RIZALS UNFADING GLORY JESUS CAVANNA

A U B R E Y F E Y

𝑹𝑰𝒁𝑨𝑳'𝑺 𝑼𝑵𝑭𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑮𝑳𝑶𝑹𝒀

Jose Rizal

José Protasio Rizal Mercado[7] y Alonso Realonda, popularly known as José Rizal (Spanish pronunciation: [xose risal] ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.

Early Life

• From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and could read and write at age 5.[14] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an

Organization La Solidaridad, La Liga Filipina illegitimate child!"[17] This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother

and a return to the "ideals of his fathers" which "did not diminish his stature as a great patriot; on the contrary, it increased that stature to greatness." [66] On the other hand, senator Jose Diokno stated, "Surely whether Rizal died as a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts nothing from his greatness as a Filipino... Catholic or Mason, Rizal is still Rizal – the hero who courted death 'to prove to those who deny our patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and our beliefs'."

Guzmán attributes the denial of retraction to "the blatant disbelief and stubbornness" of some Masons.[62] Supporters see in the retraction Rizal's "moral courage...to recognize his mistakes," [58][note 13] his reversion to the "true faith", and thus his "unfading glory,"

One witness was the head of the Spanish Supreme Court at the time of his notarized declaration and was highly esteemed by Rizal for his integrity.[63] Because of what he sees as the strength these direct evidence have in the light of the historical method, in contrast with merely circumstantial evidence, UP professor emeritus of history Nicolas Zafra called the retraction "a plain unadorned fact of history."

Historians also refer to 11 eyewitnesses when Rizal wrote his retraction, signed a Catholic prayer book, and recited Catholic prayers, and the multitude who saw him kiss the crucifix before his execution. A great grand nephew of Rizal, Fr. Marciano Guzman, cites that Rizal's 4 confessions were certified by 5 eyewitnesses, 10 qualified witnesses, 7 newspapers, and 12 historians and writers including Aglipayan bishops, Masons and anti-clericals.

Rizals Unfading Glory

• This book deals satisfactorily and systematically with all abjections
• and doubts raised during the last half-century regarding the return of the Hero of Bagumbayan to the Faith. It is conclusive.
• Written in very simple and readable language, Rizal's Unfading
• Glory presents indisputable documentary evidence for the conversion.
• No one with an unbiassed mind can fail to admit the conclusions
• drawn by Father Cavanna in his book. Even those who have hitherto
• withstood all arguments for the retraction and who have clung to
• the conviction that the document was a forgery, that the Jesuits
• who participated in the final drama of Rizal's life were deceivers,
• and that Rizal was never buried canonically, should now at last
• be satisfied with the evidence presented in the book we have under
• study.

Rizals Unfading Glory

• Rizcrl's Unfading Glory begins with a translation of the testimony
• presented in Piiiana's very famous volume Mun'd El Doctor Rizal
• Christiunamente? Although the English translation is somewhat inadequate in certain instances, because it is too literal and therefore
• unidiomatic, still one can see that the work has been very thorough,
• analytical and painstaking. No stone has been left unturned. Every
• possible angle, every possible detail, and every possible statement
• has be& meticulously checked and rechecked before its inclusion in
• the book, in order that the testimony may be truly definitive and
• convincing.

Rizals Unfading Glory

• The second part consists of a refutation of all the arguments
• so far presented against the retraction of Dr. Rizal. All the authors
• who have cast doubt upon the retraction, or have imputed fraud,
• are successfuHy answered. A catalog of all the documents mentioned as having been found by Rev. Manuel A. Gracia, C.M., in the archives
• of the Manila Archdiocese is presented, and this appendix is very
• comprehensive.
• Chapter XI1 of the book is the most significant in the volume
• because it states beyond shadow of doubt what so many detractors
• of the Jesuits and of those who believe in the conversion, have faiIed
• to see all along during the last half century. Chapter XI1 states
• and explains the secret of Rizal's conversion

Rizals Unfading Glory

• "How could Rizal with all his
• determination, after writing such explosive novels as Noli Me Tangere
• and El Filibusterismo, after exposing the immoral practices and questionable lives of some priests of the Philippines, after declaring himself
• a free-thinker, how could he have turned about in the last twentyfour hours of his life and become a Catholic?'
• Would not the retraction serve as a testimony of weakness and in effect neutralize all the
• transcendental and significant propaganda and patriotic work that
• he had done for the Philippines in the short span of his crowned life?
• And they continue to ask: "Why should he sign a retraction of
• his religious errors, knowing that the next morning he would die, as
• he had anticipated all along, in Bagumbayan field--on the same
• field where Gomez, Burgos and Zamora had ignominiously perished
• by the garrote?"

Rizals Unfading Glory

• This then is the answer to all the enemies of the Church and to all
• those that would deny the return of the Hero of Bagumbayan to
• the faith in which he was born and bred. He did return, and that
• is the fact, and this is the explanation. And no act of his life was
• performed for loftier motives and with clearer light. This is his
• unfading glory, here and hereafter.