Last Days of Dr.
Jose Rizal
Geotina, Ma. Christine Danica T.
Pascasio, Alliah Carl Manuelle F.
Pascual, Francesca B.
Quintero, Julia Ysabel T.
Reyes, Jhoana Patricia J.
Rivera, Christian Jay D.
Soller, Gian Francis D.
Tubeza, Stacy B.
2A8
Contents
Controversy about the
1. The Trial 4. Retraction
Examining Rizal’s
The Day before the
2. Execution
5. Historical and Social
Context
3. The Execution 6. Mi Ultimo Adios
01
The Trial of
Jose Rizal
The case was Rizal choose his
Arrest of Rizal November December 8
opened defense counsel
20-21 1896 1896
Preliminary
November 3 Investigation December 3 Prosecutor was December 10
1896 1896 Appointed 1896
Timeline of Events
Denied for
Judges was confrontation and
Court Martial December 25 December 12 confiscation of assets
1896 appointed 1896
December 26 List of Judges December 24 Case was ready December 11
1896 was shown 1896 for trial 1896
Death Sentence was December 28
for approval 1896
Death Sentence was
December 27
approved, details were
1896 specified
What happened during
the trial of Rizal?
Meticulous Compliance
● Transcript of the questions ● Verdicts were recorded in
and answers writing
● He was defended by counsel ● Governor never acted without
of his won choice. first consulting the appropriate
official
Haste
● The Case proceeded even on Festive Days
Hidden Injustices
Right to Confront his
Accusers Unpublished Manifesto
Defense Counsel Assumed Guilty Prior
to Trial
Court Martial
02
The Day
before the
Execution
(Dec. 29, 1896 - Early Morning
of Dec. 30, 1896)
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
Reading of
Death Friar Visits Family Visit
Sentence
Rizal receives
Meeting with
Retraction? the
Josephine?
sacraments
FRIAR VISITS
Reason
To attend to Rizal’s
spiritual needs during his Friar In-Charge
last hours
Fr. Pio Pi
Who ordered?
Manila Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda
IMAGE SOURCE: [Link]
MORNING OF DECEMBER 29,1896
Fr. Vilaclara and
Fr. Mata and Fr. Viza
Fr. Balaguer
Fr. Miguel Saddera Mata Fr. Vilaclara
- Rector of Ateneo Municipal - Rizal’s professor in Ateneo
Fr. Luis Viza Fr. Balaguer
- Jesuit teacher - He met Rizal in Dapitan during Rizal’s
- “Statuette of the Sacred Heart” exile
- Medal of Mary; “I’m littler of a Marian, - He later came back in the afternoon
father.” - Jose RIzal to discuss Rizal’s retraction
Breakfast Fr. Faura
- Fr. Antonio Rosell - Prophesied Rizal’s fate for writing Noli
Me Tangere
- Lt. Andrade
- “Father, you are indeed a prophet” -
Jose Rizal
LUNCH
Probably the time when he finished My dear Brother,
When you receive this letter, I shall be
his farewell poem dead by then. Tomorrow at seven, I shall be
shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion.
- He put it in an ALCOHOL I am going to die with a tranquil
COOKING STOVE (not a lamp) conscience.
Adieu, my best, my dearest friend, and
never think ill of me!
Fort Santiago, 29 December 1896
- José Rizal.
Regards to the whole family, to Sra.
Rosa, Loleng, Conradito, and Federico.
I leave a book for you as my
remembrance.
Wrote his letter to
Blumentritt
FAMILY VISIT
Teodora Rizal’s earthly possessions to his
Alonzo family
- JR knelt before his mother and ● Narcisa - wicker chair
asked for pardon ● Angelica, niece - Handkerchief
● Mauricio, nephew - belt, watch,
- Teodora and JR were not and chain
allowed to embrace but JR ● Trinidad - alcohol burner /
managed to kiss her on the hand cooking stove with Mi Ultimo
Adios
CONTROVERSIAL RETRACTION
The first draft was rejected - it was too long and does not reflect JR’s personality
The second was shorter but had an uncomfortable statement for JR
A. “I abominate masonry as a society reprobated by the Church.”
B. Rizal defended Masonry
a. There was no renouncement of faith
b. Masonry not hostile to Catholicism
The priest allowed JR to edit the shorter retraction letter
EARLY MORNING OF THE 30TH
Rizal heard mass,
Had breakfast and
confessed, and received
proceeded to write his
the Holy Communion
final letters to his family
(Zaide)
Rizal did not eat
his 3 hard-boiled “This is for the
eggs breakfast,
which he left in a
rats; let them have
corner for the rats fiesta too”
(Ambeth Ocampo)
JOSEPHINE
Rizal and Josephine saw each other for
the last time and Rizal gave her his last
gift
- A religious book, Imitation of Christ by Fr.
Thomas à Kempis with the autograph “To my dear,
unhappy wife, Josephine. December 30th, 1896”
However, according to Josephine’s
testimony to R. Wildman in 1899,
Josephine was prohibited by the IMAGE SOURCE:
[Link]
Spanish officers from seeing Rizal 048?s=20
03
The Execution
(Dec. 30, 1896)
DEATH MARCH
● 1.5km from Fort Santiago to
Bagumbayan via now Bonifacio
Drive (seaside)
With him were Lt. Andrade, Fr.
March and Fr. Villaclara
Rizal was calm and was praising
how beautiful the day was when
they were outside the walls
He was tied by the elbow but was
quite loose Image source:
[Link]
WAS THERE A LAST ATTEMPT BY THE
KATIPUNEROS TO HELP RIZAL ESCAPE?
❏ No account specifically says that there was
a plan by the Katipuneros to save Rizal from
being killed.
❏ “Others noticed his eyes dart quickly from
left to right, and some believed that
members of his family or the Katipuneros
would make a last-ditch effort to save him
from death. Was Rizal waiting for help that
never came? And perhaps for an opportunity
to spurn that help? Had he expected to see
his family by the roadside? We will never
know more than the fact that he was walking
to his destiny.” -Ocampo
DID RIZAL KISS THE CRUCIFIX?
Rizal
reverently Rizal turned
bowed his away his head
head and -Ocampo
kissed the
crucifix.
-Zaide
FIRING SQUAD
8 Filipino Another line of
Soldiers Spanish soldiers
➔ Ready to shoot them should
they not fire or intentionally
miss their shot
RIZAL REQUESTED THAT HE BE SHOT
FACING THE FIRING SQUAD
Rizal refused to be shot in the
back, saying he had not been a
traitor to the country or to
Spain but it was denied because
of the orders given to the
Captain in charge.
RIZAL’S REQUESTS
He be shot at
He be shot facing
the back near
the firing squad 2
his heart
He not be
1 blindfolded and 3
kneel
RIZAL WAS NOT AFRAID TO DIE
His pulse was perfectly normal.
Why? Could he have retracted?
Did he believe in the graciousness
of God? Or is it because he had a
clear conscience?
DID RIZAL FACE THE FIRING SQUAD?
According to the book of Zaide,
Rizal only turned after being shot, “Consummatum est.”
leading him to hit the ground facing - Rizal’s last words
the sky.
The execution was over by 7:03 a.m
of December 30, 1896
AFTER EXECUTION
His body was brought to San Juan de Dios
hospital and was later buried at Paco cemetery
in an unmarked grave without a coffin in
utmost secrecy.
Narcisa later searched for this grave and put
JR’s initial backwards (R.P.J.)
His remains were later exhumed and was put in their
family house in Binondo to be later buried in Luneta
park.
04
Controversy
about the
Retraction
“ 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”
—Rizal in the supposed
retraction document
Reasons for a Retraction
For Family For Love
To rid of the harassments To let Josephine
his family members were Bracken be his legal
facing wife
For the Country For the Church
To secure reforms To help the Church be
from the Spanish rid of the disease that
Government harmed her
Different Versions of the Retraction
December 31, 1896 May 18, 1935
La Vos Ezspanola La Juventud
& Diaro de Manila 2 Magazine 4
Fr. Manuel
1 El Imparcial 3
Garcia
December 30, 1896 February 14, 1897
Differences
“Original”and
Newspapers Version Jesuits’ Version
1. “Mi calidad” 1. “Mi cualidad”
2. Has the word “Catolica” after the 2. Omits“Catolica” after the first
first “Iglesias” “Iglesias”
3. “misma “ cannot be found in 3. Adds “misma “ before the third
these texts “Iglesias”
4. Second paragraph starts 4. Second paragraph starts with the
immediately with the second fifth sentence
sentence 5. Has eleven commas
5. Has only four commas 6. Does not have the witnesses’
6. Has the names of the witnesses names
“ … and the other exact copy of the retraction
written and signed by RIzal, The handwriting
of this copy I do not know nor do I remember
whose it is, and I even suspect that it might
have been written by Rizal himself”
- Fr. Pio Pi
05
Examining Rizal’s
Historical and Social
Context
Add-On
The 19th Century: The Century of Rizal
Period where industrial revolution
was fueled by commercial revolution
Before 19th century, procurement of
goods were achieved through cheap
labor
Advancements of science led to
invention of machines
Change in Political Thinking
Absolute rules were giving way to
governments with representation
from their people
Was influenced by the earlier Age of
Enlightenment
Men have God-given rights which cannot be
taken away unless it was necessary
Rise of the Middle class
● Opening of Manila to the global trade.
● Many natives became wealthy because of trade in agricultural
products.
● The new rich and middle class joined the principales and had titles
Don and Doña.
● New middle class can now attend parochial schools and universities.
Sources:
UST logo: [Link]
Middle class filipinos: [Link]
Philippine trade map: [Link]/publications/eaa/archives/the-philippines-an-overview-of-the-colonial-era/
Obstacles of the Middle Class
Spaniards
Around 10% if the
population during the time.
● Limpieza De Sangre: Purity of Blood.
● There were only 30,000 Spaniards in the Philippines.
Filipinos ● Discrimination against indios and mestizos.
Around 3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Filipinos
● Philippines was an Anglo American Chinese colony under Spanish
Flag.
Sources:
Country flags: [Link]
Social classes: [Link]
decolonization/
THE INTELLECTUAL SHIFT:
From Religion to Science
Science was highlighted over
Religion
Rise of Freemasonry in Europe
Introduction of Freemasonry in the
Philippines by the Europeans
THE SPANISH EMPIRE IN RIZAL’S TIME
Latin American wars undermined
Spain as a “World Power”
The Philippines was represented
in the “Ministerio de Ultramar”
Secularization was
prominent in Spain
THE SOBERANIA MONACAL MONASTIC
SUPREMACY
Political and The church
Economic became
influence of abusive after
the Church some time
06
Mi Ultimo
Adios
Literary
Background
● Originally written without a title
14-stanza poem about undying
love and nationalism
Given to his family hidden inside
an alcohol stove
Another mysterious poem inside
Rizal’s shoes
Actual Pictures in Dr. Jose Rizal’s handwriting
Page 1 Page 2
Source:[Link]
Gist
The poem My Last Farewell by Jose Rizal is the last
literary piece he created in prison before his conviction on
December 30, 1896. It is dedicated to his country– the
Philippines. He expressed his love, delight, and grief with
regards to his homeland during the last bits of his life. It
inspired Filipinos hearts to ignite with their fiery passion
and to fight against their colonizers.
3 Stanzas
On the field of battle, ‘mid the frenzy of fight, Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed; All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white, All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom’s plight, To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
‘Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country’s need. And sleep in thy bosom eternity’s long night..
. And even my grave is remembered no more
Unmark’d by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it
o’er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
Source: [Link]
Overall Message
★ Unconditional Love for our
Country
★ Attainment of Freedom
Thank you for
listening!
References
Bernad, M. S. (1998). The Trial of Rizal. Philippine Studies, 46(1), 46-72.
Escalante, R. (n.d.). Vol. 8, No. 3, Rene ESCALANTE. Southeast Asian Studies. [Link]
Jose Rizal University. (n.d.). Jose Rizal [Rizal's last Hours]. Jose Rizal University. [Link]
Platino, J. (n.d.). Mi Ultimo Adios. WritingsOfRizal. [Link]
Rizal, J. P. (1998, March 20). My Last Farewell (Translated by Charles Derbyshire). My Last Farewell. [Link]
Ron. (2015, February 1). Poem: Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose Rizal. Pinoystalgia. [Link]
Taga-Calamba. (n.d.). HISTORY: The Last Days of Jose P. Rizal. Calamba.
[Link]
ed%20the%20sentence
Viana, A. V. (2019). Laon-Laan. Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp Publishing Corporation.
Zaide, G. F. (1992). Jose Rizal Life, Works and Writings. National Book Store
