Chapter - 4 Rizal’s Education in
Ateneo:
The Jesuit’s Legacy
Topics:
❖ The Antecedent Events to Rizal’s Life in Ateneo
❖ Rizal under the tutelage of the Jesuits
❖ Rizal’s Early writings on religion and education
Intended Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, the learners are expected to:
✓ Determine the antecedent events to Rizal’s life in ateneo;
✓ Appraise Rizal’s education in Ateneo;
✓ Evaluate Rizal’s early writings on religion and education
Required Readings:
1. Rizal’s Reminiscences, chapter IV, 1872-1875
2. “Through Education the Motherland Receives Glory” 3. “The
Intimate Alliance between Education and Religion”.
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THE ANTECENDENT EVENTS TO RIZAL’S LIFE IN ATENEO
Rizal’s beautiful memories of his childhood in Calamba were dimly
shadowed by the cruelty of the uniformed Spanish soldiers across the bay. As he
walked during twilight hours of summertime, Rizal, accompanied by his favorite
black dog Berganza, witnessed the Guardia Civil Lieutenant had his daily activity
of injuring some unarmed and innocent people of the village.
In his biography, Rizal wrote:
We saw no restraint put upon brutality. Violent acts and other abuses were
committed daily… I asked myself if, in the lands which lay across the lake, the
people lived in this same way. I wondered if there they tortured any countryman
with hard and remorseless whips simply on doubt. Did they regard the home? Or
on the other hand ever there likewise, so as to live in harmony, would on need to
pay off despots? (Memories, p.85)
Although Rizal was still young, he showed deep concern and grieved
deeply over the sad and depressing situation of his country. The Spanish tyranny
awakened young Jose’s heart to make a decision to fight tyranny and vindicate
the many victims of cruelty. Strongly affected with the disgusting picture of agony
of the Filipino, Rizal vowed with strong determination to dedicate his life to his
country.
GOMBURZA Execution
On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workers
of the Cavite Arsenal rose in violent mutiny under the leadership of Sgt. La
Madrid, a Filipino sergeant. The mutiny was caused by the abolition of the usual
privileges of the soldiers and workers, in addition to not being exempted from
tribute and forced labor, called polo y servicio at the time. However, the mutiny
was suppressed after two days when reinforcement troops from Manila arrived.
This incident was used by the Spanish authorities to give an order to liquidate
Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora for advocating the
secularization movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes, and their
supporters Atty. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Jose Ma. Basa, and Atty. Antonio Ma.
Regidor. The Archbishop pleaded for clemency because of their innocence but he
was denied. On the sunrise of February 17, 1872, by order of Governor General
Rafael de Izquierdo, the three priests were executed through garrote, a method
of execution by strangulation with an iron collar. The manner of execution was
deeply mourned by the Rizal family and many other Filipinos.
Father Burgos was a friend, and a teacher of Paciano. Enraged by the
execution, he quit his studies in Manila and returned to Calamba where he told
the news to Jose Rizal, who was only eleven years old. Once again, this event
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aroused Rizal’s indignation and vowed to fight against the evils of Spanish tyranny.
He swore to avenge the cruelties that his brother’s friend and the two priests had
suffered.
Later, Rizal dedicated his second novel, El Filibusterismo to the three
priests.
It was said that Rizal who was inspired by what the word “filibustero”
connoted in relation to the happenings in his time, and saddened by the tragic
execution of the three martyred priests, gave the title El Filibusterismo to his
second novel. In honor of the memory of the three martyred priests, Rizal
dedicated the book to them.
Rizal inscribed in the dedication page: “In memory of the three martyred
priests: Don Mariano Gomez, Don Jose Burgos and Don Jacinto Zamora, Executed
in the Field of Bagumbayan on February 17, 1872.” (Note that in the dedication
page, Rizal wrote February 28, 1872.)
The Arrest and Release of Teodora
During two years of José's stay in the Ateneo, his mom lay in the Santa
Cruz jail. Teodora was blamed for supposedly scheming with her sibling Jose
Alberto to harm the last's better half. At that point she was discharged for an
explanation that uncovered more obviously than any time in recent memory how
little equity existed in that period. The Governor General, Rafael Izquierdo
happened to visit Calamba. Some young ladies danced to delight the governor.
One of these young ladies was so beautiful and did her means so charmingly that
the Governor General called her to his side and asked the little girl what present
he be able to give her. In response, the charming little girl said without hesitation
“I want you to release my mother from prison, if this is not too much to ask from
you.” The Governor General, true to his words of promising what the little girl
would ask for, the Governor General ordered: “Release the mother of this young
lady!” Soledad was the little girl and that her mother she asked to be released is
Teodora Alonso.
The Execution of Gomburza and the detainment of the mother were
frightful stuns for a hopeful youthful scholar to persevere through all at once, and
they consumed ineradicably into his spirit. "Under the feeling of a horrendous
wrong. An incredible remainder he appeared to be a desolate and rather
despairing figure. An inclination developed upon him that the adversities of his
kin were to be a mind-blowing matter.
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RIZAL UNDER THE TUTELAGE OF THE JESUITS
On June 10, 1872, Jose, accompanied by his brother Paciano, took the
entrance examination in different subjects at the College of San Juan de Letran
and passed them all. However, when he returned to Calamba to attend a town
fiesta, his father who wanted him to study at Letran changed his mind and
decided to enroll him in Ateneo.
Upon Jose’s return to Manila, he was again accompanied by his brother to
Ateneo de Municipal. At first, he was refused admittance by Fr. Magin Fernando
– the school registrar in the said school for two reasons: 1) he was already late
for registration, and 2) he was so frail and sickly, aside from being too small for
his age. With the aid of the nephew of Father Burgos, in the person of Father
Manuel Xerez-Burgos, Jose was finally admitted. (Zaide, p. 28)
Since their family name Mercado had been under suspicion of the Spanish
authorities Jose enrolled in Ateneo under the surname “Rizal”. His brother
Paciano had used their surname Mercado in his studies at the College of San Jose
and the authorities knew that Paciano was Father Burgos’s favorite student and
confidant.
Ateneo was managed by the Jesuits. The framework was further
developed than different schools during that time. The directions were
unbending and the educators were taskmasters. Ateneo offered subjects in the
humanities, physical culture, and science. Beside the scholarly subjects, the
school offered courses in farming, trade, mechanics, and surveying. Strict
guidance was accentuated and students were required to go to masses each
morning.
The students were divided into two camps: the internos were made out
of those students boarding in school and externos were the non-boarders. The
internos, known as the "Roman Empire" and the externos, known as the
"Carthaginian Empire" were consistently in rivalry with one another in school
exercises. The best student in each camp was known as the emperor, a position
which each individual from the camp needed to accomplish and keep up.
Students of Ateneo were required to wear their uniform comprising of
trim texture pants and striped cotton coat materials called rayadillo, which got
mainstream among the Filipinos. "I dressed like the rest, that is, I put on a coat
with an instant tie." Later, it inspired the uniform during the first day of the First
Philippine Republic.
The task of the Jesuits in Philippine educational system is significant. After
they were ousted from the archipelago in 1768, the Jesuits stayed torpid until
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members returned in 1859. At the point when the Jesuits reappeared to convert
the people of Mindanao. They were additionally solicited to assume
responsibility from the Ateneo school. By 1865, Ateneo was a secondary school
that offered thorough courses practically identical to collegiate scholastics.
Ateneo was viewed as the best school in the Philippines as a result of the
thorough scholarly benchmarks of the Jesuits.
Following the unbending orderly propensities which he had gained from his
father and which were instructed by his Jesuit instructors, he arranged a
timetable with the goal that he would not lose a single hour: studying and
reading until four p.m.; four to five, work out; five to six social and random
commitments. This cautious husbanding of his time table started to show results
nearly swiftly.
He started at the base of the school, however within a month he was
"Emperor of Carthaginian". In Ateneo, the battle for academic supremacy was
done through constant clash between two empires: The Roman and the
Carthaginian. It was this war before long brought the young Rizal triumph and
prizes. Toward the end of the primary quarter he got "Excellent".
Because of the calendar José was following, he has additional time for
reding. According to Craig, the first foreign book read by Jose Rizal was “The
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.” This allowed him to remember the
sufferings of his mother in jail and of his homeland. Everywhere throughout the
Philippines were conditions more regrettable than those which Dumas had
portrayed. (Craig, p. 57)
Be that as it may, the book which initially started to respond to his life
question was Dr. Feodor Jagor's Travels in the Philippines. Jagor was a German
naturalist who had visited the Philippines fifteen years prior and had made some
astute and even prophetic remarks. His book seriously reprimanded the Spanish
system: "Government restraining infrastructures, disrespectful dismissal and
disregard were the central purposes behind the defeat of Spain's assets. Similar
causes undermine ruin to the Philippines. It was at this point that Jose Rizal
started the education that would set his political thinking.
Towards the end of one week, he was advanced and remained around
early afternoon at the Colegio de Sta. Isabel paying there three pesos. He lived
with a minister. After a month, he was already Emperor. Rizal was glad to receive
a religious print for an award. For the first quarter he won a first prize with the
grade of Excellent, but he was disgusted by some words uttered by his professor.
After this, Rizal would not like to concentrate in his study, as a result, Rizal got a
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grade of “accessit” in all his subjects. This means that he got a grade of Excellent
but without any first prize. It appeared that Rizal was likewise touchy in his
conduct with regards to the behaviors of his professors. Despite the fact that he
didn't endeavor hard to get a prize, his studiousness and knowledge was reflected
from his capacity to maintain high grades in the class.
After the school term, Rizal spent his get-away at his old hometown. He
always remembered his experience about being miserable in light of the fact that
their mother was not yet with them. IT was also during this vacation that Rizal
had the chance to visit Teodora. Rizal never told anyone in the family about this
visit. Rizal happily surprised her mother by telling his academic achievements.
At youthful age, Rizal's dissatisfactions and bitterness were not on his
scholarly life yet the best impact upon him was the lawful mistreatment of his
mother, who was guiltless to this wrongdoing. The wrathful Spanish authorities
had utilized their capacity and authority that the spouse of Francisco Mercado
Rizal was treated as a lawbreaker and held jail for a long time in light of his activity
for humiliating them in his old neighborhood. Because of this Spanish legal foul
play the children of Francisco endured so much passionate anguish. Essentially,
Rizal who was one of the most youthful, love his mother who for the most part
visited her in the cell of the Spanish position.
After the vacation, Rizal needed to come back to Manila to enlist for the
second-year course and to search for a landlord inside the walled city. He was at
that point burnt out on living outside the city so he discovered one at Magellan's
Street no.6, where lived an old woman called Doña Pepay. She had a daughter,
also a widow, with four children: Jose, Rafael, Ignacio, and Ramon.
For Rizal nothing extraordinary happened to him this year, his professor
was the same as the one year before. He had other classmates three of whom
had been his classmates in Biñan. Rizal constantly displayed his academic
supremacy which he won a medal in this year.
For Rizal nothing phenomenal transpired for the current year, his teacher
was same to the one year prior. He had different classmates three of whom had
been his classmates in Biñan. Rizal constantly demonstrated his amazing scholarly
exhibition, which he won a medal in that year.
When he was in third year, Rizal had demonstrated dutifulness and
dependable student as he was reaching the age of adolescent. Despite the fact
that he believed that landlord was exceptionally severe to follow the normal
hours, he valued that and even to the degree that he implored and played with
the landowner's kids. It must be fascinating to realize that Rizal was a decent kid
in any event, when he was small kid living in Calamba and Biñan. This was likewise
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the most joyful snapshot of Rizal in light of the fact that his mother was coming
out free, cleared and vindicated by the legitimate abuse made by her by the
Spanish authorities. (Although, some historians tell different perspective on he
releases of the Teodora through the dancing Soledad)
Rizal's last year of studies at Ateneo from 1876-1877 turned out to be
progressively productive. He exceeded expectations in all subjects and picked up
acknowledgment as the most splendid Atenean of his time and the "pride of the
Jesuits." He graduated with most noteworthy respect making his parents,
siblings, really glad for him. His academic records in Ateneo were all excellent in
all subjects. The five years in the Ateneo were a constant exhibition of splendid
educational triumphs, which made José Rizal the pride of the Jesuits. Here is his
record
1872 1874-75
Latin – 3 Excellent
SUBJECTS RATINGS
Spanish Excellent
Arithmetic Excellent Greek Excellent
General History Excellent
1872-73 History of Spain and Excellent
Philippines
Latin 1 Excellent
Arithmetic and Algebra Excellent
Spanish Excellent
Greek Excellent Rhetoric and Poetry Excellent
French Excellent
1873-74
Geometry and Trigonometry Excellent
Latin – 2 Excellent 1876-77
Spanish Excellent Philosophy -1 Excellent
Mineralogy & Chemistry Excellent
Greek Excellent Philosophy – 2 Excellent
Physics Excellent
Geography Excellent
Botany & Zoology Excellent
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He didn't just complete and finish well in scholastic investigations, but on
the other hand was dynamic in extra-curricular exercises. Being the emperor, he
was also an active member of the religious society - the
Marian Congregation, and a devotee of Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception, the school patroness. He was likewise a member of the Academy for
Spanish Literature and the Academy of Natural Sciences and a lot of extra-
curricular activities of which just students of remarkable academic performances
were qualified.
According the Ambeth R. Ocampo, Filipino revisionist historian, a famous
essayist and general debunker of local history, recommends, "we should never
hypothesize that Rizal graduated valedictorian or the highest among his
classmates" (Ocampo, 1990)
RIZAL’S EARLY WRITINGS ON RELIGION AND EDUCATION
Rizal, while in Ateneo, formed into a top-notch student. He was recognized
as a unique thinker, an innovative researcher and an inborn leader. During his
Ateneo years, Rizal spent every single minute meaningfully and productively. He
not just turned into the pioneer of his kindred students, yet he additionally took
up fencing and acrobatic. (De Witt, p.82)
The most perceptible change in Rizal's education was his fluency in the
Spanish language. When Rizal started school, he was just decently fruitful in
talking and composing Spanish. Be that as it may, Rizal buckled down, read
continually and eventually Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez commented that
he was getting capable in the language. Now Rizal started writing in Spanish. The
majority of his celebrated works were written in that language.
It was father Sanchez who perceived Rizal's ability as a writer and urged him
to rehearse this specialty. Rizal's poems as a student are impressionistic and
amateurish by nature, yet they contain the seeds of his future patriotism. Rizal
enjoyed himself being a member of the Society of Muses. However, Rizal realized
that he was expressing nationalistic fervors in his poems. His poems were also
voicing that censured the Spanish for their flaws and indiscretions.
Similarly, significant was Father Jose Villaclara who educated Rizal in the
study of Philosophy and sciences. Father Villaclara lamented that Rizal was
wasting his time with literature, specifically in poetry. He built up a logical
interest in youthful Rizal that went on until his demise. It was Father Vilaclara
who persuaded Rizal to take a "logical mentality" about existence. Vilaclara's
classes urged Rizal to communicate his early national thoughts. He was resolved
to serve his people. That public service would characterize the key components
of Philippine national inclination.
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A poem composed during the Ateneo years proposes his craving to fill in as
a local patriot. Rizal contends that Education is a fundamental piece of the
national character in his poem “Through Education the Fatherland Receives
Glory"
Once more, while in Ateneo, (1876) he made a poem entitled "Alianza intima
la religion y la educacion" (An Intimate Alliance among Religion and Education)
wherein Rizal communicated the significance of religion in education and to him,
education without God isn’t real education.
The Jesuits didn't imagine Rizal as a scholarly radical. With his great habits,
downplayed method for talking and composing and his sharp looking, frequently
respectful character, he seemed like most other students. Truth be told, when
Father Sanchez read his poem, he failed to realize the budding of a nationalistic
leader.
An assessment of Rizal's memories as students, propose that the Ateneo years
were developmental ones. He created logical aptitudes as well as a basic feeling
of writing in the Spanish language. In the long run, Rizal would exceed
expectations as a researcher, a fiction author, a patriot and a clinical specialist.
All these would have been unimaginable without his initial training. Throughout
the years numerous fantasies have come up about
Rizal's scholastic ability.
Rizal's dedication to the Mother and Son were additionally showed when
he composed during his Ateneo days two separate poems. One was titled "Al
Niño Jesus" (To the Child Jesus), and the other was "A La Virgen Maria" (To the
Virgin Mary). One night as Rizal was visiting his parents in Calamba, he ventured
out into the dull road as a man was passing. He neglected to see that the
bystander was one of the Civil Guards, thus didn't salute. Abruptly a sword struck
him over the back. At the point when he recuperated from the sword wound,
which luckily was not fatal, he griped to the authorities. He was told that the
Civil Guard had performed his responsibility, and that, rather than whining, the
casualty should be grateful that he was alive. It might have been while he was
convalescing that he composed his forlorn work to the Virgin Mary, - the first sad
poem he had composed
The poem addressed to the Virgin Mary has all the earmarks of being a hymn.
Its last three lines help one to remember the song, "Mother of Christ" in the
Baclaran church novena. (Tallo, p. 6)
Ode to Jesus, another poem which was written in 1875, was short and
considered of eight verse only, which based on the Spanish verse standard more
likely than not impacted Rizal, might be named octava real. The poem was later
translated by the late Hon. Leon Ma. Guerrero.
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The poem “In Memory of My Villa was written in 1876. Other than these
compositions, Rizal additionally composed "A Farewell Dialog of the Students"
not long before he graduated from the Ateneo. Rizal obtained the degree of
Bachelor of Arts with most noteworthy distinctions on March 23, 1877. He also
wrote a tribute on the event of the birthday of the reverend Fr. Pablo Ramon –
the Rector of Ateneo that time.
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