CHAPTER 25

MARTYRDOM AT
BAGUMBAYAN
After the court-martial, Rizal returned to his cell in fort
Santiago to prepare his rendezvous with destiny. During
his last 24hours on earth – from 6:00am December 29
to 6:00am. December 30, 1896– he was busy meeting
visitors, including Jesuit priests, Josephine Bracken and
members of his family a Spanish newspaper
correspondent (Santiago Mataix) some friends and
secretly finishing his farewell poem. As a Christian and
a hero-martyr, he called “Pearl of the orient Sea” in his
last Country. In his last poem in an article “unfortunate
Philippines” published in the Hongkong telegraph on
September 24, 1892.
 Last Hour of Rizal
At 6:00 am, December 29, 1896 Captain Rafael
Dominguez, who was designated by Gov. Gen. Camilo
Polavieja to take charge of all arrangements for the
execution of the condemned prisoner, read the death
sentence to Rizal– to be shot at the back by firing squad at
7:00 am in Bagumbayan (Luneta).
At 7:00 am an hour after the reading of the death sentence,
Rizal was moved to the prison chapel, where he spent his
last moments. His first visitors were Father Miguel Saderra
Mata (Rector of Ateneo Municipal), and Father Luis
Viza,Jesuit teacher.
At 7:15 A.M., Rector Saderra left. Rizal , in a jovial mood,
reminded Fr. Viza of the statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
which he had carved with his pen knife as an Ateneo student. Fr.
Viza, anticipating such reminiscene, got the statuette from his
pocket and gave it to Rizal. The hero happily received it and
placed it on his writng table.
At 8:00 A.M , Fr. Antonio Rosell arrived to relieve Father Viza.
Rizal invited him to to join him at breakfast, which he did. After
breakfast, Lt Luis Taviel de Andrade ( Rizal’s defense counsel)
came, and Rizal thanked him for his gallant services.
At 9:00 A.M , Fr. Federico Faura arrived . Rizal reminded him
that he said that (Rizal) would someday lose his head for writing
the Noli. “Father,” Rizal remarked, “You are indeed a prophet”.
At 10:00 A.M. (noon). Father Jose Vila clara(Rizal’s teacher at
the Ateneo) and Vicente Balaguer(Jesuit missionary in Dapitan
Who had befriended Rizal during the Latter’s exile) visited the
hero. After them came the Spanish journalist, Santiago Mataix,
who interviewed Rizal for the news paper El Heraldo de Madrid.
From 12:00 A.M. (noon) to 3:00 P.M Rizal was left alone In his
cell. He took his lunch, after which he was busy writing it was
probably during this time when he finished his farewell poem
and hid it inside his alcohol cooking stove ( not lamp as some
biographers erroneously assert) which was given to him as a gift
by Paz de Tavera. (wife of Juan Luna) during his visit to paris in
1890. at the same time he wrote his last letter to professor
Blumentritt (his best friend) in German, as follows.
Prof. Ferdinand Blummentritt:

My Dear Brother:
When you receive this letter, I shall be dead. Tomorrow at
seven, I Shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion
.
I am going to die with a tranquil, and never think ill of me.
Fort Santiago, December 29, 1896
(signed) Jose Rizal
Regards to the entire family, to Sra Rosa, Loleng, Conradito and
federico
I am leaving with a book for you as a last remembrance of
mine .
 At 3:30 pm, Father Balaguer returned to fort Santiago and
discussed with Rizal about his retraction of the anti- Catholic
ideas in his writings and membership in Masonry.
at 4:00pm Rizal’s mother arrived. Rizal knelt down before
her and kissed her hands, begging her to forgive him. Both
mother and son were crying as the guards separate them. Shortly
afterwards Trinidad entered the cell to fetch her mother. As they
were leaving, Rizal gave to Trinidad the alcohol cooking stove,
whispering to her in english: “THERE IS SOMETHING
INSIDE”. Trinidad understood because, she knew english
because rizal thaught her this language. This “SOMETHING”
was Rizal's farewell poem. So it came to pass the that she was
able to smuggle the hero’s last and greatest poem – a priceless
gem of Philippine literature.
After the departure of Dona Teodora and Trinidad, Fathers Vilaclara
and Estanislao March entered the cell,followed by Father Rosell.
At 6:00pm rizal received a new visitor, Don Silvino Lopez Tunon,
the dean of the Manila Cathedral. Fathers Balguer and March
left,leaving Vilaclara with rizal and Don Silvino.
At 8:00pm., Rizal had his last supper. He informed Captain
Dominguez who was with him that he forgive his enemies, including
the military judges who condemned him to death.
At 9:30pm, Rizal was visited by Don Gasper Cestano, the fiscal of
the royal Audiencia of Manila. As a gracious host, Rizal offered the
best chair in the cell. After a pleasant conversation, the fiscal left with a
good impression of Rizal’s intelligence and noble character.
 At 10:00pm of the night of December 29th, the draft of the
retraction sent by the anti-filipino Archbishop Bernardino
Nozaleda (1890-1903) was submitted by Father Balaguer to rizal
for signature, but the hero rejected it because it was too long and
he did not like it. According to father Balaguer’s testimony, he
showed Rizal a shorter retraction whuch was prepared by father
Pio Pi, Superior of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines, which
was accepted to Rizal. After making some changes in it, Rizal
then wrote his retraction, in which he abjured Masonry and his
religious idea which were anti-Catholic . This retraction of Rizal
is now a controversial document,
for the Rizal scholars, who are either Masons or Anti-Catholic, claim it to be a forgery,
while a catholic Rizalists believe it to be Genuine. This debate between two hostile
groups of Rizalists is futile and irrelevant, Futile in the sense that no amount of
evidence can convince the Masonic Rizalists that Rizal retracted and the Catholic
Rizalists that Rizal did not retract. As a famous saying goes: “For those who believe –
no justification is necessary; for the skeptics, whose criterion for belief is not their
minds but in their wills believe- no justification is possible”. It is likewise irrelevant
because not matter at all to the greatness of Rizal. Whether he retracted or not, the fact
remains that he was the greatness Filipino hero. This also applies to the other
controversy as to whether Rizal married Josephine Bracken before his execution or
not. Why argue on this issue. Whether or not Rizal married Josephine in Fort Santiago,
Rizal remains just the same – a hero-martyr. At 3:00 o’clock in the morning of
December 30, 1896, Rizal heard Mass confessed his sins, and took Holy Communion.
At 5:30 a.m., he took his last breakfast on earth. After this, he wrote two letters,
the first addressed to his family and the second to his older brother Paciano. The letter
to his sisters follows:
 To My Family,
I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, but someday I shall
have to die and it is better that I die now in the plenitude of my conscience.
Dear Parents, Brothers, and Sisters, Give thanks to God that I may
preserve my tranquility before my death. I die resigned, hoping that with my
death you will be left in peace. Ah! It is better to die than to live suffering.
Console yourselves.
I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meannesses of life and try to
live united in peace and good harmony. Treat your old parents as you would
like to be treated by your children later. Love them very much in my memory.
Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the
date of my birth, and of my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to
surround my grave with a fence, you can do so. No anniversaries. I prefer
Paang Bundok.
Have pity on poor Josephine.
Rizal’s last letter to Paciano is as follows:
My Dear Brother:
It has been for years and a half that we have not seen each other nor have we communicated
with each other. I do not think it is due to lack of affection on my part nor on yours, but because,
knowing each other so well, we do not need to talk to understand each other.
Now I am about to die, and it is to you that I dedicate my last lines, to tell you how sad I am
leave you alone in life, burdened with the weight of the family and our old parents.

I am thinking now how hard you have worked to give me a career; I believe I have tried not to
waste my time. Brother of mine: if the fruit has been bitter, it is not my fault, but the fault of
circumstances. I know that you have suffered much on my account, and I am sorry.
I assure you, brother, that I die innocent of this crime of rebellion. If my former writings have
contributed, I do not deny it absolutely; but then, I thought I have expiated for the past with my
deportation.
Tell our father I remember him, and how! I remember my whole childhood, of his affection and
his love. Ask him to forgive me for the pain that I have unwillingly caused him.

Your brother,
(signed) Jose Rizal
At 5:30 A.M., Josephine Bracken, accompanied by a sister of Rizal (Josefa),
arrived. Josephine, with tears in her eyes bade him farewell. Rizal embraced
her for the last time, and before she left, Rizal gave her last gift- a religious
book, imitation of Christ by father Thomas A Kempis, which he autographed:
To my dear unhappy wife, Josephine
December 30th 1896
Jose Rizal.
At 6:00 A.M., as the soldiers were getting ready for the death march to
Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his last letter to his beloved parents, as follows:
My beloved Father,
Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and
sacrifices for my education.
I did not want nor did I prefer it.
Goodbye, Father, goodbye. . . . Jose Rizal.
To my very dear Mother,
Sra. Doña. Teodora Alonso
6 o’clock in the morning, December 30, 1896. .. Jose Rizal.
 
DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN.
About 6:30 A.M., a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago, a signal to begin the death
march to Bagumbayan, the designated place for the execution. The advance guard of
four soldiers with bayoneted rifles moved. A few meters behind, Rizal walked calmly,
with his defense counsel (Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade) on one side and two Jesuit
priests (Father March and Vilaclara) on the other. More well-armed soldiers marched
behind him.
Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black suit, black derby hat, black shoes, white shirt
and black tie. His arms were tied behind from elbow, but the rope was quite loose to
give his arms freedom of movement.
To the muffled sounds of the drums, the cavalcade somnolently marched slowly. There
was a handful of spectators lining the street from Fort Santiago to the Plaza del Palacio
in front of the Manila Cathedral. Everybody seemed to be out at Bagumbayan, where a
vast crowd gathered to see how a martyr dies.
Going through the narrow Postigo Gate, one of the gates of the city wall, the
cavalcade reached the Malecon (now Bonifacio Drive), which was deserted. Rizal
looked at the sky, and said one of the priest: “How beautiful it is today, Father. What
morning could be more serene! How clear is Corregidor and the mountains of Cavite!
On mornings like this, I used to take a walk with my sweetheart”.
 MARTYRDOM AT
BAGUMBAYAN
(DECEMBER 30,1896)
While passing in front of the Ateneo, he saw the college
towers above the walls. He asked: is that the Ateneo,
Father?”
“Yes”, replied the priest.
They reached Bagumbayan Field. The spectators crowded a
huge square formed by soldiers. The cavalcade entered this
square. Rizal walked serenely to the place, where he was
told to stand. It was a grassy lawn by the shore of Manila
Bay, between two lamp posts.
 MARTYRDOM OF A HERO
Rizal knowing that his rendezvous with destiny was imminent, bade farewell to
fathers March and Vilaclara and to his gallant defender,
Tt. Luis taviel de Andrade. Although his arms were tied, he firmly clasped their
hands in parting. one of the priests blessed him and offered him a crucifix to kiss.
Rizal reverently bowed his head and kissed it. Then he requested the commander of
the firing squad, that he be shot facing the firing squad. His request was denied, for
the captain had implicit orders to shoot him in the back.
Reluctantly, Rizal turned his back to the firing squad and faced the sea. A Spanish
military physician, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo, asked his permission to feel pulse,
which request was graciously granted. Dr. Castillo was amazed to find it normal,
showing that Rizal was not afraid to die.
The death ruffles of the drums filled the air. Above the drum-beats, the sharp
command “fire” was heard, and the guns of the firing squad barked. Rizal, with
supreme effort, turned his bullet-riddled body to the right, and fell on the ground
dead- with face upward facing the morning sun. it exactly 7:03 in the morning when
he died in the bloom of manhood- aged 35 years, five months and 11 days.
Rizal died as he described in his farewell poem. Third stanza:
“I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou salt take,
To dye with its crimson the waking ray”

It is also interesting to note that fourteen years before his execution, Rizal
predicted that he would die on December 30th.
He was then a medical student in Madrid, Spain. The entry in his diary reads
as follows:
 
January 1, 1883
Two nights ago, that is 30 December, I had a frightful nightmare. When I
almost died. I dreamed that, imitating an actor dying on stage, I felt vividly
that my breath was failing and I was rapidly losing my strength. Then my
vision became dim and dense darkness enveloped me- they are pangs of
death.
 
 AFTERMATH OF A HERO-
MARTYR’S DEATH.
At the time when the bullets of Spain’s firing squad killed
Dr. Rizal, the Spaniards- residents, friars (Jesuit not
included), corrupt officials (including Governor Polavieja)
exulted with sadistic joy, for Rizal, formidable champion of
Filipino freedom, was gone. In fact. Immediately after the
hero’s execution the Spanish spectators shouted “Viva
España!” “ Muerte a los Traidores”. (“Long Live Spain! “
Death to the Traitors!”) and the Spanish Military Band,
joining the jubilance over Rizal’s death, played the gay
Marcha de cadiz.
Poor bigoted Spaniards of no vision! They were fully unaware of
history’s inexorable tides. For the execution of rizal presaged the
foundation of an independent nation. True that the Spanish
bullets which killed Rizal destroyed his brain. But the libertarian
ideas spawned by his brain destroyed the Spanish rule in the
Philippines. As Cecilio Apostol, greatest Filipino epic poet in
Spanish, aptly rhapsodized:
“Rest in peace in the shadows of oblivion,
Redeemer of a country in bondage!
In the mystery of the grave, do not cry,
Heed not the momentary triumph of the Spaniard
Because if a bullet destroyed your cranium,
Likewise your idea destroyed an empire!”
By his writing, which awakened Filipino
nationalism and paved the way for the
Philippine Revolution, he proved that “the pen is
mightier than the sword”. As a many-splendored
genius, writer, scientist, and political martyr, he
richly deserves history’s salute as the national
hero of the Philippines.