Did Jose Rizal Retract? Essay

Dr. Jose Rizal has been a national iconic hero for over a hundred years. He has been the image of our countrys freedom, the epitome of nationalistic patriotism. He emanates martyrdom with every fiber of his being and everything else that he left the country to strive upon. His story has been narrated in countless books and articles. He became an extension of education where he was the main course in a classroom, an honorable feature of Rizal. His totality as a person, fundamentally as a Filipino has been studied a hundredfold by researchers and students alike.For years, the Filipino race glorified respect for Jose Rizal because of his sacrifices as a citizen, his beliefs as an unbiased propagandist, and all his talents that entertain been appreciated because of their effectiveness in the process of gaining equal rights as a united nation. However, his reputation as an unwavering bayani has been doubted due to sluggish issues that contradict the very core reason why we Filipinos l earned to gratify his efforts, his existence in our history. The issue of Jose Rizals so-called get inion has been around since twain Manila and Spanish newspapers published learning his retraction right later on his execution.In some sources, they state that Rizals alleged retraction did non really happen. These sources show that the friars who visited him within twenty four hours prior his execution convinced him to confess the sins they accused him of committing. 1The Jesuits, on the other hand, were with him practically every minute of the time, six priests spill in relays, usually two at a time, in an attempt to bring about Rizals conversion. 2The main motive, of which, is to make Rizal admit his errors against religion and retract them. If the friars of the future could state with authority that Rizals expressed views on the friars were not what he really believed, it would cast an element of doubt over everything he had written, fashioning people hesitate to believe it. At least seven Jesuits visited Rizal at various times during the course of the day.But Rizal stood his ground and even refused to mark his touching onto the recounting given to him declaring the statement of his execution. In spite of his conviction, he eventually submitted and signed for his death sentence. 3He was ordered by the judge to sign the notification of sentence as required by law. He refused to sign and was resigned to do so.In this issue of Rizals alleged retraction incident, the previously mentioned indicates the belief of Rizal not committing such declaration of withdrawal and confession. While the other stands for the contradicting, that of which claims Rizal of actually signing a statement of his retraction. There are sources indicating that there are proofs of Rizal not actually retracting. An example of such is his entombment. He was not buried within a Catholic cemetery and was listed as a suicide (criminal) case, a neglected proboscis along with the heap s of cadaver with unknown causes of death.If he did retract and admonished Masonry, then the church building, claiming his retraction and his reconciliation with the religion, would have had the decency of giving him a proper Catholic burial and declare his death under the list of Catholics, to acknowledge the confession the friars claimed they witnessed Rizal committed. The alleged retraction papers also only were revealed about thirty (30) years after Rizals death. A matter of concern was uprooted when two statements of the declaration were recognized, both of which had a great deal of differences. Some claim that one of these was fabricated, and some claim that the original copy aged and rotted in the grasp of the Spanish Catholic friars. 4What they saw was a copy done by one who could model Rizals hand opus while the original (almost eaten by termites) was kept by some friars.There are also those who strongly believe that Rizal could not have had any reason to retract, arguing that Rizal was a noble man who would not stoop so low as to follow those whom he initially was writing against. Such a believer is Gumersindo Garcia, Sr., M.D., stating 5I find it inconceivable that a man of his character with such devotion and patriotism to his country and, moreover, willingness to die for her would pall down in a moment and write the alleged retraction for no other reason than to abjure masonry and return to the Roman Catholic Church for fear of the damnation of his soul in case he did not do it. In my humble opinion, Rizal was a sincerely religious man who knew what he believed in and could not be cowed by threat of eternal damnation from anybody. Besides, he could remain a mason and a Catholic at the like time just as many masons in the PhilippinesI myself would want to believe that Rizal had not retracted. Since it is still a boiling issue for over farther too many years now, this just exemplifies the ambiguity of the information accumulated regarding this i ssue. If Rizal did retract, his pedestal as this countrys national hero basin attain and Filipinos can lose touch with the roots of their blood, with the thinking that our hero in actuality may have been a coward a liar, or any adjective that can tarnish his image of idealistic nature. We may not entirely understand Rizals complex personality, but our country can at least reflection back and appreciate the hardships our forefathers went through so that we, the children of this country can be treated as human beings with justice and equal rights. All we have to do now is to simply follow in their conviction and to not let their efforts be put to waste.1 An excerpt from The Life and Writings of Dr. Jos Rizal Chapter 16 Did Rizal Retract carve up 2 2 An excerpt from The Last Hours of Rizal by Coates, as cited by www.geocities.com/rizalretraction paragraph 3 3 An excerpt from The Last Hours of Rizal by Coates, as cited by www.geocities.com/rizalretraction paragraph 2 4 An excerpt fr om www.joserizal.ph The Retraction paragraph 25 5 A statement by Gumersindo Garcia, Sr., M.D., as cited by Maria Stella S Valdez, from the book Dr. Jose Rizal and the Writing of His Story