Medical Studies at the University of Santo  Two reasons for his change of heart

Tomas (1877-1882) 1. the sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh

in his heart
Mother’s Oppositions to Higher Education 2. his father did not like the family of “Miss L”
 After graduating with the highest honors from  Several months later, during his sophomore
the Ateneo, Rizal had to go to the University of year at the University of Santo Tomas, he
Santo Tomas for higher studies. boarded in the house of Dona Concha Leyva
 Dona Teodora, who knew what happened to in Intramuros
Gom-Bur-Za, vigorously opposed the idea and  Rizal was a welcome visitor in the
told her husband: “Don’t send him to Manila Valenzuela home, where he was the life of
again; he knows enough. If he gets to know the social parties because of his clever
more, the Spaniards will cut off his head” sleight-of-hand tricks.
 Jose Rizal was surprised why his mother  Rizal’s next romance was with another
objected to his desire Leonor--- Leonor Rivera.
“Did my mother perhaps have a foreboding of what  Casa Tomasina at no. 6 Calle Santo Tomas,
would happen to me? Does a mother’s heart really have Intramuros
a second sight? 5  “tender as a building flower with kindly
Rizal enters the University wistful eyes”

 In April 1877, Rizal who was then nearly 16 yrs  Taimis

old, matriculated in the University of Santo Victim of Spanish Officer’s Brutality
Tomas, taking the course on Philosophy and
Letters.  When Rizal was a freshman medical student at the
 His father liked it University of Santo Tomas, he experienced his first
 He was “still uncertain as to what career to taste of Spanish Brutality.
pursue”  The wound was not serious, but it was painful.
 It was during the following term (1878-79) that
Rizal, having a received the Ateneo Rector’s  “I went to the Captain-General but I could not
advice to study medicine, took up the medical obtain justice; my wound lasted two weeks” a letter
course, enrolling simultaneously in the of Rizal to Blumentritt, (March 21, 1887)
preparatory medical course and the regular first To the Filipino Youth (1879)
year medical course.
Finishing Surveying Course in Ateneo (1878)  Year 1879 the Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-
Literary Lyceum) of Manila, a society of literary
 Rizal took the vocational course leading to the title
men and artists, held a literary contest.
of Perito Agrimensor.
 A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) is an
 Rizal, as usual, excelled in all subjects in the
inspiring poem of flawless form
surveying course in the Ateneo, obtaining gold
medals in agriculture and topography.  This poem is a classic in Philippine Literature for
two reasons
 Although Rizal was then a Thomasian, he frequently
visited the Ateneo. 1. It was the first great poem in Spanish written by
a Filipino,
Romances with other girls
2. It expressed for the first time the nationalistic
 Notwithstanding his academic studies in the
concept that the Filipinos, and not the
University of Santo Tomas an extra-curricular
foreigners, were the “fair hope of the
activities in the Ateneo, Rizal had ample for love. Fatherland”
 Shortly after losing Segunda Katigbak, he paid court The Council of the Gods (1880)
to a young woman in Calamba.

 “fair with seductive and attractive eyes”

 The Artistic-Literary Lyceum opened another  Rizal, Ateneo’s boy wonder, found the
literary contest to commemorate the fourth atmosphere at the UST suffocating to his
centennial of the death of Cervantes, Spain’s sensitive spirit.
glorifies man-of-letters and famous author of 1. Dominican professors were hostile to him
Don Quixote.
2. Filipino students were racially discriminated
 El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of the Gods)
against by the Spaniards
 The winning allegory of Rizal was a literary
3. Method of instruction was obsolete and
masterpiece based on the Greek classics.
repressive
Other Literary Works.
Decision to Study Abroad
 Rizal produced other poems and a zarzuela, this
 After finishing the fourth year of his medical
zarzuela was Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig)
course. Rizal decided to study in Spain.
 Year 1880 he wrote a sonnet entitled A Filipinas for  For the first time, Rizal did not seek his parents’
the album of the Society of Sculptors. permission and blessings to go abroad, because
he knew that they, especially his mother, would
 Year before, in 1879 he composed a poem entitled disapprove it.
Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma

 Later in 1881, he composed a poem entitled Al

M.R.P. Pablo Ramon
Rizal’s visit to Pakil and Pagsanjan

 In the summer month of May 1881, when he

was still a medical student at the University of
Santo Tomas, Rizal went on a pilgrimage to the
town of Pakil, famous shrine of the Birhen
Maria de los Dolores.
 Rizal and his companions were fascinated by
the famous turumba, the people dancing in the
streets during the procession in honor of the
miraculous Birhen Maria de los Dolores.
 In Pakil, Rizal was infatuated by a pretty girl
colegiala, Vicenta Ybardolaza., who skillfully
played the harp at the Regalado home.
 Years later Rizal mentioned the Turumba in
Chapter VI of Noli Me Tangere and Pagsanjan
Falls in his travel diary
Champion of Filipino Students

 Rizal was the champion of the Filipino students

in their frequent fights against the arrogant
Spanish students, who were often surpassed by
the Filipinos in class work and who insultingly
called their brown classmates “Indio , chongo!”
 Rizal participated in these student brawls.
 In 1880 he founded a secret society of Filipino
students in the University of Santo Tomas called
Companerismo (Comradeship)
Unhappy Days at the UST