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Rizal As Mason

Rizal was a prominent member of the Masonic organization, having joined various lodges in Spain, Germany, France and possibly England. He was initiated as a Master Mason in 1890 in Madrid, Spain. As a Freemason, Rizal supported ideals of freedom of thought, separation of church and state, and tolerance of religion. His Masonic beliefs, which went against the Catholic church, contributed to his excommunication and execution by the Spanish authorities. Rizal never renounced his Masonic views despite attempts to persuade him in exchange for safety.

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Eduardo Elyzer Basan
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1K views

Rizal As Mason

Rizal was a prominent member of the Masonic organization, having joined various lodges in Spain, Germany, France and possibly England. He was initiated as a Master Mason in 1890 in Madrid, Spain. As a Freemason, Rizal supported ideals of freedom of thought, separation of church and state, and tolerance of religion. His Masonic beliefs, which went against the Catholic church, contributed to his excommunication and execution by the Spanish authorities. Rizal never renounced his Masonic views despite attempts to persuade him in exchange for safety.

Uploaded by

Eduardo Elyzer Basan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RIZAL AS

MASON
The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal,” Rizal was not only a mason, he was the only one among the leaders of the revolutionary
movement during the Spanish era who “deserved to be called an international Mason since he was a member of various
Masonic lodges in Spain, Germany, France and possibly, England.

Born to educated and middle-class parents Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda
in June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, Rizal was seventh of 11 children. He started his schooling in
the neighboring town of Biñan.

 He later went to Manila and attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he earned a Bachelor
of Arts degree in 1877, after which he enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of
Medicine and Surgery and then in the university’s Faculty of Philosophy and Letters until 1882.

Rizal then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain where he studied Medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree
of Licentiate in Medicine. He also studied at the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of
Heidelberg.
At the time Rizal was studying in Biñan and Manila, Masonry was relatively unknown in the Philippines. Masonic lodges were
very few and most of their members were Spaniards.
However, Rizal’s half-uncle, Jose Alberto Alonzo was a Mason and lived in Spain. Alonzo was made a Knight of the Order of
Carlos III and later King Amadeo, also a Mason, made him to Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic.
Rizal’s elder brother, Paciano, also has several links with Spanish Masons in the Philippines during the latter’s student days in
Manila.
The first documented exposure of Rizal to Masonry was in March 1883.
Don Miguel Morayta Francisco Pi y
Margal
Manuel Bacerra Emilio Junoy
Juan Ruiz Zorilla
Rizal was made a Master Mason on November 15, 1890 at Logia Solidaridad 53 in Madrid, Spain. He affiliated with a lodge under
the jurisdiction of Grand Orient of France on October 14, 1891, and was made honorary Worshipful Master of Nilad Lodge No.
144 in 1892. There he delivered a lecture entitled “La Masoneria.
A many-faceted and multi-talented genius, his God given talents for freedom and for the welfare of his people through peaceful
reforms was an obsession that has guided him all his life.
A dedicated nationalist, physician, poet, novelist, historian, painter, sculptor, linguist, educator, anthropologist, ethnologist,
sportsman, traveler and a prophet, his talents appear inexhaustible. His famous novels, “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”
exposed the abuses of the Spanish authorities and inspired the 1896 Revolution. His martyrdom fanned the patriotic spirit of
Filipinos and solidified their craving for nationhood.
Considered the pride of the Malay race and the greatest of the Filipino heroes ever born, he ranks equal to most of the great men of
all races and of all times.
Jose Rizal died a Freemason. He never retracted his beliefs therefor he gained the enmity of the Church who placed heavy pressure
for his death sentence. It was recorded in his conversations in Dapitan with Fr. Pastells and Fr. Sanchez that they offered him safety
and longer life if he retracts his Masonic beliefs and returns to the catholic fold. Rizal never did. He stood by his beliefs to the
death.
He died with a normal pulse, and he accepted his death as a very natural thing. His teacher Piy Margal is also a Freemason, as well
as the key people of the revolution: Andres Bonifacio, Juan Luna, Apolinario Mabini.
Rizal supports spirituality but not religion. He wrote that religion divides people, spirituality unites them. He lived by Masonic
teachings and this was what got him to be the Church's enemy no. 1. He was buried with no Christian blessing or fanfare: he was
buried in an unmarked dirt heap in Paco cemetery where his sisters (also Masons) and mother faught hard to be given the right to
bury him properly. In a few days after his death, the Masons in their full regalia offered him a decent "burial".
Key Masonic teachings our national hero lived by:

1) freedom to search knowledge and share it in anyway you want.

2) seperation of Church and State.

3) no to opression of the individual's drive to excellence.

4) freedom and tolerance of one's race and religion (no to religious and racial discrimination).

5) no to being hoodwinked to the truth by the religious/friars (science can offer a lot of explnations to
the so called "miracles" propagated by the friars).

6) Religion, specifically in his time, supresses the individual from discovering the world out there. He
wrote with passion that he despises the friars because they use religion to show that it is the only way
to truth and salvation.
THANK YOU

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