José Rizal

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José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines.

Date of birth: June 19, 1861

Place of birth: Calamba, Laguna, Philippines

Date of death: December 30, 1896 (aged 35)

Place of death: Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park),Manila, Philippines

Major La Solidaridad, La Liga Filipina

organizations:

Major Rizal Park, Manila

monuments:

Alma mater: Ateneo Municipal de Manila,University of Santo

Tomas,Universidad Central de Madrid,University of
Paris, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda[1] (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896, Bagumbayan),
was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippinesduring the
Spanish colonial era. He is considered a national hero of the Philippines,[2] and the anniversary of Rizal's death
is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day. Rizal's 1896 military trial andexecution made him
a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.
The seventh of eleven children born to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna, Rizal attended
theAteneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts. He enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters
at the University of Santo Tomas and then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies at
theUniversidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He attended the University of
Parisand earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. Rizal was a polyglot conversant in at least
ten languages.[3][4][5][6] He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous
works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo.[7] These are social commentaries on
thePhilippines that formed the nucleus of literature that inspired dissent among peaceful reformists and spurred
the militancy of armed revolutionaries against the Spanish colonial authorities.

As a political figure, Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave
birth to the Katipunan[8] led by Andrés Bonifacio and Emilio 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.

[edit]Family

Francisco Engracio Mercado II (1818–1898)

José Rizal's parents, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (1818–1898) [9] and Teodora Morales
Alonzo Realonda y Quintos (1826–1911),[9] were prosperous farmers who were granted lease of
a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Rizal was the seventh child of their eleven
children namely: Saturnina (Neneng) (1850–1913), Paciano (1851–1930), Narcisa (Sisa) (1852–1939),
Olympia (Ypia) (1855–1887), Lucia (1857–1919), María (Biang) (1859–1945), José Protasio (1861–1896),
Concepcion (1862–1865), Josefa (Panggoy) (1865–1945), Trinidad (1868–1951) and Soledad (Concha)(1870–
1929).

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.
[10]
 Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, aSangley native of Luzon. To free his descendants from
the Sinophobic animosity of the Spanish authorities, Lam-co changed the surname to the Spanish "Mercado"
(market) to indicate their Chinese merchant roots. In 1849, Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered all
native families in the Philippines to choose new surnames from a list of Spanish family names. José's father
Francisco[9]adopted the surname "Rizal" (originally Ricial, the green of young growth or green fields), which was
suggested to him by a provincial governor, or as José had described him, "a friend of the family". However, the
name change caused confusion in the business affairs of Francisco, most of which were begun under the old
name. After a few years, he settled on the name "Rizal Mercado" as a compromise, but usually just used the
original surname "Mercado". Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, José dropped the last three
names that make up his full name, at the advice of his brother, Paciano Rizal Mercado, and the Rizal Mercado
family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this, Rizal writes: "My family never paid much
attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an
illegitimate child!"[11] This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had
gained notoriety with his earlier links with native priests who were sentenced to death as subversives. From
early childhood, José and Paciano were already advancing unheard-of political ideas of freedom and individual
rights which infuriated the authorities.[12][13] Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal" soon distinguishes
himself in poetry writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign
languages, and later, in writing essays that are critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial
Philippine societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his sunset, this second surname had become so well
known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado
because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family
name..."[11] José became the focal point by which the family became known, at least from the point of view of
colonial authorities.

Aside from 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). They
gave birth to Regina Ursua who married a Tagalog Sangley mestizo from Pangasinán named Manuel de
Quintos, Teodora's grandfather. Their daughter Brígida de Quintos married a Spanish mestizo named Lorenzo
Alberto Alonso, the father of Teodora. Austin Craig mentions Lakandula, Rajah of Tondo at the time of the
Spanish incursion, as an ancestor.

[edit]Education

Rizal as a student at the University of Santo Tomas.

Rizal first studied under the tutelage of Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna. He was sent to Manila and
enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He graduated as one of the nine students in his class
declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain
a land surveyor and assessor's degree, and at the same time at theUniversity of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts
and Letters where he studied Philosophy and Letters. Upon learning that his mother was going blind, he
decided to study medicine specializing in ophthalmology at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine
and Surgery but did not complete the program claiming discrimination made by the Spanish Dominican friars
against the native students.[14]
Rizal, 11 years old, a student at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled alone
to Europe: Madrid in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned
the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. His education continued at the University of Paris and the University of
Heidelberg where he earned a second doctorate. In Berlin he was inducted as a member of the Berlin
Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the
famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow. Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April 1887 before
the anthropological society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language. He left Heidelberg a
poem, "A las flores del Heidelberg," which was both an evocation and a prayer for the welfare of his native land
and the unification of common values between East and West.

At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization under the renowned professor,
Otto Becker. There he used the newly invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von Helmholtz) to later
operate on his own mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: “I spend half of the day in the study
of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a week, I go to the bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to
speak German with my student friends.” He lived in a Karlstraße boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz.
There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with them in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few
chapters of "Noli Me Tangere".

A plaque marks the Heidelberg building where he trained with Professor Becker, while in Wilhemsfeld, a
smaller version of the Rizal Park with his bronze statue stands and the street where he lived was also renamed
after him. A sandstone fountain in Pastor Ullmer’s house garden where Rizal lived in Wilhelmsfeld, stands.[15]

Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Meyer, as "stupendous."[16]
[17]
 Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master various skills and subjects.[3][4]
[16]
 He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter,educator, farmer, historian, playwright and journalist.
Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise,
in architecture,cartography, economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial
arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in
Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884. [18]

[edit]Rizal's romantic attachments

Business Card shows Dr. Jose Rizal is an Ophthalmologist in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Government erected a plaque beside Dr. Jose Rizal residence in Hong Kong

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.[19] Most everything in his short life is recorded somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and
prolific letter writer, much of these material 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 toEurope through Japan and the United States, and, finally, through his
self-imposed exile in Hong Kong. DuringDecember, 1891 to June, 1892, Dr. José Rizal lived with
his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace, 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong Kong island,
this house was also used as his ophthalmologist clinic from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.. This period of his education and
his frenetic pursuit of life included his recorded affections. Historians write of Rizal's "dozen women", even if
only nine were identified. They 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 first
cousin, Leonor Rivera. The others were: Leonor Valenzuela (Filipina), Consuelo Ortiga y Rey (Spanish),
Suzanna Jacoby (Belgian),and Josephine Bracken (Irish).

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 Pérez, 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 theBritish Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a man."[19]
[20]
 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.

In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he was preparing for the publication of his annotations of Antonio
de Morga’s “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.” There, he lived in the boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters,
Catherina and Suzanna who had a niece also named Suzanna ("Thill"), 16. Historian Gregorio F. Zaide states
that Rizal had “his romance with Suzanne Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his landladies.” Belgian Pros
Slachmuylders, however, believed that Rizal had a romance with the niece, Suzanna Thill, in 1890. Rizal's
Brussels' stay was short-lived, as he moved to Madrid, leaving the young Suzanna a box of chocolates.
Suzanne replied in French: “After your departure, I did not take the chocolate. The box is still intact as on the
day of your parting. Don’t delay too long writing us because I wear out the soles of my shoes for running to the
mailbox to see if there is a letter from you. There will never be any home in which you are so loved as in that in
Brussels, so, you little bad boy, hurry up and come back…” (Oct. 1, 1890 letter). Slachmuylders’ group in 2007
unveiled a historical marker commemorating Rizal’s stay in Brusells in 1890. [21]

[edit]Writings of Rizal

Rizal was a very prolific author since young age. Among his earliest writings are El Canto 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".

The content of his writings change considerably on José Rizal's most famous two 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 first critic was Ferdinand Blumentritt, a Czech professor and
historian whose first reaction was of misgiving. 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.

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

As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, he contributed essays, allegories, poems,

andeditorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona. 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: [22]

 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 remotesitios
  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.

[edit]Other works

The Triumph of Science over Death

Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous sculpture work is "The Triumph of Science
over Death", a clay sculpture composed of a naked, young woman 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. He sent the sculpture to his dear friend
Blumentritt, together with another one named "The Triumph of Death over Life".

[edit]Persecutions

Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic movement called La Liga Filipina. The league advocated
these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was disbanded by the governor. At that time, he had
already been declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish authorities because of the publication of his novel.

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. [23] The painful memories of his
mother's treatment (when he was ten) at the hands of the civil authorities 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. With the approval of the Church prelates, and without a hearing, she
was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz in 1871. She was made to walk the ten miles (16 km) from Calamba. She
was released after two-and-a-half years of appeals to the highest court. [3]

In 1887 Rizal wrote a petition on behalf of the tenants of Calamba, and later that year led them to speak out
against the friars' attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans evicting
them from their homes, including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the buildings on the farm torn
down.

[edit]Exile in Dapitan
Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported to Dapitan in
the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.[24]There he built a school, a hospital and a water supply
system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture.[citation needed] Abaca, then the vital raw material for
cordage and which Rizal and his students planted in the thousands, was a memorial. [citation needed]

The boys' school, 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.[citation needed] They would later enjoy successful lives as farmers and honest government officials. [citation
needed]
 One, a Muslim, became a datu, and another, José Aseniero, who was with Rizal throughout the life of the
school, became Governor ofZamboanga.[citation needed]

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. [25]

"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'." [19]

Bust in clay, by Rizal

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.[citation needed] The poem, with its concept of a spontaneous
creation and speaking of God as Plus Supra, is considered his accommodation of evolution. [citation needed]

...the breeze idly cools, the firmament glows,

the waves tell in sighs to the docile wind
timeless stories beneath the shroud of night.

Say that they tell of the world, the first dawn

of 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.[26]

Rizal's pencil sketch of Blumentritt

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.[19] 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. [27]

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. [citation needed] He nonetheless considered Josephine to be his wife
and the only person mentioned in the poem, Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, my joy... [28]

[edit]Last days

Main article:  Philippine Revolution

By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had become a full-blown revolution,
proving to be a nationwide uprising and leading to the first proclamation of a democratic republic in Asia. To
dissociate himself, Rizal volunteered 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.
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. Rizal argued that the revolution cannot
succeed until sufficient arms can be assured and the support of the wealthy Filipinos had been won over. [3]

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 revolution 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 had
intercalated Camilo de Polavieja in his stead, 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. [3]

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."[19]

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.[19] He had to reassure him that he had not turned revolutionary as he
once considered being, and that he shared his ideals to the very end. 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.

[edit]Execution

A photographic record of Rizal's execution in what was thenBagumbayan.

Moments before his execution by a firing squad of native infantry of the Spanish Army, backed by an insurance
force of Spanish troops, the Spanish surgeon general requested to take his pulse; it was normal. Aware of this,
the Spanish sergeant in charge of the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising '¡vivas!'
with the partisan crowd. His last words were those ofJesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.[4][29][30]

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, she made a gift to the caretaker to
mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.

Rizal's tomb in Paco Park (formerly Paco Cemetery).

A national monument

Main article:  Rizal Park

A monument, with his remains, now stands near the place where he fell, designed by the Swiss Richard
Kissling of the famed William Tell sculpture.[31] The statue carries the inscription "I want to show to those who
deprive people the right to love of country, that when we know how to sacrifice ourselves for our duties and
convictions, death does not matter if one dies for those one loves – for his country and for others dear to
him."[19]

[edit]Aftermath

[edit]Retraction controversy
There is controversy on whether Rizal actually wrote a document of retraction which stated: "I retract with all
my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and conduct have been contrary to my character as a
son of the Catholic Church."[32] That his burial was not on holy ground led to doubts about his retraction. Then
there is no certificate of Rizal's marriage to Josephine Bracken. [33] Anti-retractionists also point to "Adiós": "I go
where there are no slaves, no hangmen or oppressors, where faith does not kill," which they refer to the
Catholic religion.[34] Also there is an allegation that the retraction document was a forgery. [35] After analyzing 6
major documents of Rizal, Ricardo Pascual concluded that the retraction document, said to have been
discovered in 1935, was not in Rizal's handwriting. Senator Rafael Palma, a former President of the University
of the Philippines and a prominent Mason, argued that a retraction is not in keeping with Rizal's character and
mature beliefs.[36] He called the retraction story a "pious fraud." [37] Others who deny the retraction are Frank
Laubach,[4] a Protestant minister, Austin Coates,[29] a British writer, and Ricardo Manapat, director of the
National Archives.[38]

On the other side of the debate are Catholic church leaders, and historians such as Austin Craig,[3] Gregorio
Zaide,[39] Ambeth Ocampo,[38] Nick Joaquin,[40] andNicolas Zafra of UP.[41] They state that the retraction
document was deemed authentic by Rizal expert, Teodoro Kalaw (a 33rd degree Mason) and "handwriting
experts...known and recognized in our courts of justice," H. Otley Beyer and Dr. José I. Del Rosario, both of
UP.[41] They also refer to the 11 eyewitnesses present when Rizal wrote his retraction, signed a Catholic prayer
book, and recited Catholic prayers, and the multitude who saw him kiss the crucifix before his execution. A
great grand nephew of Rizal, Fr. Marciano Guzman, cites that Rizal's 4 confessions were certified by 5
eyewitnesses, 10 qualified witnesses, 7 newspapers, and 12 historians and writers including Aglipayan
bishops, Masons and anti-clericals.[42] One witness was the head of the Spanish Supreme Court at the time of
his notarized declaration and was highly esteemed by Rizal for his integrity. [43] Because of what he sees as the
strength these direct evidence have in the light of thehistorical method, in contrast with merely circumstantial
evidence, UP professor emeritus of history Nicolas Zafra called the retraction "a plain unadorned fact of
history."[41] Fr. Guzman attributes the denial of retraction to "the blatant disbelief and stubbornness" of some
Masons.[42]

Supporters see in it Rizal's "moral courage...to recognize his mistakes," [39][44] his reversion to the "true faith,"
and thus his "unfading glory,"[43] and a return to the "ideals of his fathers" which brings his stature as a patriot to
the level of greatness.[45] On the other hand, senator Jose Diokno stated: "Surely whether Rizal died as a
Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts nothing from his greatness as a Filipino... Catholic or Mason, Rizal is
still Rizal: the hero who courted death 'to prove to those who deny our patriotism that we know how to die for
our duty and our beliefs'." [46]

[edit]"Mi último adiós"

Main article:  Mi último adiós

The poem is more aptly titled, "Adiós, Patria Adorada" (literally "Farewell, Beloved Fatherland"), by virtue of
logic and literary tradition, the words coming from the first line of the poem itself. It first appeared in print not in
Manila but in Hong Kong in 1897, when a copy of the poem and an accompanying photograph came to J. P.
Braga who decided to publish it in a monthly journal he edited. There was a delay when Braga, who greatly
admired Rizal, wanted a good job of the photograph and sent it to be engraved in London, a process taking
well over two months. It finally appeared under 'Mi último pensamiento,' a title he supplied and by which it was
known for a few years. Thus, when the Jesuit Balaguer's anonymous account of the retraction and the
marriage to Josephine was appearing in Barcelona, no word of the poem's existence reached him in time to
revise what he had written. His account was too elaborate that Rizal would have had no time to write "Adiós."

Six years after his death, when the Philippine Organic Act of 1902 was being debated in the United States
Congress, Representative Henry Cooper of Wisconsin rendered an English translation of Rizal's valedictory
poem capped by the peroration, "Under what clime or what skies has tyranny claimed a nobler victim?" [47] The
Americans, however, would not sign the bill into law until 1916 and did not grant full autonomy until 1946—fifty
years after Rizal's death.
[edit]Josephine Bracken
Josephine Bracken promptly joined the revolutionary forces in Cavite province, making her way through thicket
and mud, and helped operate a reloading jig forMauser cartridges at the arsenal at Imus. The short-lived
arsenal under the Revolutionary General Pantaleón García had been reloading spent cartridges again and
again and the reloading jig was in continuous use, but Imus was under threat of recapture that the operation
had to move, with Josephine, to Maragondon, the mountain redoubt in Cavite. She witnessed the Tejeros
Convention prior to returning to Manila and was summoned by the Governor-General, but owing to her
stepfather's American citizenship she could not be forcibly deported. She left voluntarily, returning to Hong
Kong. She later married another Filipino, Vicente Abad, a mestizo acting as agent for the Philippine firm of
Tabacalera. She died in Hong Kong in 1902, a pauper's death, buried in an unknown grave, and never knew
how a line of verse had rendered her immortal. [48]

[edit]Camilo de Polavieja
Polavieja faced condemnation by his countrymen after his return to Spain. While visiting Giron, in Cataluña,
circulars were distributed among the crowd bearing Rizal's last verses, his portrait, and the charge that
Polavieja was responsible for the loss of the Philippines to Spain.

[edit]Criticism

A photo engraving of the execution of Filipino Insurgents at Bagumbayan (now Luneta)

Attempts to debunk legends surrounding Rizal, and the tug of war between free thinker and Catholic, have
served to keep him a living issue. While some leaders, Gandhi for one, have been elevated to high pedestals
and even deified, Rizal has remained a controversial figure. In one recorded fall from grace he succumbed to
the temptation of a 'lady of the camellias.' The writer, Maximo Viola, a friend of Rizal's, was alluding to Dumas's
1848 novel, La dame aux camelias, about a man who fell in love with a courtesan. While the affair was on
record, there was no account in Viola's letter whether it was more than a one-night event and if it was more of a
business transaction than an amorous affair [49]

Others present him as a man of contradictions. Miguel de Unamuno in "Rizal: the Tagalog Hamlet", said of him,
"a soul that dreads the revolution although deep down desires it. He pivots between fear and hope, between
faith and despair."[50] His critics assert this character flaw is translated into his two novels where he opposes
violence in Noli and appears to advocate it in Fili, contrasting Ibarra's idealism to Simoun's cynicism. His
defenders insist this ambivalence is trounced when Simoun is struck down in the sequel's final chapters,
reaffirming the author's resolute stance, Pure and spotless must the victim be if the sacrifice is to be
acceptable.[51] In the same tenor, Rizal condemned the uprising when Bonifacio asked for his support.
Bonifacio, in turn, openly denounced him as a coward for his refusal. [52] Rizal believed that an armed struggle
for independence was premature and ill-conceived. Here Rizal is speaking through Father Florentino: ...our
liberty will (not) be secured at the sword's point...we must secure it by making ourselves worthy of it. And when
a people reaches that height God will provide a weapon, the idols will be shattered, tyranny will crumble like a
house of cards and liberty will shine out like the first dawn.[51]

The fact that Rizal never fought in the battlefield leads some to question his ranking as the nation's premier
hero, with a few who believe in the beatification ofBonifacio in his stead. In his defense, the historian, Rafael
Palma, contends that the revolution of Bonifacio is a consequence wrought by the writings of Rizal and that
although the Bonifacio's revolver produced an immediate outcome, the pen of Rizal generated a more lasting
achievement.[53]

[edit]Legacy

of a 1970 Philippine peso coin

Rizal's advocacy of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution makes him Asia's
first modern non-violent proponent of political reforms. Forerunner of Gandhi and contemporary
ofTagore 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's appearance on the
scene came at a time when European colonial power had been growing and spreading, 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.
[54]
 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, on the 2000 Philippine peso coin

Rizal, through his reading of Morga and other western historians, knew of the genial image of Spain's early
relations with his people.[55] 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. [29][56]

Rizal Park, Wilhelmsfeld

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.
[57]

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 [58] Wilhelmsfeld, Germany,[59] Jinjiang, Fujian, China,[60]

Tribute to Rizal, Cavenagh Bridge,Singapore

Chicago,[61] Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey, San Diego,[62] Seattle, U.S.A.,[63] Mexico City, Mexico, Lima,

Peru,[64] and Litomerice, Czech Republic, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[65] 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 [17] [18]. There are some
remote-area religious sects who claim him as a sublimation of Christ.

A two-sided marker bearing a painting of Rizal by Fabian 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).[66]

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.”[67][68][69]

[edit]Rizal in popular culture

The cinematic depiction of Rizal's literary works won two film industry awards more than a century after his
birth. In the 10th FAMAS Awards, he was honored in the Best Story category for Gerardo de León's adaptation
of his book Noli me Tangere. The recognition was repeated the following year with his movie version of El
Filibusterismo, making him the only person to win back-to-back FAMAS Awards posthumously. [citation needed]

Both novels were translated into opera by the composer-librettist Felipe Padilla de León: Noli me tangere in
1957 and El filibusterismo in 1970; and his 1939 overture, Mariang Makiling, was inspired by Rizal's tale of the
same name.[70]

Several films were produced narrating Rizal's life. The most successful was Jose Rizal, produced by GMA
Films and released in 1998. Cesar Montano played the title role.[citation needed]. A year before it was shown another
movie was made portraying his life while in exile in the island of Dapitan. Titled "Rizal sa Dapitan" produced
by Viva Films it stars Albert Martínez as Rizal and Amanda Page as Josephine Bracken. The film was the top
grosser of the 1997 Manila Film Festival and won the best actor and actress trophies. [citation needed]. A documentary
called "Bayaning Third World" directed by Mike de Leon and starring Joel Torre was released in 2000.[citation
needed]

Rizal also appeared in the 1999 video game Medal of Honor as a secret character in multiplayer, alongside
other historical figures such as William Shakespeareand Winston Churchill. He can be unlocked by completing
the single-player mode, or through cheat codes.[71][72]