JOSE RIZAL

RETRACTION

GROUP OF PILOR
WHAT IS A RETRACTION?

- A PUBLIC STATEMENT MADE ABOUT

AN EARLIER STATEMENT THAT
WIDRAWS, CANCELS, REFUTES, OR
REVERSES THE ORIGINAL STATEMENT
OR CEASES AND DESISTS FROM
PUBLISHING THE ORIGINAL
STATEMENT.
WHAT WAS THE RETRACTION
ABOUT?
THE LETTER DATED DECEMBER 29, 1896, WAS
SAID TO HAVE BEEN SIGNED BY THE
NATIONAL HERO HIMSELF, RIZAL
RETRACTED BECAUSE THE CHURCH
WOULD NOT ALLOW HIS MARRIAGE TO
JOSEPHINE BRACKEN UNLESS HE
RETRACTED HIS MASONIC AFFILIATION.
“I declare myself a catholic and in this Religion in which I was born and educated I
wish to live and die.

I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and conduct
has been contrary to my character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and
confess whatever she teaches and I submit to whatever she demands. I abominate
Masonry, as the enemy which is of the Church, and as a Society prohibited by the
Church. The Diocesan Prelate may, as the Superior Ecclesiastical Authority, make
public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scandal which
my acts may have caused and so that God and people may pardon me.”

Manila 29 of December of 1896 Jose Rizal - The Retraction Letter.

MAIN ISSUES CONCERNING THE RETRACTION

• RIZAL RETRACTED HIS MASONIC

AFFILIATION .
• RIZAL WROTE AND SIGNED THE
RETRACTION.
• RIZAL'S MARRIAGE TO JOSEPHINE.
DID RIZAL RETRACT HIS MASONIC
AFFILIATION ?
• RIZAL STATED IN HIS RETRACTION ...
“I ABOMINATE MASONRY AS THE ENEMY
OF THE CHURCH AND REPROBATED BY
THE SAME “CHURCH” (RIZAL, “THE
RETRACTION LETTER”: 1996)”.
DID RIZAL WROTE AND SIGNED THE
RETRACTION?
• “THAT STYLE IS AS SIMPLE AS MINE. DON'T BOTHER,
FATHER, TO READ IT ALL. DICTATE WHAT OUGHT TO
PROFESSOR EXPRESS, AND I SHALL WRITE, MAKING IN
ANY CASE SOME REMARKS.” (RIZAL, 1896)

• DECLARATION OR RETRACTION WAS SIGNED TOGETHER

WITH DR. RIZAL BY SEÑOR FRESNO, CHIEF OF THE
PICKET, AND SEÑOR MOURE, ADJUTANT OF THE PLAZA.
DID RIZAL AND JOSEPHINE GOT
MARRIED ?
• FATHER BALAGUER TESTIFIED HE MARRIED RIZAL AND
JOSEPHINE ON DEC. 30 AT 6 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING .

AFTER HIS MARRIAGE, RIZAL DEDICATED A CATHOLIC

DEVOTION BOOK, DE LA IMITACION DE CRISTO, TO JOSEPHINE.
THE DEDICATION READ AS FOLLOWS: “TO MY DEAR AND
UNHAPPY WIFE JOSEPHINE”. ( GARCIA1964)
ANTI-RETRACTIONISTS
AFTER ANALYZING SIX MAJOR DOCUMENTS OF RIZAL, RICARDO
PASCUAL CONCLUDED THAT THE RETRACTION DOCUMENT, SAID TO
HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN 1935, WAS NOT IN RIZAL'S
HANDWRITING .

SENATOR RAFAEL PALMA, A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES AND A PROMINENT MASON,
ARGUED THAT A RETRACTION IS NOT IN KEEPING WITH RIZAL'S
CHARACTER AND MATURE BELIEFS . HE CALLED THE
RETRACTION STORY A “PIOUS FRAUD”. OTHERS WHO DENY THE
RETRACTION ARE FRANK LAUBACH, A PROTESTANT MINISTER,
AUSTIN COATES, A BRITISH WRITER AND RICARDO MANAPAT
DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.
PRO-RETRACTIONISTS
A. EYEWITNESS
• FATHER VICENTE BALAGUER - FIRST EYEWITNESS
• FATHER SANCHEZ VISITED RIZAL IN DAPITAN AND PERSUADED
HIM TO RETRACT.
• FATHER PATELLS HAD EXCHANGED SEVERAL LONG LETTERS
WITH RIZAL FOR THE SAME PURPOSE WITH FATHER SANCHEZ.
• DECLARATION OR RETRACTION WAS SIGNED TOGETHER WITH DR.
RIZAL BY SEÑOR FRESNO, CHIEF OF THE PICKET, AND SEÑOR
MOURE, ADJUTANT OF THE PLAZA.
• FORMER LIEUTENANT OF THE INFANTRY - SECOND EYEWITNESS
B. THE MARRIAGE OF RIZAL AND JOSEPHINE
THE ACT OF RETRACTION IS ESTABLISHED BECAUSE
WHILE STILL IN DAPITAN THE CONDITION IMPOSED ON
RIZAL WAS: “NO RETRACTION , NO MARRIAGE”.

FATHER BALAGUER, THE PRIEST WHO HAD MARRIED

THEM TESTIFIED UNDER OATH THAT :

AT 6 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING OF DEC. 30, JOSEPHINE

BRACKEN AND ONE OF RIZAL'S SISTERS, ARRIVED
CRYING BITTERLY. WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE
WARDEN OF THE FORT, I PROCEEDED TO THE MARRIAGE
OF RIZAL AND JOSEPHINE .
C. THE CATHOLIC DEVOTION BOOKS.
AFTER RIZAL HAD RETRACTED , HE READ A BLUE PAMPHLET
ENTITLED, ACEPTACIÓN DE LA MUERTE, CONTAINING THE
"ACTS OF FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY". AFTER THIS, HE WENT
TO CONFESSION AND RECEIVED HOLY COMMUNION.

D. THE PRIEST AND CRUCIFIX.

RIZAL WAS ACCOMPANIED BY TWO CATHOLIC PRIESTS TO
HIS EXECUTION GROUND.
- IT IS THE COMMON AND USUAL PRACTICE FOR CATHOLICS
TO KISS THE CRUCIFIX BEFORE THEY DIE. RIZAL DID SO AND
KISSED THE CRUCIFIX OFFERED TO HIM BY THE TWO
CATHOLIC PRIESTS BEFORE HE WAS SHOT.
E. FR. MANUEL A. GARCIA : BEST EVIDENCE .

IN FR. MANUEL A. GARCIA'S (AN ARCHDIOCESAN

ARCHIVIST BACK IN 1935) ACCOUNT OF EVENTS, HE CAME
ACROSS A BUNDLE OF DOCUMENT ENTITLED
“MASONERIA” IN THIS BUNDLE, HE CAME ACROSS THE
DOCUMENT OF RETRACTION WHICH HAD BEEN LONG
LOST .
 ARCHBISHOP O'DOHERTY, DESPITE THE APPROVAL OF TEODORO KALAW
(THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY), WAS NOT SATISFIED WITH THE
MERE DOCUMENT ITSELF SO HE REQUESTED PROF. H. OTLET BEYER
(PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY) IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
TO STUDY AND EXAMINE THE RIZAL RETRACTION DOCUMENT. HE
EXAMINED RIZAL'S SUPPOSED HANDWRITING IN THE DOCUMENT OF
RETRACTION AND COMPARED IT WITH 150 LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS THAT
WERE WRITTEN IN RIZAL'S HANDWRITING .

-THERE IS NOT THE SLIGHTEST DOUBT THAT EVERY WORD ON THE

DOCUMENT OF RETRACTION WAS WRITTEN BY JOSE RIZAL, EXCEPT FOR
THE SIGNATURES OF THE OTHER WITNESSES . THE WHOLE DOCUMENT
WAS FOUND TO BE WRITTEN BY RIZAL IN HIS NORMAL HANDWRITING.
 DR. JOSE DEL ROSARIO ALSO COMPARED THIS PIECE OF
DOCUMENT WITH NUMEROUS LETTERS OF DR. JOSE RIZAL. DR. JOSE
DEL ROSARIO DID NOT FIND ANYTHING IN RIZAL'S RETRACTION
WHICH DOES NOT PROCLAIM THAT THE RETRACTION IS IN FACT.
HE POINTS OUT THE MOST SALIENT INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTIC
POINTS OF IDENTITY BETWEEN THE HANDWRITING OF THE
RETRACTION AND THE UNDISPUTED HANDWRITING OF RIZAL.
IMPORTANT POINTS

IT SHOULD ALSO BE POINTED OUT THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE;

RIZAL DID NOT FIGHT THE CATHOLIC RELIGION; HE FOUGHT

THOSE WHO ABUSED THAT RELIGION.

RIZAL WAS NOT AGAINST THE CATHOLIC RELIGION BUT WAS

AGAINST THE MANNER THE CATHOLIC RELIGION WAS PRACTICED
BY THE FRIARS IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING HIS TIME .
THANKYOU FOR
LISTENING!!!