MARTYRDOM AT BAGUMBAYAN

• After being court- martialed, Rizal returned to his cell in Fort Santiago to prepare his rendezvous with destiny.

• He was also able to write his last poem- his final contribution for the emancipation of the Filipino people.

Last Hours of Dr. Jose P. Rizal• December 29, 1896

• 6 am: Capt. Rafael Rodriguez was assigned by Gov. Gen. Camilo Polavieja to read Rizal’s death sentence,- to be shot at Bagumbayan by a firing squad at 7am the next day.

• 7am: Rizal moved to the prison chapel, where he spent his last moments.

• 7:15am: Rizal reminded Fr. Luis Viza the statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus whom he carved as a student in Ateneo.

• 9am: Fr. Federico Faura arrived. Rizal reminded him that he said that (Rizal) would someday lose his head for writing the Noli. “Father, you are indeed a prophet.”

• 10am: Fr. Jose Villaclara and Fr. Vicente Balaguer visited Rizal then discussed with him his retraction letter. Santiago Mataix, a Spanish journalist, followed for the newspaper, El Heraldo de Madrid.

• 11am- 3pm: Rizal stayed in his cell. He was busy writing poems and letters. He hid his farewell poem in an alcohol cooking stove. He also wrote his last letter to Professor

Blumentritt.

• 4pm: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.

Mi Ultimo Adios

• 6pm: Don Silvino Tunon, the Dean of the Manila Cathedral visited Rizal.

• 8pm: Rizal had his last supper. He told Captain Dominguez that he forgave his enemies including the military judges.

• 9:30pm: Rizal was visited by Don Gaspar Cestano, fiscal of the Royal

Audience de Manila.• 10pm: The draft of the retraction letter sent by the anti- Filipino Archbishop Bernardo Nozaledawas given by Fr. Balaguer to Rizal for his signature. He had rejected It.

• 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 two factions.

•December 30, 1896•3am: Rizal heard Mass,

confessed his sins and took Holy Communion.

•5:30am: He took his last breakfast. After which he wrote his last letters for his family and his brother, Paciano.

• Rizal said, “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.”

• 5:30am: Josephine Bracken arrived together with Rizal’s siters, Josefa, with tears in her eyes, bade him farewell.

Rizal embraced her for the last time, and before she

left, Rizal gave her a last gift, a religious book, “Imatition of Christ” by Father Thomas Kempis.

• 6am: As the soldiers were getting ready for the death march to Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his last letter to his beloved parents.

• “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.”

• “To my very dear Mother, Sra. Dona Teodora Alonso, 6 o’clock in the morning”

• 6:30 am: a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago to signal the death march to Bagumbayan.

• Rizal walked calmly with his defense counsel and two Jesuit priest 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 Postigo Gate, 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 Ateneo, he saw the college towers above the walls. He asked: “Is that Ateneo, Father?” Yes”, replied the priest.

• Rizal bade farewell to his Fathers March and Villaclara and to his defender, Lt. Luis Taviel de 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 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, 5 months and 11 days.

Rizal being shot at Bagumbayan

• “I die just when I see the dawn break, through the gloom of night, the herald the day; And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take, pour’d out at need for thy sake, to dye with its crimson the waking ray”

• It is interesting to know that 14 years before his execution, Rizal predicted that he would die on December 30th. He was then a medical student in Madrid, Spain.