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Rizal Lesson 10

Rizal spent his last hours on December 29, 1896 reading the bible and writing letters and poems, including his famous farewell poem. There is controversy over whether Rizal recanted his statements against the Catholic Church, as the Archbishop of Manila claimed, since four different versions of his alleged retraction surfaced over time. Rizal was executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896 at Luneta in Manila at the age of 35.

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LOUIS AARON HERNANDEZ
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34 views

Rizal Lesson 10

Rizal spent his last hours on December 29, 1896 reading the bible and writing letters and poems, including his famous farewell poem. There is controversy over whether Rizal recanted his statements against the Catholic Church, as the Archbishop of Manila claimed, since four different versions of his alleged retraction surfaced over time. Rizal was executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896 at Luneta in Manila at the age of 35.

Uploaded by

LOUIS AARON HERNANDEZ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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R i z a l’ s

s t W o
La Shayne & Aliyahrk
Activity
Recall a poem that you wrote. Why did you write it?
If you have not written one, what poem (can be
written by others) gave an impact to you?
Rizal’s Last Hour
and
the Retraction controversy
When did Rizal know of his sentence and death?
December 29, 1896
6am

Where did Rizal spend his last hours.


Around 7 a.m. of December 29

Who visited Rizal at his death cell?


Rizal’s visitors:
his counsel
Spanish officials
Priests
former professors
Archbishop of Manila, Rev. Bernardino Nozaleda, who
claimed that Rizal recanted his statements against the
Church and returned to the Catholic faith.

The controversy over Rizal’s retraction has not been


settled

The “original” document of Rizal’s “retraction” was


found in the archdiocesan archives in 1935.

No record of anybody seeing this “original” document in


1896, except the publishers of La Voz Española
“We have seen and read his (Rizal’s) own handwritten
retraction which he sent to our dear and venerable
Archbishop....”

Most experts think that the handwriting on the document is


authentic. However, scholars are baffled as to why Rizal,
who courageously faced persecution for most of his life,
and who was finally sentenced to death for his beliefs,
would suddenly balk at the last, futile moment.
What else did Rizal do during
the last hours?
Read the bible
Read Thomas a Kempis’s Imitation of Christ
Wrote the poem we know as Mi Ultimo Adios (My
Last Farewell)
Wrote letters to Paciano Rizal, His friend
Ferdinand Bluementritt
When was
Rizal
executed?
On December 30, 1896,
around 7 a.m. at
Luneta, Manila, Rizal
was executed by firing
squad
What was the content of his
letter to his brother Paciano?
He asked his brother to ask
their father for forgiveness for
all the pain he had caused him
What was the
content of his letter
to his friend
Bluementritt?
“When you receive this letter, I shall be
dead by then.... Tomorrow at seven, I
shall be shot; But I am innocent of the
crime of rebellion.... I am going to die
with a tranquil conscience.”
Ambeth R. Ocampo
What is a
Retraction?
It is an act of a person to renounce his
own statements thereby reversing what
has been established as fact with the said
statement.
the act of taking back an offer or
statement, or admitting that a statement
was false
“ “During that day, although Rizal did not reject
[the Jesuits], he persisted in his errors contrary to
the Catholic faith.... However, at the last hour,
Rizal abjured, in writing, his religious errors.” In
other words, Rizal, a Mason, was said to have
recanted his statements against the Church and
to have returned to the Catholic faith.”
If it was true that Rizal retracted, then it would have been
the same as saying that Rizal did not really believe in all
that he has said in any way including his writings about the
Catholic Church in the Philippines, and that he would have
been convinced that his statements against the church
were wrong.

However, the truthfulness of the retraction was not


resolved.
Four Different
Versions of
Rizal’s
Retractions that
had Surfaced
4 Different Versions
1896 1897 1935 1896
The first version of The second one came The Third one was said The fourth text
the text was from an anonymous to be the “original text” appeared in El
published in La writer who revealed was discovered in the Imparcial on the
Voz Espanola and himself years later as Archdiocesan archives day after Rizal’s
Diaro de Manila Fr. Balaguer. It on May 18, 1935 after it execution. It is the
on the very day of appeared in disappeared for 39 short formula of
Rizal’s execution, Barcelona, Spain on years from the the retraction.
December 30, February 14. 1897 in afternoon of the day
1896 the Fortnightly when Rizal was shot.
magazine in La
Juventud
Q & A
1. What did Rizal do during
the last hours?
2. When did the military court
tried Jose Rizal?
3. When and where was Jose
Rizal executed?
4. What was the content of
his letter to his friend
Bluementritt?
5. What was the content of
his letter to his brother
Paciano?
6. What are the four versions
of Rizal’s retraction?
Give at least one
7. Who visited Rizal at his
death cell?
8. Who claimed that Rizal
recanted his statements
against the Church and
returned to the Catholic Faith?
9. Where did Rizal spend
his last hours?
10. When and where was the
“original” document of Rizal’s
“retraction” was found?
Thank
you

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