Jose P.

Rizal
J.P. RIZAL, M.H. DEL PILAR, A. LUNA, EDUARDO DE LETE, M. H.
MARIANO PONCE DEL PILAR
Republic Act- 1425 (Rizal Law)
An act to include in the curricula of all public
and private schools, colleges and universities
courses on the life, works and writings of
Jose Rizal, particularly his novels Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

Whereas, there is a need for a rededication

to the ideals of freedom and nationalism for
which our heroes lived and died.
 Whereas, . we remember with special
fondness and devotion their lives and works
that have shaped the national character;

Whereas, the life, works and writings of Jose

Rizal particularly his novels Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo, are a constant and
inspiring source of patriotism with which the
minds of the youth, especially during their
formative and decissive years in school,
should be suffused.
 Whereas, all educational institutions are
under the supervision of, and subject to
regulation by the state, and all schools are
enjoined to develop moral character, and to
teach the duties of citizenship.
 Jose from St. Joseph/ Rizals mother was a
devotee of St. Joseph/it was customary
to include the name of the saint to the
name of the child in order to be
baptised.
Protacio means protest/signifies that the

Rizal family was a liberal minded

family.
Mercado means market/from Domingo

Lamco, Rizals great-great

grandfather, a Chinese immigrant.
 Rizal means a field where wheat, cut while
still green, sprouts again/given by the
Spanish alcalde mayor. Originally
Ricial, meaning the green of the young
growth, or the green of renewal.
Alonzo Y Realonda from Rizals mother.
Jose P. Rizal
The foremost national hero.
The most cultured of the reformists.

The Story of the Moth

Speaking of the incident, Rizal wrote:

All my attention was fixed on the face of the

insect. I watched it with my whole soul. It
had died a martyr to its illusions.
The tragic fate of the young moth, which died
a martyr to its illusions, left a deep impress
on Rizals mind.
 Rizal justified such a noble death, asserting
that to sacrifice ones life for it, meaning for
an ideal, is worthwhile. And, like that young
moth, he was fated to die as martyr for a
noble ideal.
Rizals Nationalistic Works:
o Sa Aking Kabata a poem that teaches love of

ones own language. Rizal said that a people

who truly love their native language will
surely strive for liberty like the bird which
soars to freer space above.
Two Events that Greatly Affected the
Life of Rizal
1. Martyrdom of the 3 Martyr priests: Gomez,
Burgos, and Zamora
2. Injustice to Rizals mother

In 1891, Rizal dedicated his second novel, El

Filibusterismo, to the 3 martyr priests
Gomez-Burgos-Zamora.
Without 1872 there would not be now either a Plaridel
or Jaena, or Sanciangco, nor would there exist brave
and generous Filipino colonies in Europe; without
1872 Rizal would be a Jesuit now and, instead of
writing the Noli Me Tangere, would have written the
opposite. At the sight of those injustices and
cruelties while still a child my imagination was
awakened and I swore to devote myself to avenge
one day so many victims and with this idea in mind I
have been studying, and this can be read in all my
works and writings. God will someday give me an
opportunity to carry out my promise.
(Rizals Letter written in Paris, April 18, 1889, to
Mariano Ponce)
 Sa Aking Mga Kababata (To My
Fellow Children)

Whoever knows not how to love his native tongue

Is worse than any beast or evil smelling fish.
To make our language richer ought to be our wish
The same as any mother loves to feed her young
Chapter 7 (El Filibusterismo)
Simoun to Basilio
You ask parity of rights, the Spanish way of life,
and you do not realize that what you are asking is
death, the destruction of your national identity, the
disappearance of your homeland, the ratification
of tyranny. What is to become of you? A people
without a soul, a nation without freedom;
everything in you will be borrowed, even your very
defects. You ask for Hispanization, and do not
blush for shame when it is denied you. And even if
it were given you, what would you do with it?
What do you have to gain?
At best to become a country of military revolts, a country
racked by civil wars, a republic of the greedy and the
needy like some republics of South America. Now you ask
the teaching of Spanish, an inspiration that would be
ridiculous if it did not entail such deplorable
consequences. For you add one more language to the
more than forty already spoken in these islands, no doubt
so that you may understand one another less and less. . . .
. Spanish will never be the national language because the
people will never speak it. That tongue cannot express
their ideas and their emotions. Each people has its own
way of speaking just as it has its own way of feeling. What
will you do with Spanish, the few of you who will get to
speak it? You will only kill your individual personality, and
subject your thoughts to other minds. Instead of making
yourselves free, you will only make yourselves truly slaves.

 Rizals English
Rizals letter to his sister Pangoy or Josefa (Oct, 19,1892).

My dear sister: I got the few lines you have written for
me, and I am very glad to see how far you have
advanced in English. Please, write always to me, and be
diligent in learning everything you can while you stay
there. Tell to Trining she must write too and study.
(Ambeth Ocampo. Rizal Without the Overcoat)

A. Ocampo: I presume Rizal thought in Tagalog and wrote a

rough translation in English. Doesnt the last sentence above
originate from Sabihin mo kay Trining, sumulat rin siya at
mag-aral ?
Rizals English and the British Library
In August 1889, Rizal showed up at the British
Library carrying a letter in English that said:
To the Chief Librarian
The British Museum
Sir:
As I wish to become a reader and to copy
sculpture at the British Museum, I herewith
forward the necessary letter of introduction from
a house-holder and shall be glad to hear further
from you.
I am sincerely yours obedient.
Jose Rizal
 Through Education Our
Motherland Receives Light
The poem expresses Rizals very high regard
for education. He believed in the significant
role which education plays in the progress
and welfare of a nation.
Chapter 33 (The Derrick) Noli Me Tangere

Governor: In Re: Establishment of a school

house at San Diego.
Residents of San Diego, , we have the
honor to preside over a ceremony whose
importance you will understand without our
telling you. This is the foundation of a school,
and the school is the foundation of society,
the book on which is written the future of
nations. Show us the schools of nation, and
we shall tell you what kind of a nation it is.
The vital breath of prudent Education
Instills a virtue of enchanting power;
She lifts the motherland to the highest
station
And endless dazzling glories on her
shower.
And as the zephyrs gentle exhalation
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent imparts them to the human
race.
(First stanza)
Where education reigns on lofty seat
Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
His error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility,
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to
tame,
From savages create heroic fame.
(Third stanza)
Father Florentino: El
Filibusterismo
I do not mean to say that our freedom must be
won at the point of the sword; the sword now
counts for very little in the destinies of our
times; but I do say that we must win our
freedom by deserving it, by improving the mind
and enhancing the dignity of the individual,
loving what is just, what is good, what is great,
to the point of dying for it. When a people reach
these heights, God provides the weapon, and
the idols and the tyrants fall like a house of
cards, and freedom shines in the first dawn.
To the Filipino Youth ( A La
Juventud Filipina )
Prize-winning poem. Rizal beseeched the
Filipino youth to rise from lethargy, to let
their genius fly swifter than the wind and
descend with art and science to break the
chains that have long bound the spirit of the
people.

The youth is the sacred hope of the

fatherland
(Rizals Salute to Luna and Hidalgo)
 Hold high the brow serene,
O youth, where now you stand.
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of the fatherland!

Come now, thou genius grand,

And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the winds volation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.
 Come down with pleasing light
Of art and science to the flight,
O youth, and there untie
The chains that heavy lie,
Your spirit free to bright.

Go forth, and then the sacred fire

Of the genius to the laurel may aspire;
To spread around the flame,
And in victory acclaim,
Through wider spheres the human name.
(9th stanza)
Father Florentino: El Filibusterismo
Where are the youth who will consecrate their
golden hours, their illusions, and their enthusiasm
to the welfare of their native land? Where are the
youth who will generously pour out their blood to
wash away so much shame, so much crime, so
much abomination? Pure and spotless must the
victim be that the sacrifice maybe acceptable!
Where are you, youth, who will embody in
yourselves the vigor of life that has left our veins,
the purity of ideas that has been contaminated in
our brains, the fire of enthusiasm that has been
quenched in our hearts! We await you, O youth!
Come, for we await you!
Love of Country ( Amor Patrio )
o Nationalistic essay written by Rizal in Barcelona,
Spain.
o Rizal urged his compatriots to love their

fatherland.
But, love of country can never be effaced, once it
has entered the heart, because it carries in itself
the divine stamp that makes it eternal and
imperishable.
It has always been said that love is the most potent
force behind the most sublime deeds; very well, of
all loves, the love of country is what produced the
greatest, the most heroic, the most disinterested.
Read history.
 The Song of Maria Clara
Sweet are the hours in ones native land,
Where all is dear the sunbeams bless;
Life-giving breezes sweep the strand,
And death is softend by loves caress
Sweet is death for ones native land,
Where all is dear the sunbeams bless;
Death is the breeze that sweeps the strand,
Without a mother, home, or loves caress,
(A Fishing Expedition p. 110).
 First stanza of Rizals Ultimo Adios

Adios, Patria adorada, Farewell, dear

region del sol querida, Fatherland, clime of
Perla del Mar de the sun caressd,
Oriente, nuestro Pearl of the Orient seas,
perdido Eden! our Eden lost!
A darte voy alegre la Gladly now I go to give
triste mustia vida, thee this faded lifes
Y fuera mas brillante best,
mas fresca, mas And were it brighter,
florida, fresher, or more blest,
Still would I give it thee,
Tambien por ti la diera,
nor count the cost.
la diera por tu bien.
Pinipintuho kong Bayan ay paalam,
Lupang iniirog ng sikat ng araw,
mutyang mahalaga sa dagat Silangan,
kaluwalhatiang sa amiy pumanaw.

Masayang sa iyoy aking idudulot

ang lanta kong buhay na lubhang malungkot;
maging maringal man at labis ang alindog
sa kagalingan mo ay akin ding handog.
Elias.to hate ones own
country is the greatest
misfortunes.
Chapter 62 (Chase in the Lake)
Basilio to Simoun:

If I signed the petition for the teaching of Spanish I did so only

because I thought it would be helpful to our studies, nothing more.
I have another end in life: my only ambition is to alleviate the
physical ills of my fellow citizens!

Simoun: What are physical compared with moral ills? What is the
death of one man beside the death of a community? . . . . . . .
What are you doing for the country that made you what you are,
that gives you life and knowledge? Dont you realize that a life is
not dedicated to a great ideal is useless? It is a feeble lost in the
field, when it should form part of some building!
 Rizals Mother opposed to higher
Education
Dont send him to Manila again: he knows
enough. If he gets to know more, the Spaniards
will cut off his head.

Rizals Secret mission

To observe keenly the life and culture,

languages and customs, industries and

commerce, and governments and laws of the
European nations in order to prepare himself in
the mighty task of liberating his oppressed
people from Spanish tyranny.
Map of Europe
Rizal joined the Masonry
To secure Freemasonrys aid in his fight
against the friars in the Philippines.
To utilized Freemasonry as his shield to

combat them.
Chapter 25 ( Laughter and Tears , El Filibusterismo)

Pecson:

Hearken to me, brethren, and turn back your eyes to the

lonely days of your childhood, try to look at the present and to
peer into the future. What do you see? Friars, friars, and more
friars! A friar baptises you, confirms you, and watches over you in
school with loving zeal; a friar hears your first secrets. First gives
you a god to eat, and starts you on the path of life; your first and
last teachers are friars; it is a friar who opens the hearts of your
sweethearts and makes them susceptible to your sighs, a friars
marries you, and sends you off travelling to various islands for a
change of climate and amusements; he assists you on your
death-beds and, even if you should be sent to the scaffold, the
friar will be there to accompany you with prayers and his tears,
and you can be sure that he will not abandon you until he sees
you well hung and thoroughly dead.
 Nor does his charity stop there. When you are dead he
will try to bury you with all pomp, he will fight to expose
your corpse in church, he will recite over you prayers of
intercession, and he will rest content only when he can
commend you into the hands of the Creator, purified
here on earth by temporal punishments, tortures and
humiliations. Knowing that the doctrines of Christ close
the gates of Heaven to the rich, these new redeemers,
true ministers of the Saviour, use every trick to relieve
you of your sins, commonly known as dough, and take it
far away across the seas to the land accursed Chinese
and Protestants, thus cleansing the atmosphere, leaving
it pure and healthy, so that even afterwards you should
want to do so, it would be impossible for you to find a
single peso for your damnation! P. 176-177.

Rizal Salute to Luna and Hidalgo

Juan Lunas Spoliarium First Prize
Felix Ressurection Hidalgos Christian

Virgins Exposed to the Populace Second

Prize
Contest: National Exposition of Fine Arts in

Madrid
Rizal saluted Luna and Hidalgo as the two

glories of Spain and the Philippines, whose

artistic achievements transcended
geographical frontiers and racial origins.
 JUAN LUNA
SPOLIARIUM
 FELIX
RESURRECTION
CHRISTIAN VIRGINS EXPOSED TO THE
POPULACE HIDALGO
 For genius is universal genius knows no
country, genius sprouts everywhere, genius is
like light, air, the patrimony of everybody,
cosmopolitan like space, like life, like God
Rizal Fr. Pastels Correspondence
Rizals Concept of Man and Society
Principles that guided Rizals concept of man and
society:
o Man by creation or nature possessed certain

intellectual and moral potentialities. Man had in him

the divine as a small spark conceded to humanity.
o Mans potentialities had a natural tendency towards

progress, progress meaning the full development or

perfection of mans intellectual and moral faculties.
o Any attempt to stifle or repress mans potentialities

or his natural inclination to progress morally

disfigures him.
I view man as a masterpiece of creation, and
perfect within the conditions under which he
was created, to the extent that it would not
be possible to deprive him of any of those
component conditions, whether moral or
physical, without disfiguring him or making
him unhappy.
Deprive a man . of his dignity, and you not
only deprive him of his moral strength but
you also make him useless even for those
who wish to make use of him. Every creation
has its stimulus, its mainspring: mans is his
self-respect.
Note:
Freedom means that condition in which man
is allowed the full development of both his
intellectual and moral faculties, and where he
is allowed to keep his self-respect.

Rizal maintained that the repression of what is

innate in man could lead to a stronger desire
to have it expressed.
Isagani to Father Fernandez:

It is every mans duty to improve himself but,

apart from that, there is an in born desire in
every man to seek knowledge, a desire that is
all the more powerful here when it is most
repressed. One who places his wealth and his
life in the hands of the state has the right to
demand that it give him the knowledge to
make his money more easily and to live a
better life.

Various consequences if mans natural

inclinations or rights were tampered with:

It will make people criminal.

All the ills found in society can ultimately be
blamed on the governing powers.

Rizal maintained that no man could be held

accountable to society for his actions, unless
society was first of all willing to recognize in
him moral responsibility, which means
nothing more than allowing him his freedom.
The misery of a people who are without
liberty must be blamed on the rulers and not
on the people. For a man to be responsible it
is necessary that he be the master of his
actions and the Filipinos are neither the
masters of their actions nor those of their
thoughts.
 Did Rizal blame entirely the Spanish
government for all the ills of the country?

An immoral government presupposes a

demoralized people, a conscienceless
administration, greedy and servile citizens in
the settled parts, outlaws and brigands in the
mountains. Like master like slave! Like
government, like country.
Rizal implies that a people deserved a
government which they permitted to rule. If
the moral fiber of the people is strong, and if
they had attempted to educate themselves to
a high level and had refused to submit
themselves to tyranny and oppression, then
they would not have been reduced to the
state in which they found themselves.

he loves tyranny who submits to it

 Our ills we owe to ourselves alone, so let us
blame no one. If Spain should see that we were
less complaisant with tyranny and more
disposed to struggle and suffer for our rights,
Spain would be the first to grant us liberty.

A man is said to be free if and only if he has

reached that stage of personal discipline,
intellectual integrity and moral uplift which
combined with a love of country and a refusal
to submit to tyranny, results in a willingness to
give his life in defense of all these qualities.
After having been away from his country for seven years.
Crisostomo Ibarra (spending his time in Europe) was asked
by a Spaniard And what country in Europe do you like
best? Crisostomo Ibarra: After
Spain, my second home, any free country in Europe.
Laruja: Since you have gone around such a lot, tell us,
what did you find most remarkable? Crisostomo Ibarra: I
saw that in all cases the prosperity or unhappiness of
nations is indirect proportion to their liberties and their
problems, and by that token to the sacrifices or selfishness
of their ancestors. (Chapter 3 p. 16).
 Rizal did not intend to equate freedom
with independence

Itcan be deduced that an ideal society of

Rizal consists of a group of free men,
where the interests of both the government
and the people are identical.
Rizal completed his medical course
in Spain
Conferred the degree of Licentiate in
medicine by the Universidad Central de
Madrid (June 21, 1884).
The next academic year (1884-85) he studied

and passed all subjects leading to the degree

of Doctor of Medicine.
Rizal also finished his studies in Philosophy

and Letters (June 19, 1885) at Central

Universidad de Madrid.
 Paris to Berlin
To specialize in ophthalmology.
Rizal wanted to cure his mothers eye ailment.
To continue his travels and observations of

European life and customs, government and

laws.

Paris
Rizal worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de

Weckert leading French ophthalmologist.

Rizal in Heidelberg, Germany (Feb, 3, 1886)
Rizal worked at the University Eye Hospital
under the direction of Dr. Otto Becker, a
distinguish German ophthalmologist.
Wrote the poem To the Flowers of

Heidelberg.
Rizal wrote his first letter to Blumentritt

Director of the Ateneo of Leitmerits, Austria.

Leipzig and Dresden

Rizal attended lectures at the University of

Leipzig on history, and psychology.

 Rizal befriended Professor Friedrich Ratzel, a
famous German historian, and Hans Meyer,
German anthropologist.

Dresden
Rizal met Dr. Adolph B. Meyer, director of the

Anthropological and Ethnological Museum.

Berlin
Rizal welcomed in Berlins Scientific Circles
 Rizal on German Women
The German woman is serious, diligent,
educated, and friendly. She is not gossipy,
frivolous, and quarrelsome like the Spanish
woman. She is not particular about beautiful
dresses and expensive jewelry, though she
could dress nicely like any other woman in
the world.

Rizal regretted that in the Philippines, the

women are more interested in how they
dress than how much they know.
 Rizal on German Customs
Self-introduction to strangers.
Christmas customs of the Germans.

Rizals Darkest Winter (Berlin,1886)

Rizals reasons in staying in Berlin

o To gain further knowledge of ophthalmology.

o To further his studies of sciences and languages.

o To observe the economic and political conditions of the

German nation.
o To associate with famous German scientists and

scholars.
o To publish his novel, Noli Me Tangere.
Rizals Concept of Revolution
o A revolution without sufficient arms should
not be started against an armed nation.
o The people should first be educated.

What independence if slaves of today will be

tyrants of tomorrow?

o The revolution should be led by the educated

or the middle class.
 ..that reforms, to be fruitful, must come
from above, and that those coming from below
were only to be obtained in a manner such as
would make them irregular and uncertain

Revolution from Above led by the educated is

stable and regular and will succeed.
Revolution from below - led by the masses is
unstable and irregular and will not succeed.
Father Florentino: El
Filibusterismo
I do not mean to say that our freedom must be
won at the point of the sword; the sword now
counts for very little in the destinies of our
times; but I do say that we must win our
freedom by deserving it, by improving the mind
and enhancing the dignity of the individual,
loving what is just, what is good, what is great,
to the point of dying for it. When a people reach
these heights, God provides the weapon, and
the idols and the tyrants fall like a house of
cards, and freedom shines in the first dawn.
 Novels of J.P. Rizal
Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) Social Cancer,
The Reign of Greed
o Dedicated to the Filipino people.

El Filibusterismo (The Rebel)

o Dedicated to the three martyr priests.

Unfinished and Untitled Third Novel.

Dapitan
Makamisa
Another Important Works of Rizal
o Annotated Edition of Antonio Morgas Sucesos
Delas Islas Filipinas In this historical work,
Rizal proved that the Filipinos were already
civilized before the advent of Spain. They had
clothes, government, laws, writing, literature,
religion, arts, sciences and commerce with
neighboring Asian nations. Rizal blasted the
historical heresies of the Spanish writers who
claimed that the early Filipinos were savages
and were of low mentality
 Important Essays of Rizal
o The Philippines Within a Century (Filipinas
dentro de Cien Aos) In this work Rizal
expressed his views on the Spanish colonization
in the Philippines and predicted the tragic end
of Spains sovereignty in Asia.
o The Indolence of the Filipinos (Sobre la
Indolencia de los Filipinos) Is an able defense
of the alleged indolence of the Filipinos. Rizal
made a critical study on the causes why his
people did not work hard during the Spanish
regime. His main thesis was that the Filipinos
are not by nature indolent.
La Liga Filipina
o Civic society founded by Rizal on July 3, 1892,
at a house in Tondo.
Aims of La Liga Filipina
1. To unite the whole archipelago into one
compact, vigorous, and homogeneous body.
2. Mutual protection in every want and
necessity.
3. Defense against all violence and injustice.
4. Encouragement of instruction, agriculture and
commerce;
5. Study and application of reforms.