Austin Coates

Austin Coates was a British civil servant, writer and traveller. He was
the son of noted English composer Eric Coates. He was regarded as one of
the "better biographers" of Rizal, Coates's book on Rizal is considered as one
of the "very best biographies" on the Filipino national hero. Coates's Rizal
Philippine Nationalist and Martyr is the second biographical account of the
life and career of Rizal authored by a non-Filipino (the first was Vida y
Escritos del Dr. Jos Rizal or "Life and Writings of Dr. Jos Rizal" written by
W.E. Retana that was published in 1907, thus Coates's book on Rizal was the
first European biography of Rizal since that year).
Francisco Pi Y Margall
He was a Catalan federalist and libertarian socialist, statesman,
historian, and political philosopher and romanticist writer. He was briefly
president of the short-lived First Spanish Republic in 1873. Pi y Margall was a
strong advocate of autonomy for Spains remaining colonies, among them
the Philippines. Dr. Rizal met many intellectuals who were masons and, to his
surprise, exercised unbridled freedom of speech and activity concepts
unfamiliar to Dr. Rizal in his native country. He was soon deeply influenced by
Miguel Morayta, Professor of History at the Universidad Central de Madrid,
and Ex-President Francisco Pi y Margall, both master masons and both
staunch advocates of Philippine independence from Spain.
Faustino Tinong Alfon
When the Rizal family lived in Hong Kong in 1892, the family had a 20year-old cook named Asing. El Renacimiento Filipino published an interview
between Vicente Sotto and the Chinese cook in June 15, 1913. In the
interview, Asing was the cook of the Rizal family for more than a year.
Asing described Rizal as a good master who never shouted nor hit him. Rizal
lived with his mother and two sisters, Trinidad and Josefa in 2 Rednaxela
Terrace in Hong Kong. When Rizal was exiled in Dapitan in 1892, he had a
cook named Tinong. Faustino Tinong Alfon, who was from Cebu, moved
to Dapitan, Zamboanga Del Norte where he was hired as Rizals cook and
handyman. Tinong lived and worked in Rizals Talisay estate, cooked meals,
assisted Rizal during eye operations, and learned Spanish. In an interview
with The Independent in 1929, Tinong mentioned that Rizals meals usually
consisted of three dishes: a Filipino dish, a Spanish dish, and another Filipino
or mestizo dish. Tinong also mentioned that Rizal liked lanzones and
mangoes.
Manuel Sarkisyanz
He was born in Iran in the early 1920s. Hes an ethnic Armenian who
was born in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in 1923, held positions at the
University of Heidelberg, and currently resides in Mexico. He has written

most of his works in Burma, Russia and Latin America. Eventually, he was
interested of Jose Rizal, which he analyzed series of lectures at the Asian
Center, University of the Philippines in 1985. The central theme of the book
was struggle between Spain and Spain competing Republicanism and
Counter-Revolutionist in 19th century Spain.
His principal task is to examine the influence of 19th century Spanish
Republicanism on Rizals thought and political development. He also made a
critical examination or friar description of Rizals alleged retraction and
execution.
Karl Ullmer
During his stay in Heidelberg, in 1886, Dr. Jos Rizal (1861 - 1896) met
on the famous Philosophers' Way (from where he had the romantic view over
Heidelberg) Pastor Karl Ullmer, the Protestant pastor in the neighbouring
village of Wilhelmsfeld in the Odenwald Hills. Pastor Ullmer invited Jos Rizal
to stay in Wilhelmsfeld with his family for three months, and Rizal accepted
willingly, because this was less expensive, gave him greater opportunity to
speak German, offered him a quiet and simple countryside alternative to the
busy student life in Heidelberg, and gave him the chance of experiencing
European family life. In Wilhelmsfeld Rizal met the warm and friendly
hospitality of Pastor Ullmer's family, made incredible progress in speaking
and writing German, talked to Protestant and Catholic priests, met religious
tolerance, and saw the simple country people.
Miguel Morayta
Rizal soon came under the influence of several outstanding masonic
thinkers. Miguel Morayta, a Grand Master, was his college professor who
molded his views of history. In one his letters dated the year 1884 Rizal wrote
his parents and siblings about a protest championing academic freedom. He
mentioned a Dr. Miguel Morayta, professor of history at the Universidad
Central who delivered an address on the subject at the opening of the
academic year. Rizal reported in his letter to Calamba that the bishops
excommunicated Morayta for the speech, but there were also calls from
students who wanted the same bishops excommunicated themselves.
THE MASONIC LIFE OF DR. JOSE RIZAL
By Raymond S. Fajardo, 33
A majority of the Filipino patriots who led their countrymen in their struggle
for emancipation against Spain in the last two decades of the nineteenth
century were members of the masonic fraternity. Among all of them,
however, only one deserved to be called an international mason - Jose P.
Rizal. Only he joined lodges in several countries and practiced the rites of
various masonic Grand Jurisdictions. [He received] masonic degrees from
lodges in Spain, Germany, France, and possibly England; he attended lodge
meetings in Hong Kong and was the first to be elected Honorary Venerable

Master of a lodge in the Philippines. Furthermore, he was the only Filipino

designated as the Grand Representative of a Spanish Grand Orient to the
Grand Orient of France and the lodges in Germany.
Born to educated and relatively well-to-do parents [June 19, 1861], he went
to Manila [1872], enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal where he obtained the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877, and then at the University of Santo Tomas
where he [studied] philosophy, letters, and later, medicine until 1882.
[Masonic] lodges, [at the time] were very few and composed mostly of
Spaniards. During that early stage, members of Rizal's family were already
closely identified with the Fraternity. His uncle, the Most Excellent Jose
Alberto Alonzo, Knight Commander of the Spanish Orders of Isabel the
Catholic and of Carlos III, was in Spain in 1868 when the Revolution led by
masons deposed Queen Isabela II. He fraternized with the mason Juan Prim,
the general who led the revolt, and Francisco Pi y Margall, the president of
the short - lived Spanish republic. It was in the house of Alberto where Rizal
stayed [while attending school] in Bian.
[Rizal's] elder brother [Paciano while a student] in Manila lived with Fr. Jose
Burgos and worked with him in the Comite de Reformadores. The Committee
had several masons on its rolls, some of whom were implicated in the Cavite
Revolt of 1872. Moreover, Fr. Burgos' sister was married to Dr. Mariano Marti,
a 33 mason who was the Grand Delegate of the Soberano Oriente de
Espaa and who is credited with having organized lodges in Manila, Ceba
and Iloilo. Beyond peradventure, Paciano met a number of Masons [on] the
Comite de Reformadores and [during] his association with Fr. Burgos.
The first documented exposure of Rizal to masonry took place in 1882. May
3, 1882, he started on his journey to Madrid. June 11, his ship docked at
Naples, [where he saw] a multitude of posters set up by masons announcing
the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi, their Grand Master. Rizal wrote about what
he saw in a letter to his parents and brothers. That letter marked the first
time Rizal made a written mention of Masonry, but not the last.