was not yet ready to make a decision due to her responsibility to the blind Taufer. Since Taufer’s blindness was untreatable, he left for Hon Kong on March 1895. Josephine stayed with Rizal’s family in Manila. Upon her return to Dapitan, Rizal tried to arrange with Father Antonio Obach for their marriage. However, the priest wanted a retraction as a precondition before marrying them. Rizal upon the advice of his family and friends and with Josephine’s consent took her as his wife even without the Church blessings. Josephine later give birth prematurely to a stillborn baby, a result of some incidence, which might have shocked or frightened her.

Persecutions

Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had slighted Rizal by a reference to his parents and promptly apologized after being challenged to a duel. Aware that Rizal was a better swordsman, he issued an apology, became an admirer, and wrote Rizal's first European biography.[18] Memory as a ten-year old of his mother's treatment at the hands of the civil authorities, with the approval of the church authorities, hurt so much as to explain his reaction to Retana. The incident stemmed from an accusation that Rizal's mother, Teodora, tried to poison the wife of a cousin when she claimed she only intervened to help. Without a hearing she was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz in 1871, and made to walk the ten miles from Calamba. She was released after two and a half years of appeals to the highest court.[1]

After writing Noli me Tangere, among the numerous other poems, plays and tracts he had already written, he gained further notoriety with the Spaniards. Against the advice of relatives and friends, he came back to the Philippines to aid his family which was in dispute with the Dominican landlords. In 1887, he wrote a petition on behalf of the tenants of Calamba and later that year led them to speak out against friar attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans evicting them from their homes, including the Rizal family. Eventually, General Valeriano Weyler had the buildings on the farm torn down.In 1896 while Rizal was in prison in Fort Santiago, his brother Paciano was tortured by Spaniards trying to extract evidence of Jose's complicity in the revolution. Two officers took turns applying pins under Paciano's fingernails; with his hands bound behind him and raised several feet, he was dropped repeatedly until he lost consciousness.

Exile in Dapitan

Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported to Dapitan in the provinceof Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.[31] There he built a school, a hospital and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture. Abaca, then the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and his students planted in the thousands, was a memorial.

The boys' school, in which they learned English, considered a prescient if unusual option then, was conceived by Rizal and antedated Gordonstoun with its aims of inculcating resourcefulness and self sufficiency in young men. They would later enjoy successful lives as farmers and honest government officials. One, a Muslim, became a datu, and another, José Aseniero, who was with Rizal throughout the life of the school, became Governor of Zamboanga.

In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his return to the fold led by Fray Sánchez, his former professor, who failed in his mission. The task was resumed by Fray Pastells, a prominent member of the Order. In a letter to Pastells, Rizal sails close to the ecumenism familiar to us today.

– "We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God. How can I doubt his when I am convinced of mine. Who so recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for? Now then, my faith in God, if the result of a ratiocination may be called faith, is blind, blind in the sense of knowing nothing. I neither believe nor disbelieve the qualities which many attribute to him; before theologians' and philosophers' definitions and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable being I find myself smiling. Faced with the conviction of seeing myself confronting the supreme Problem, which confused voices seek to explain to me, I cannot but reply: 'It could be; but the God that I foreknow is far more grand, far more good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in revelation or revelations which each religion or religions claim to possess. Examining them impartially, comparing them and scrutinizing them, one cannot avoid discerning the human 'fingernail' and the stamp of the time in which they were written... No, let us not make God in our image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However, brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean of light. I believe in revelation, but in that living revelation which surrounds us on every side, in that voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment we are born until we die. What books can better reveal to us the goodness of God, his love, his providence, his eternity, his glory, his wisdom? 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork'.

Rizal's pencil sketch of Blumentritt

As a gift to his mother on her birth anniversary he wrote the other of his poems of maturity, "Mi Retiro," with a description of a calm night overlaid with a million stars. The poem, with its concept of a spontaneous creation and speaking of God as Plus Supra, is considered his accommodation of evolution.

...the breeze idly cools, the firmament glows,the waves tell in sighs to the docile windtimeless stories beneath the shroud of night.

Say that they tell of the world, the first dawnof the sun, the first kiss that his bosom inflamed,when thousands of beings surged out of nothing,and peopled the depths, and to the heights mounted,to wherever his fecund kiss was implanted.

His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in touch with European friends and fellow-scientists who wrote a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French, German and English and which baffled the censors, delaying their transmittal. Those four years of his exilecoincided with the development of the Philippine Revolution from inception and to its final breakout, which, from the viewpoint of the court which was to try him, suggested his complicity in it. He condemned the uprising, although all the members of the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and had used his name as a cry for war, unity, and liberty.

Near the end of his exile he met and courted the stepdaughter of a patient, an Irishwoman named Josephine Bracken. He was unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage because he would not return to Catholicism and was not known to be clearly against revolution. He nonetheless considered Josephine to be his wife and the only person mentioned in the poem, Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, my joy...

Last Days

By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had become a full-blown revolution, proving to be a nationwide uprising which eventually led to the Declaration of Independence and the inauguration the earliest constitutional republic in Asia. To dissociate himself from the rebellion, Rizal volunteered his services as a doctor in Cuba and was given leave by the Governor-General, Ramón Blanco, to serve in Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever. Blanco later was to present his sash and sword to the Rizal family as an apology. Rizal had predicted that the USA was going to be a "troublesome rival" if his prophecy that the "Great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific, will someday dream of possessing the Philippines" will ever come true. During his only visit to the United States in 1888, Rizal described the USA: “I visited the largest cities of America with their big buildings, electric lights, and magnificent conceptions. Undoubtedly America is a great country, but it still has many defects. There is no real civil liberty." He was quarantined in San Francisco's pier as a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act and witnessed the inequality experienced by African Americans and people of color. Rizal knew, that if ever the Philippines came under American rule racism will be a major concern. It was likewise important that for the revolution to succeed there must be a foreign ally that will provide the revolution (which he considered as a last resort) arms, food, ammunition and diplomacy. It is widely accepted by scholars that even prior to Rizal's banishment to Dapitan, he was already regarded by Filipinos as a national hero. José Rizal was elected honorary president by the Katipunan without his knowledge and his name would be used by the revolutionaries in their battlecry.

About two weeks before he left Dapitan, Rizal met Dr. Pio Valenzuela an emissary from the Katipunan, to whom Rizal expressed his doubts of an insufficiently armed revolution, as well

as questionable leadership . Rizal argued that the revolution cannot succeed until a leader knows the right time when to strike, sufficient arms can be assured, the pivotal support of middle class Filipinos had been won over, and a foreign ally is secured. José Rizal was alarmed that a revolution was already imminent-devoid of any assurances of victory, and that the leader wasAndres Bonifacio- whom he personally met as a member of La Liga Filipina. Rizal is a good reader of character, and had sensed thatBonifacio was not the right man to lead the revolution. Despite this drawback, Rizal gave his advice on how to improve their chances in winning the impending war; evidence that Rizal was supportive of a revolution, but not this particular one. José Rizal was right, for although Bonifacio was an effective organizer of the Katipunan he never bequeathed a single military victory to the Philippine Revolution.The Katipunan had to evolve into another more structured and organized liberation army. Had Rizal lived long enough, he would have seen the emergence of much more effective Filipino military leaders that could defeat the best Spanish generals-foremost of whom was Emilio Aguinaldo, whom Rizal never met; and was only only 27 years old in 1896. The general controversy about this incident is the misinterpretation that Rizal's refusal to give his support to Andres Bonifacio is a refusal to support the Philippine Revolution. El Filibusterismo was written to prepare Filipinos for the war that he foresaw was to come and his final poem was a blessing towards its triumphant manifestation.

Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba, imprisoned in Barcelona, and sent back to Manila to stand trial. He was implicated in the revolution through his association with members of the Katipunan. During the entire passage, he was unchained, no Spaniard laid a hand on him, and had many opportunities to escape but refused to do so. While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the current revolution in its present state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their achievement of a national identity were prerequisites to freedom; he was to be tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. Rizal was convicted on all three charges and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out of office, and the friars, led by then Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, had 'intercalated' Camilo de Polavieja in his stead, as the new Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines after pressuring Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus sealing Rizal's fate.

His poem, undated and believed to be written on the day before his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove and later handed to his family with his few remaining possessions, including the final letters and his last bequests. Within hearing of the Spanish guards he reminded his sisters in English, "There is something inside it," referring to the alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be returned after his execution, thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This instruction was followed by another, "Look in my shoes," in which another item was secreted. Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined, his burial not on sanctified ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in his shoes had disintegrated.

In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be treated...Love them greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."

In his final letter, to Blumentritt – Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience. Indeed, Rizal is perhaps the first revolutionary whose death is attributed entirely to his work as a writer; and through dissent and civil disobedience enabled him to successfully destroy Spain's moral ascendancy to rule. He also bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.' When Blumentritt received it in his hometown Litoměřice (Leitmeritz) he broke down and wept.

Execution

Moments before his execution by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot the executioners should they fail to obey orders. The Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.

He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground burials, and she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.

Philosophies in Life

PHILOSOPHY may be defined as the study and pursuit of facts which deal with the ultimate reality or

causes of things as they affect life.

The philosophy of a country like the Philippines is made up of the intricate and composite

interrelationship of the life histories of its people; in other word, the philosophy of our nation would be

strange and undefinable if we do not delve into the past tied up with the notable life experiences of the

representative personalities of our nation.

Being one of the prominent representatives of Filipino personalities, Jose Rizal is a fit subject whose life

philosophy deserves to be recognized.

Having been a victim of Spanish brutality early in his life in Calamba, Rizal had thus already formed

the nucleus of an unfavorable opinion of Castillian imperialistic administration of his country and

people.

Pitiful social conditions existed in the Philippines as late as three centuries after his conquest in Spain,

with agriculture, commerce, communications and education languishing under its most backward

state. It was because of this social malady that social evils like inferiority complex, cowardice, timidity

and false pride pervaded nationally and contributed to the decay of social life. This stimulated and

shaped Rizal’s life phylosophy to be to contain if not eliminate these social ills.

Educational Philosophy

Rizal’s concept of the importance of education is clearly enunciated in his work entitled Instruction

wherein he sought improvements in the schools and in the methods of teaching. He maintained that

the backwardness of his country during the Spanish ear was not due to the Filipinos’ indifference,

apathy or indolence as claimed by the rulers, but to the neglect of the Spanish authorities in the

islands. For Rizal, the mission of education is to elevate the country to the highest seat of glory and to

develop the people’s mentality. Since education is the foundation of society and a prerequisite for

social progress, Rizal claimed that only through education could the country be saved from

domination.

Rizal’s philosophy of education, therefore, centers on the provision of proper motivation in order to

bolster the great social forces that make education a success, to create in the youth an innate desire

to cultivate his intelligence and give him life eternal.

Religious Philosophy

Rizal grew up nurtured by a closely-knit Catholic family, was educated in the foremost Catholic schools

of the period in the elementary, secondary and college levels; logically, therefore, he should have been

a propagator of strictly Catholic traditions. However, in later life, he developed a life philosophy of a

different nature, a philosophy of a different Catholic practice intermingled with the use of Truth and

Reason.

Why the change?

It could have been the result of contemporary contact, companionship, observation, research and the

possession of an independent spirit.Being a critical observer, a profound thinker and a zealous

reformer, Rizal did not agree with the prevailing Christian propagation of the Faith by fire and sword.

This is shown in his Annotation of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.

Rizal did not believe in the Catholic dogma that salvation was only for Catholics and that outside

Christianity, salvation was not possible even if Catholics composed only a small minority of the world’s

religious groups. Nor did he believe in the Catholic observation of fasting as a sacrifice, nor in the sale

of such religious items as the cross, medals, rosaries and the like in order to propagate the Faith and

raise church funds. He also lambasted the superstitious beliefs propagated by the priests in the church

and in the schools. All of these and a lot more are evidences of Rizal’s religious philosophy.

Political Philosophy

In Rizal’s political view, a conquered country like the Philippines should not be taken advantage of but

rather should be developed, civilized, educated and trained in the science of self-government.

He bitterly assailed and criticized in publications the apparent backwardness of the Spanish ruler’s

method of governing the country which resulted in:

1. the bondage and slavery of the conquered ;

2. the Spanish government’s requirement of forced labor and force military service upon the n natives;

3. the abuse of power by means of exploitation;

4. the government ruling that any complaint against the authorities was criminal; and

5. Making the people ignorant, destitute and fanatic, thus discouraging the formation of a national

sentiment.

Rizal’s guiding political philosophy proved to be the study and application of reforms, the extension of

human rights, the training for self government and the arousing of spirit of discontent over oppression,

brutality, inhumanity, sensitiveness and self love.

Ethical Philosophy

The study of human behavior as to whether it is good or bad or whether it is right or wrong is that

science upon which Rizal’s ethical philosophy was based. The fact that the Philippines was under

Spanish domination during Rizal’s time led him to subordinate his philosophy to moral problems. This

trend was much more needed at that time because the Spaniards and the Filipinos had different and

sometimes conflicting morals. The moral status of the Philippines during this period was one with a

lack of freedom, one with predominance of foreign masters, one with an imposition of foreign religious

worship, devotion, homage and racial habits. This led to moral confusion among the people, what with

justice being stifled, limited or curtailed and the people not enjoying any individual rights.

To bolster his ethical philosophy, Dr. Rizal had recognized not only the forces of good and evil, but also

the tendencies towards good and evil. As a result, he made use of the practical method of appealing to

the better nature of the conquerors and of offering useful methods of solving the moral problems of

the conquered.

To support his ethical philosophy in life, Rizal:

1. censured the friars for abusing the advantage of their position as spiritual leaders and the ignorance

and fanaticism of the natives;

2. counseled the Filipinos not to resent a defect attributed to them but to accept same as reasonable

and just;

3. advised the masses that the object of marriage was the happiness and love of the couple and not

financial gain;

4. censured the priests who preached greed and wrong morality; and

5. advised every one that love and respect for parents must be strictly observed.

Social Philosophy

That body of knowledge relating to society including the wisdom which man's experience in society

has taught him is social philosophy. The facts dealt with are principles involved in nation building and

not individual social problems. The subject matter of this social philosophy covers the problems of the

whole race, with every problem having a distinct solution to bolster the people’s social knowledge.

Rizal’s social philosophy dealt with;

1. man in society;

2. influential factors in human life;

3. racial problems;

4. social constant;

5. social justice;

6. social ideal;

7. poverty and wealth;

8. reforms;

9. youth and greatness;

10. history and progress;

11. future Philippines.

The above dealt with man’s evolution and his environment, explaining for the most part human

behavior and capacities like his will to live; his desire to possess happiness; the change of his

mentality; the role of virtuous women in the guidance of great men; the need for elevating and

inspiring mission; the duties and dictates of man’s conscience; man’s need of practicing gratitude; the

necessity for consulting reliable people; his need for experience; his ability to deny; the importance of

deliberation; the voluntary offer of man’s abilities and possibilities; the ability to think, aspire and

strive to rise; and the proper use of hearth, brain and spirit-all of these combining to enhance the

intricacies, beauty and values of human nature. All of the above served as Rizal’s guide in his

continuous effort to make over his beloved Philippines.

Legacy

Rizal's advocacy of liberty through peaceful means rather than by violent revolution makes him Asia's first modern non-violent proponent of freedom. Forerunner of Gandhiand contemporary of Tagore and Sun Yat Sen, all four created a new climate of thought throughout

Asia, leading to the attrition of colonialism and the emergence of new Asiatic nations by the end of World War II.Rizal was active when European colonial power was growing, mostly motivated by trade, some for the purpose of bringing Western forms of government and education to peoples regarded as backward. Coinciding with the appearance of those other leaders, Rizal from an early age had been enunciating in poems, tracts and plays, ideas all his own of modern nationhood as a practical possibility in Asia. In the Noli he stated that if European civilization had nothing better to offer, colonialism in Asia was doomed. Such was recognized by Gandhi who regarded him as a forerunner in the cause of freedom. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his prison letters to his daughter Indira, acknowledged Rizal's significant contributions in the Asian freedom movement. These leaders regarded these contributions as keystones and acknowledged Rizal's role in the movement as foundation layer.

Rizal, through his reading of Morga and other western historians, knew of the genial image of Spain's early relations with his people. In his writings, he showed the disparity between the early colonialists and those of his day, with the latter's atrocities giving rise to Gomburza and the Philippine Revolution of 1896. His biographer, Austin Coates, and writer, Benedict Anderson, believe that Rizal gave the Philippine revolution a genuinely national character; and that Rizal's patriotism and his standing as one of Asia's first intellectuals have inspired others of the importance of a national identity to nation-building.

Although his field of action lay in politics, Rizal's real interests lay in the arts and sciences, in literature and in his profession as an ophthalmologist. Shortly after his death, the Anthropological Society of Berlin met to honor him with a reading of a German translation of his farewell poem and Dr. Rudolf Virchow delivering the eulogy.

The Taft Commission in June 1901 approved AcT 137 renaming the District of Morong into the Province of Rizal, and Act 346 authorizing a government subscription for the erection of a national monument in Rizal's honor. Republic Act 1425 was passed in 1956 by the Philippine legislature that would include in all high school and college curricula a course in the study of his life, works and writings. The wide acceptance of Rizal is partly evidenced by the countless towns, streets, and numerous parks in the Philippines named in his honor. Monuments in his honor were erected in Madrid, Wilhelmsfeld, Germany, Jinjiang, Fujian, China, Chicago,[79] Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey, Honolulu,[80] San Diego,[81] Seattle, U.S.A.,[82] Mexico City, Mexico, Lima, Peru, and Litomerice, Czech Republic, and Toronto, Ontario,and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Several titles were bestowed on him: "the First Filipino", "Greatest Man of the Brown Race," among others. The Order of the Knights of Rizal, a civic and patriotic organization, boasts of dozens of chapters all over the globe. There are some remote-area religious sects who claim him as a sublimation of Christ.

A two-sided marker bearing a painting of Rizal byFabian de la Rosa on one side and a bronze bust relief of him by Philippine artist Guillermo Tolentino stands at the Asian Civilisations Museum Green. This marks his visits to Singapore (1882, 1887, 1891,1896).

A Rizal bronze bust was erected at La Molina district, Lima, Peru, designed by Czech sculptor Hanstroff, mounted atop a pedestal base with 4 inaugural plaque markers with the following

inscription on one: “Dr. José P. Rizal, Héroe Nacional de Filipinas, Nacionalista, Reformador Political, Escritor, Lingüistica y Poeta, 1861–1896.”

Likewise, a monument in honor of Rizal is being planned in Rome. In the City of Philadelphia, the world-acclaimed 'City of Murals' the 1st Filipino mural in the US east coast honoring José Rizal will be unveiled to the public in time for Rizal's Sesquicentennial year-long celebration.