Course Code and Title: GE 111 – Rizal’s Life and Works

Lesson Number: 6

Topic: RIZAL’S LIFE ABROAD

INTRODUCTION
This lesson discusses Rizal’s experiences living abroad. It focuses on his observations and
realizations while living somewhere far from his homeland, the different people he met, and the organizations he
became part of that have contributed to the development of his national consciousness.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
 Analyze the experiences Rizal had abroad that helped shape his nationalist sensibilities.
 Identify the different places that Rizal had been to and the people he met on his travels who might have
inspired him to be a propagandist.
 Appreciate the significance and success of Rizal’s mission abroad.

LESSON PRESENTATION:
Education in Europe
On May 3, 1882, Rizal left for Spain and enrolled in Medicine
and Philosophy, and Letters at the Universidad Central de Madrid on
November 3. On the same day of November 1884, Rizal was involved in the
chaotic student demonstrations by the Central University students in which
many were wounded, hit by a cane, arrested, and imprisoned. The protest
rallies started after Dr. Miguel Morayta had been excommunicated by bishops
for delivering a liberal speech, proclaiming the freedom of science and the
teacher at the opening ceremony of the academic year.
In June of 1884, Rizal received the degree of Licentiate in Medicine at the age of 23. His rating though
was just “fair” for it was affected by the “low” grades he got from UST. In the next school year (1884-1885), he took and
completed three additional subjects leading to the Doctor of Medicine degree. Ha was not awarded the Doctor’s
diploma though for failing to pay the fee and the required thesis.
Exactly on his 24th birthday, Madrid University awarded him
the degree of Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters with the grade of “excellent”
(sobresaliente).
Wanting to cure his mother’s advancing blindness, Rizal went
to Paris. He was said to have attended medical lectures at the University of
Paris. From November 1885 to February 1886, he worked as an assistant to
Dr. Louis de Weckert. Through this leading French ophthalmologist, Rizal
thankfully learned how to perform all the ophthalmological operations.
On February 3, 1886, Rizal arrived in Heidelberg, Germany. He attended the lecture of Dr. Otto Becker
and Professor Wilhelm Kuehne at the University of Heidelberg. He also worked at the University Eye Hospital under
the guidance of Dr. Becker. Under the direction of this renowned German ophthalmologist, Rizal learned to use the
then-newly invented ophthalmoscope, which he later used to operate on his mother’s eye. In Heidelberg, the 25-year-
old Rizal completed his eye specialization.
Afterward, Rizal spent three months in the nearby village,
Wilhemsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli Me Tangere. He
stayed at the pastoral house of a kind Protestant pastor, Dr. Karl Ullmer the
whole family became Rizal’s good friends. In August 1886, he attended
lectures on history and psychology at the University of Leipzig. In November
1886, he reached Berlin, the famous city where he worked as an assistant in
Dr. Schweigger’s clinic and attended lectures at the University of Berlin.
In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of Belin’s
“Ethnological Society,” “Anthropological Society,” and “Geographical Society.” In April 1887, he was invited to deliver
an address in German before the “Ethnographic Society” of Berlin on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog
language. In Germany, Rizal met and befriended famous academicians and scholars at that time.
Life in Europe
As mentioned, Rizal stopped attending classes at UST in 1882, for he was sick and tired of the
discriminatory and oppressive Dominican professors. On May 3, of that year, he thus left for Spain not only to complete
his studies but also to widen his political knowledge through exposure to European governments. It is funny that his
departure for Spain had gone down in history as a “secret departure”, although at least ten people-including his three
siblings and uncle-collaborated in his going away, exclusive of the unnamed and unnumbered Jesuit priests and
intimate friends who co-conspired in the plan.

In Europe
On his way to Madrid, Rizal had many stopovers. He first disembarked and visited the town of
Singapore. Onboard the steamship “Djemnah,” he passed through Punta de Gales, Colombo, and Aden. En route to
Marseilles, he went across the historic waterway of the Suez Canal and visited the Italian city of Naples. He left
Marseilles, France for Barcelona on an express train.
After some months, Rizal left Barcelona for Madrid. On
September 16, 1882, Rizal met and befriend Consuelo Ortiga y Rey, the
prettiest of the daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, the Spanish liberal and
former mayor of Manila who became vice-president of the Council of the
Philippines in the Ministry of Colonies.
Rizal enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the
Universidad Central de Madrid on November 3, 1882. Ironically, a year after,
Rizal became penniless as his family encountered economic regression.
One day in June 1884, Rizal who failed to eat breakfast still went to school
and even won a gold medal in a contest. Later that day he attended the
dinner party held in honor of two award-winning Filipino painters, Juan Luna,
and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. On the occasion, he delivered a very daring liberal speech (known today as “Rizal’s
Brindis Speech”), which became so controversial that it even caused sickness to his worrying mother.
In 1885, Rizal who had finished his two courses in Madrid went to Paris, France. From November 1885
to February 1886, he worked as an assistant to the celebrated ophthalmologist Dr. Louis De Weckert.
On February 3, 1886, he left Paris for Heidelberg, Germany.
He attended lectures and training at the University of Heidelberg where he
was said to have completed his eye specialization. Afterward, Rizal settled for
three months in the nearby village, Wilhemsfeld, at the pastoral house of a
Protestant pastor Dr. Karl Ullmer.
It was during this time that the correspondence and long-
distance friendship between Jose and Ferdinand Blumentritt began. Rizal
wrote a letter in German and sent it with a bilingual book Aritmiteca to Blumentritt who was interested in studying
Jose’s native language. Jose traveled next to Leipzig and attended some lectures at its university. Having reached
Dresden afterward, he met and befriended Dr. Adoph B. Meyer, the Director of the Anthropological and Ethnological
Museum. Also, a Filipinologist Meyer showed Rizal some interesting things
taken from tombs in the Philippines.
In November 1886, he went to Berlin and further enhanced his
skills and knowledge in ophthalmology. In that famous city, not only did he
learn other languages but also became a member of various scientific
communities and befriended many famed intellectuals at the time. On February
21, 1887, he finished his novel, the Noli Me Tangere, and it comes off the
press a month later.

Grand Europe Tour

With his friend Maximo Viola, who loaned him some amount to
cover the Printing of the Noli Me Tangere, Rizal traveled to various places in
Europe. Through Paciano‘s remittance, Jose had paid Viola and decided to
further explore some places in Europe before returning to the Philippines. They
went first to see Postdam, a city southwest of Berlin.
On May 11, 1887, they left Berlin for Dresden and witnessed
the regional floral exposition there. Wanting to see Blumentritt, they went to Leitmeritz,
Bohemia passing through Teschen. Professor Blumentritt warmly received them at Leitmeritz railroad station. The
professor identified Jose through the pencil sketch, which Rizal had previously made of himself and sent to Blumentritt.
The professor acted as their tour guide.
On May 16, 1887, the two Filipino left Leitmeritz for Prague where they saw the tomb of the famous
astronomer Copernicus. They stopped at Brunn on their way to Vienna. They met the famed Austrian novelist
Norfenfals in Vienna, and Rizal was interviewed by Mr. Alder, a correspondent of the newspaper Extra Blatt.
To see the sights of the Danube River, they left Vienna in a boat where
they saw passengers using paper napkins. From Lintz, they had a short stay in
Salzburg Reaching Munich, they tasted the local beer advertised as Germany’s finest.
In Nuremberg, they saw the infamous torture machines used in the so-called Catholic
Inquisition. Afterward, they went to Ulm and climbed Germany’s tallest cathedral there.
They also went to Stuttgart, Baden, and then Rheinfall where they saw Europe’s most
beautiful waterfall.
In Switzerland, they toured Schaffhausen, Basel, Bern, and Lausanne
before staying in Geneva. Rizal’s 15-day stay in Geneva was generally enjoyable
except when he learned about the exhibition of some Igorots in Madrid, side by side with
some animals and plants.
On June 19, 1887, Rizal treated Viola for it was his (Rizal) 26 th birthday.
Four days after they parted ways-Viola went back to Barcelona while Rizal proceeded to
Italy. In Italy, Rizal went to see Turin, Milan, Venice, and Florence. In Rome, he paid a
visit to historical places, like the Amphitheatre and the Roman Forum. On June 29, he
had seen the famous edifices, like St. Peter’s Church, in the Vatican City.

First Homecoming
Despite being warned by friends and loved ones, Jose was adamant in
his decision to return to his native land. From a French port in Marseilles, he boarded the
on July 3, 1887, steamer “Djemnah.” It sailed to the East through the Suez Canal and
reached Saigon on the 30th of the month. Rizal then took the steamer “Haiphong” and
reached Manila near midnight on August 5.
After meeting some friends in Manila, he returned to Calamba on August
8. Restoring his mother’s eyesight, he began to be dubbed as “German doctor” or
“Doctor Uliman” (from the word “Aleman” which means German) and made a lot of
money because people from different places flocked to him for a better vision.
Because of his enemies’ allegation that his “Noli” contained subversive ideas, Rizal was summoned by
Governor-General Emilio Terrero. Seeing no problem in the book, Terrero nonetheless assigned to Rizal a bodyguard,
Don Jose Taviel de Andrade, to protect the balikbayan from his adversaries.
In December 1887, the Calamba folks asked for Rizal’s assistance in
collecting information as regards Dominican hacienda management. It complied with the
order of the government to investigate the way friar estates were run. So Rizal had
objectively reported, among others, that Dominican Order had arbitrarily increased the
land rent and charged the tenants for non-existent agricultural services. Enraged by
Rizal’s reports, the friars pressured the governor-general to “advise” the author of the Noli
to leave the country.
Rizal’s (required) second travel abroad may have been upsetting, but
provided him with another opportunity to have a new set of adventurous journeys.

SUMMARY:
 In 1882, after finishing his fourth year at the UST, Rizal left for Spain to continue his studies there.
According to some accounts, Rizal left the Philippines as part of a secret pact with his brother Paciano. With only a few
people aware of his departure, not even his parents nor his lover Leonor Rivera, Rizal left the Philippines bound for
Spain to observe life abroad and to write a book displaying Filipino nationalism. In his journey, he was able to establish
connections that facilitated the campaign for reforms in the Philippines while trying to conceptualize his book.
Rizal’s trip was primarily funded by Paciano, who regularly sent him money for his upkeep. When the
agrarian crisis in Calamba took Rizal’s allowance was delayed and he had problems paying rent which forced him to
move from one place to another. Nevertheless, Rizal never lost focus on his mission. On his first visit to a foreign
country, he witnessed how people in Singapore displayed a carefree attitude in whatever they did. This was because
their rights as citizens were respected and their authorities were not abusive. He also traveled to Ceylon (now Sri
Lanka), Egypt, Italy, and France before finally arriving in Barcelona Spain.
Aside from reading and writing, Rizal was overwhelmed by the courage and camaraderie displayed by
the Freemasonry. Rizal met Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey, a former alcalde of Manila, whose house commonly served as a
meeting place for Filipino students in Madrid. Rizal also busied himself with learning different languages. The biggest
contributor to Rizal’s venture in writing was Dr. Maximo Viola. He financed the publication of Rizal’s first book, Noli Me
Tangere, in 1887 with 2,000 initial copies. After the publication of Noli Me Tangere, Viola accompanied Rizal to Austria
to finally meet Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, with whom Rizal exchanged letters and books for several years and whom he
considered one of his advisers. After a few trips to Rome and other parts of Italy, Rizal returned to the Philippines to
personally witness the impact of his novel.

Online Supplementary Materials

Jose Rizal's Brindis Speech: A Toast Honoring Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo
https://ourhappyschool.com/philippine-studies/jose-rizals-brindis-speech-toast-honoring-juan-luna-and-felix-
resurreccion-hidalg

References

 Galicia, R. D. (2019). The Life and Works of Jose Rizal. 2nd Edition. Mandaluyong City: Azes Publishing
Corporation.
 Manebog, J. D. (2018). Life and Works of Rizal. Manila: Mutya Publishing. Inc.
 Clemente, J. E. (2019). The Life and Works of Rizal. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.