CHAPTER 25

MARTYRDOM AT
BAGUMBAYAN
RIZAL’S PRISON CELL
INTRODUCTION:
■ After being court-martialed, Rizal returned to his cell in Fort Santiago to prepare his
rendezvous with destiny
■ •During his last 24 hours on earth – from 6:00 A.M. of Dec. 29 to 6:00 A.M. of Dec. 30,
1896 – he was busy meeting visitors which includes his family and friends
■ •He was also able to write his last poem – his final contribution for the emancipation of
the Filipino people.
■ DECEMBER 29,1896
■ 6:00 A.M. – Captain Rafael Rodriguez read Rizal's death sentence – he will be shot at
the back by firing squad at 7:00 A.M. inBagumbayan.
■ •7:00 A.M. – Rizal was moved to the prison chapel where he spent his last moments.
His first visitors were Jesuit priests.
■ .•7:15 A.M. – Rizal reminded Fr. Luis Viza the statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
whom he carved as a student in Ateneo.

■ Last hour of Rizal

■ DECEMBER 29,1896
■ 8:00 A.M. – Rizal had a breakfast with Fr. Antonio Rosell. After breakfast, his attorney,
Lt.Luis Taviel de Andrade came.
■ .•9:00 A.M. – Fr. Frederico Faura arrived. Rosell reminded the priest of his earlier
‘prophecy’about Rizal.
■ •10:00 A.M. – More Jesuit priests had visited him. After then, he was interviewed by
Santiago Mataix for the newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid.
■ DECEMBER 29,1896
■ 12:00 – 3:30 P.M. – Rizal was left alone in his cell. He took his lunch and continued
writing his farewell poem which he hid in an alcohol cooking stove. He also wrote his
last letter to Professor Blumentritt.
■ •3:30 P.M. – Father Vicente Balaguer returned to his cell and discussed with Rizal his
retraction letter.
■ DECEMBER 29,1896
■ •4:00 P.M. – Teodora Alonzo visited him. They had a very emotional encounter. Rizal
gave the alcohol cooking stove to Trinidad which contains his farewell poem. Several
priests have visited him afterwards.
■ •6:00 P.M. – Don Silvino Lopez, dean of the Manila Cathedral visited him.
■ •8:00 P.M. – Rizal had his last supper. He told Captain Dominguez that he forgave his
enemies including the military judges.
MI ULTIMO ADIOS
DECEMBER 29,1896
9:30 P.M. – Rizal was visited by Don Gaspar Cestano, fiscal of the Royal Audience DE
Manila.
■ •10:00 P.M. – The draft of the retraction letter sent by the anti-Filipino Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda was given by Fr.Balaguer to Rizal for his signature. He had
rejected it.
■ RETRACTION LETTER
■ Upon Rizal’s death, his supposedly ‘retraction letter’ became of one of the most
controversial documents in our history
■ •This ‘retraction letter’ allegedly contains his renunciation of the Masonry and his ‘anti-
Catholic religious ideas.
■ •Depending on whose side you are on, some Rizalists claims that it is fake while some
believe it to be genuine.
■ •There had been some evidences but so far these had only heated up the debate between
the twofactions.
■ DECEMBER 30,1896
■ 3:00 Am-Rizal heard mass, confessed his sins and took Holy Communion.
■ •5:30 A.M. – He took his last breakfast. After which he wrote his last letters for his
familyr, Paciano.
■ LETTER TO PACIANO

■ Now I am about to die, and it is to you I dedicate my last lines, to tell you how sad I am
to leave you alone in life, burdened with the weight of the family and our old parents.“”
■ DECEMBER 30,1896

■ 5:30 A.M-Josephine Bracken arrived together with Rizal’s sister, Josefa, with tears in
her eyes, bade him farewell. Rizal embraced him for the last time, and before she left,
Rizal gave her a last gift – a religious book, Imitation of Christ by Father Thomas
Kempis.
■ DECEMBER 30,1896
■ 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.
■ LETTER TO HIS FATHER
■ “My beloved Father, pardon me for the pain with which I repay you, for sorrows and
sacrifices for my education. I did not want it nor did I prefer it.Goodbye Father,
goodbye”
■ LETTER TO HOS MOTHER
■ “To my very dear Mother,Sra. Dona Teodora Alonso6 o’oclock in the morning,”
■ DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
■ At about 6:30 A.M., a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago, a signal to begin the death march
toBagumbayan.
■ •Rizal walked calmly with his defense counsel and two Jesuit priests at his sides.
■ •He was dressed elegantly in a black suit, black derby hat, black shoes, white shirt and black tie.
His arms were tied behind from elbow to elbow.
■ •There a lot of spectators lining the street from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan.
*As he was going through the narrow PostigoGate, Rizal looked at the sky and said to one of the
priests: “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.”
■ •While he was 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.

Death March to Bagumbayan

DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
■ MARTYRDOM OF A HERO
■ Rizal bade farewell to Fathers March andVilaclara and to his defender, Lt. Luis Tavielde
Andrade. Although his arms were tied, he had firmly clasped their hands in parting.
■ •One of the priests blessed him and offered him a crucifix to kiss.
■ •He requested the commander of the firing squad that he be shot facing them. His
request was denied for the captain had implicit orders to shoot him at his back.
• A Spanish military physician, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo, asked his permission to feel his
pulse. He was amazed to find it normal, showing that Jose 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 was exactly 7:03 in the morning –aged 35 years, 5
moths and 11 days.
MARTYRDOM OF HERO
■ *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 thoushalt take, pour’d out at need for thy sake, to dye
with its crimson the waking ray.”
■ It is interesting to not that 14 years before his execution, Rizal predicted that he would
die on December 30th. He was then a medical student in Madrid, Spain
LETTER TO HIS FAMILY ,DAPITAN (c.1884)

*To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to struggle, a struggle not only with
them but with oneself; with their passions, but also with one’s own.

-Jose Rizal
■ “There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves.“

-”Jose Rizal(Taken from ‘El Filibusterismo)’