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Marc Kyell Jupeter Pleños

The Retraction of Rizal


Jose Rizal the national hero of the Philippines showed great courage and strength by facing the Spaniards
who abused the Filipinos with his writings. Although, he hasn’t fought them with deadly weapons, the Spaniards
were threatened. By these, before his death he was given a chance to retract all his writings and words with
perplexing conditions.

This phenomenon is one of the greatest controversies in the history of the Philippines. It was so because
according to different sources and evidences, Rizal did retract all his letters. A shocking move it was, that made the
history go into topsy-turvy. It was supposed to have been signed by Jose Rizal moments before his death. There
were many witnesses, most of them Jesuits. The document only surfaced for public viewing on May 13, 1935. It was
found by Fr. Manuel A. Gracia at the Catholic hierarchy’s archive in Manila. But the original document was never
shown to the public, only reproductions of it.

That issue was claimed to be true by the Roman Catholic defenders but asserted to be deceptive by anti-
retractonists. They claim that the retraction document is a forgery, but handwriting experts concluded a long time
ago that it is genuine. Rafael Palma’s opus on Rizal, titled “Biografia de Rizal” is so anti-Catholic that the Church
successfully opposed its publication using government funds. In an article authored by Romberto Poulo, Rizal’s
affiliation in Masonry was accounted to have caused drastic change to his religious ideas.The exact copy had been
received by Fr. Balaguer in the evening immediately preceding Rizal's execution. Jose Rizal with the addition of the
names of the witnesses taken from the texts of the retraction in the Manila newspapers. Fr. Pi's copy of Rizal's
retraction has the same text as that of Fr. Balaguer's "exact" copy but follows the paragraphing of the texts of Rizal's
retraction in the Manila newspapers. In order to marry Josephine, Rizal wrote with the help of a priest a form of
retraction to be approved by the Bishop of Cebu. This incident was revealed by Fr. Antonio Obach to his friend Prof.
Austin Craig who wrote down in 1912 what the priest had told him; "The document (the retraction), enclosed with
the priest's letter, was ready for the mail when Rizal came hurrying I to reclaim it." Rizal realized (perhaps, rather
late) that he had written and given to a priest what the friars had been trying by all means to get from him.

How did it happen? How did Rizal make this decision? Has he lost his mind? Well the answers. may not be
as satisfying for it was not from primary sources, but it could give us the clue in answering our questions. Realizing
that Rizal had experienced a different way of living when he went to Europe and was exposed to great distinction
between what was happening in our country, the discriminations, abuses, partialities, injustices, and some other
things made to cause sufferings to his countrymen, and what was the actual scene of the European nations. He
observed that Europe was a lot more different compared to the Philippines in terms of way of life, attitudes towards
Roman Catholicism, and most importantly, the freedom all the citizens enjoy.

The issue was not just about his retraction of his essays but also about the turn of heart to his former
religion, the Catholic church. This may mean that Rizal at this time honored the authority of the church and its
controversial acts at that time. It was a great debate indeed if he really was married to Josephine Bracken, the last
love of his life. If proven true then he really had retracted, for the catholic church could only marry couple under
their legitimacy. In contrast, giving all the readers a great confusion, if he really had retracted then he was buried in
a catholic cemetery.

For me if I was in the side of Rizal, given with conditions concerning the safety of my family and my
nation, I could also have made that decision. Rizal was born as a Christian and as a born Christian his heart cannot
pretend to just be blind for his true faith. Surely whether Rizal died a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts
nothing from his greatness as a Filipino. It is because of what he did and what he was that we revere Rizal. Catholic
or Mason, Rizal is still Rizal: the hero who courted death “to prove to those who deny our patriotism that we know
how to die for our duty and our beliefs”

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