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    The Rizal Retraction

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    Divina Gracia Vibal Cielo
    Dr. Jose Rizal, a leader of the Philippine Revolution, was sentenced to death by the Spanish court. Some Jesuit priests claimed that in his last hours, they persuaded Rizal to renounce his Masonic beliefs and writings and convert back to Catholicism. However, two Rizalist scholars, Rafael Palma and Austin Coates, were skeptical of this reported retraction. Palma argued that the retraction was a "pious fraud" meant to undermine Rizal's influence, while Coates believed Balaguer's account was fraudulent and omitted important details that would damage the Church's case. The document examines primary sources on both sides of the debate around whether Rizal truly recanted his

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    The Rizal Retraction

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    Divina Gracia Vibal Cielo
    79 views11 pages
    Dr. Jose Rizal, a leader of the Philippine Revolution, was sentenced to death by the Spanish court. Some Jesuit priests claimed that in his last hours, they persuaded Rizal to renounce his Masonic beliefs and writings and convert back to Catholicism. However, two Rizalist scholars, Rafael Palma and Austin Coates, were skeptical of this reported retraction. Palma argued that the retraction was a "pious fraud" meant to undermine Rizal's influence, while Coates believed Balaguer's account was fraudulent and omitted important details that would damage the Church's case. The document examines primary sources on both sides of the debate around whether Rizal truly recanted his

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    Rizal Retraction

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    Dr. Jose Rizal, a leader of the Philippine Revolution, was sentenced to death by the Spanish court. Some Jesuit priests claimed that in his last hours, they persuaded Rizal to renounce his Masonic beliefs and writings and convert back to Catholicism. However, two Rizalist scholars, Rafael Palma and Austin Coates, were skeptical of this reported retraction. Palma argued that the retraction was a "pious fraud" meant to undermine Rizal's influence, while Coates believed Balaguer's account was fraudulent and omitted important details that would damage the Church's case. The document examines primary sources on both sides of the debate around whether Rizal truly recanted his

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    79 views11 pages

    The Rizal Retraction

    Uploaded by

    Divina Gracia Vibal Cielo
    Dr. Jose Rizal, a leader of the Philippine Revolution, was sentenced to death by the Spanish court. Some Jesuit priests claimed that in his last hours, they persuaded Rizal to renounce his Masonic beliefs and writings and convert back to Catholicism. However, two Rizalist scholars, Rafael Palma and Austin Coates, were skeptical of this reported retraction. Palma argued that the retraction was a "pious fraud" meant to undermine Rizal's influence, while Coates believed Balaguer's account was fraudulent and omitted important details that would damage the Church's case. The document examines primary sources on both sides of the debate around whether Rizal truly recanted his

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 11

    The Rizal Retraction

    Reported By: Shelly Colleen Trinidad


    Historical context
    • 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.
    • At the Luneta on December 30, 1896, accounts exist that Rizal
    allegedly retracted his Masonic ideals and his writings and
    reconverted to Catholicism following several hours of persuasion
    by Jesuit priests.
    The following primary sources are of two kinds: the first two are the official
    accounts as witnessed by the Jesuits who were instrumental in the alleged
    retraction of Rizal. The other two are critical analyses by two Rizalist scholars
    who doubted the story of retraction.
    Fr. Vicente Balaguer’s Statement
    Fr. Vicente Balaguer was one of the Jesuit priests who visited Rizal
    during his last hours in Fort Santiago and claimed that he managed
    to persuade Rizal to denounce Masonry and return to the Catholic
    fold. In an affidavit executed in 1917 when he had returned to Spain,
    Balaguer also claimed that he was the one who solemnized the
    marriage of Josephine Bracken and Rizal hours before the hero’s
    execution.
    Fr. Pio Pi’s statement
    Fr. Pio Pi was the Jesuit Superior in the Philippines during the time
    when Rizal was executed. In 1917, he issued the affidavit recounting
    his involvement in the alleged retraction of Rizal. Unlike Fr.
    Balaguer, he was involved only in securing the retraction document
    from the Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, and writing
    another shorter retraction document as well which was the one Rizal
    allegedly copied.
    Rafael Palma’s Critical Analysis
    • “ Rizal’s conversion was a pious fraud to make the people believe that the
    extraordinary man broke down and succumbed before the Church which he had
    fought. The Archbishop was interested in his conversion for political motives, and
    the Jesuits lent themselves as his instrument. The example of Rizal would have
    great resonance in the whole country and it was necessary to bolster the drooping
    prestige of religion with his abjuration. What if Rizal was a man of valor and
    convictions and his conversion would be unbelievable? So much the better. The
    interest of religion was above him. His aureole of glory had to be done away with
    if necessary. What did it matter? He was only an indio.”
    Austin Coates’ Critical Analysis
    • “Rizal believed that there was a strong likelihood of fraud, and that the
    prime mover in this world would be the friar archbishop.”
    • “Balaguer had the intelligence to perceived that everything depended on the
    speed and audacity with which he declared his success.”
    • “Balaguer had in fact damaged the Church’s case. Worse than this, he had
    unwittingly revealed his own fraud. In his account he made no mention of the
    Ultimo Adios.”
    END OF REPORT
    • DID RIZAL RETRACT?

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