DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

CHAPTER 3
RETRACTION OF RIZAL

GROUP 5
• Who is Dr. Jose Rizal ?
• José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
• Born 40 miles south of Manila at Calamba, into a prominent Filipino family, José was the seventh of 11
children.
• He won literary competitions from a young age.
• He had an extraordinary capacity for language; ultimately, he spoke 22 languages and dialects.
• His professor of Greek in Spain said that he never encountered a student who excelled Rizal.
• A Filipino Nationali standapoly math during the tail end of the Spanish Colonial Period of the Philippines
• An ophthalmologist by profession and also became a writer and a key member of the Filipino
Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the economy under Spain.
• He was a member of a worldwide fraternity called Free masonry.
• He wrote the classic novel Noli me Tangere, which condemned the Catholic Church in the Philippines for
promoting Spanish colonialism. One of the reasons why Spanish officials were displeased.
• Additionally, he studied drawing, painting, and sculpture, throughout his life; he even exhibited a bust at the
Salon de Paris in 1889.
What is Retraction?

• The Oxford English Dictionary (2018) defines retraction as "the action or fact of revoking
or rescinding a decision, decree, etc." A more thorough definition is, "the action of
withdrawing a statement, accusation, etc., which is now admitted to be erroneous or
unjustified... recantation; an instance of this; a statement of making such a withdrawal."
Religious and Belief
• Jose Rizal was born and grew up in a very devout Catholic family.His education, from elementary to
college, was from the prestigious Catholic schools of the period.
• Although he was for a while, however, in later life he developed a religious philosophy not totally in
accord with the Catholic Religion
• Rizal believed in God, he pounded this belief in his letters to Fr. Pablo Pastells which goes: “I
believe firmly in the existence of God the Creator…I firmly believe in His wisdom, His infinite
power (my idea of the infinite is so limited), His goodness manifested in the marvelous creation of
the universe”.
• Rizal did not believe that Jesus Christ was God, during his exile in Dapitan in his letter to Fr.
Pastells, he wrote: "Who died on the cross? Was it God or man? If it was God, I do not understand
how God could die”
• According to Filipino historian Reynold Fajardo, in his book “Dimasalang: 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.”
• Freemasonry is open to men of any faith, but religion may not be discussed at Masonic meetings.
The Supreme Being. Masons believe that there is one God and that people employ many different
ways to seek, and to express what they know of God.

• He was executed on December 30, 1896. It was alleged that Rizal, a few hours before his death, to
have retracted his affiliation with Masonry, “abominated Masonry”, and admitted his errors in all
his writings.
 Retraction of Rizal
By
Fr. Vicente Balaguer and Rafael Palma
Fr. Vicente Balaguer was born in Alicante, Spain, on
January 19, 1851. He joined the Society of Jesus on July
30, 1890 and went to the Philippines in 1894. Moreover,
he was one of the Jesuit priests who visited Rizal’s last
hours in Fort Santiago and claimed that he managed to
persuade Rizal to denounce masonry and return to the
Catholic fold. In 1917 when he had returned to Spain, an
affidavit executed that proves he was who solemnized the
marriage of JoseRizal and Josephine Bracken.
Rafael Palma was born on October 24, 1874. He
was a Filipino politician, lawyer, writer,educator
and a famous freemason. Additionally, he became
the fourth President of the University of the
Philippines. He was later elected as senator under
the Nacionalista Party, consistently representing
the 4th District, in both the 1916 and 1919
senatorial polls. Furthermore, he was the author of
Biografia de Rizal, a work on the life of the national
hero which won a literary contestin 1938
sponsored by the Commonwealth Government.
The story of Rizal’s alleged retraction is found in
chapter 32 and 33 with his analysis in the latter
chapter.
Dr. Jose Rizal was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by a Spanish court martial after being implicated as a leader
of the Philippine Revolution. On December 30, 1896, accounts exist that Rizal allegedly retracted his masonic ideals and
his writings reconverted to Catholicism following several hours of persuasion by the Jesuit priests. A few hours before
he was shot, Rizal signed a document stating that he was a Catholic and retracted all his writings against the church and
the document were as “The Retraction”. Moreover, Rizal’s retraction letter was discovered by Father Manuel Garcia,
C.M. in 1935 at the Catholic hierarchy’s archive in Manila. The letter,dated December 29, 1896.
According to Fr. Balaguer, he and Fr. Vilaclara arrived in Rizal’s prison cell around 10 o’clock in the morning on December
29, 1896. He mentioned in his letter and affidavit that their encounter with Rizal started with a discussion of some
articles of Catholic faith. They debated on issues such as the supremacy of faith over reason and the dogmatic
differences that divided Catholics and Protestants. They explained to him that they could not administer the sacraments
he needed without him signing a retraction letter and making a profession of faith. The two Jesuits left Rizal’s prison
around lunchtime, with Rizal still undecided over whether to sign the retraction letter or not. The Jesuits went straight
to the archbishop’s palace and informed their superiors of what had transpired during their first meeting with Rizal.
Frs. Balaguer and Vilaclara returned to Rizal around 3 o’clock in the afternoon and tried until sunset to persuade him
torecant. They were still not able to convince him to sign the retraction document. Their third meeting with Rizal took
place at 10 o’clock that night, and it was during this meeting that they showed Rizal the two retraction templates Fr. Pi
had given them.
Rizal wanted to emphasize that Philippine Masonry was not hostile to Catholicism and that Masonry in London did not
require its members to renounce their faith. The Jesuits allowed Rizal to revise the retraction template, and his final
version read, “I abominate Masonry as the enemy of the Church and reprobated by the same Church” (Cavanna 1956,
9). After making other minor changes to the draft, Rizal together with Señor Fresno, chief of the picket, and Señor
Moure, adjutant of the plaza signed the retraction letter before midnight. After which, Fr. Balaguer handed it over to Fr.
Pi, who in turn submitted it to Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda. On the other hand, Rafael Palma, a prominent
Mason, disputed the veracity of the document of the alleged retraction because it did not reflect Rizal’s true
character and beliefs. He regarded the resurrected retraction story as a “pious fraud”. Where, according to his analysis,
the retraction of Rizal was hear say with the following reasons: First, the documents of retraction were kept secret so
that no one except the authorities was able to see it that time. Secondly, when the family of Rizal ask for the
original copy of the document as well as the certificate of canonical marriage with Josephine Bracken, bot
petitions were denied. Third, Rizal’s burial was kept secret, in spite of what Rizal meant to the Filipinos and of what his
conversion meant, no masses were said for his soul or funeral held by Catholics. Not with standing that Rizal was
reconciled with the church, he was not buried in the Catholic cemetery of Paco but in the ground, without any cross or
stone to mark his grave. And, in the entry of the entry in the book of burials of the interment of Rizal’s body is not
made on the page those buried on December 30, 1896, instead he was considered among persons died impenitent
with no spiritual aid. Lastly, there was no moral motive for the conversion.
• Did Rizal really retract?
DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

THANK YOU
Group 5
Angelica Danan
Ej Andrea Cruz
Dennisse Shane Palabrica
Jana Maxine Guzman
Joana Joy Ariola