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I. Rizal's Retraction: IntroductionThis section presents contrasting views on the retraction by biographers of Rizal.The team deemed itproper to present the views in the exact words of the scholars so as to avoid misinterpretations.

Read on and judge for yourself whether Rizal retracted or not.

Interested readers may submit their materials for inclusion in this site or you may advise us of yourown web site on this topic for linkage. Any contribution shall be deeply appreciated since it will help infurther enlightening our students on this controversial issue.

II. Texts of Rizal's Retraction

The original discovered by !r. "anuel #arcia$ %.". on "ay &'$ &()*

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir.

Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habidocontrario a mi cualidad de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somentoa cuanto ella manda. bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como !ociedad

prohibida por la Iglesia. "uede el "relado #iocesano, como utoridad !uperior $clesiastica hacer publica esta manifastacion espontanea mia para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podidocausar y para que #ios y los hombers me perdonen.

Manila %& de #eciembre de '(&)

*ose Rizal

*efe del "iquete*uan del +resno

yudante de "laza $loy Moure

Translation (English)

I declare myself a catholic and in this Religion in hich I as born and educated I ish to live and die.

I retract ith all my heart hatever in my ords, ritings, publications and conduct has been contrary

to my character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and I confess hatever she teaches and Isubmit to hatever she demands. I abominate Masonry, as the enemy hich is of the Church, and as a!ociety prohibited by the Church. -he #iocesan "relate may, as the !uperior $cclesiastical uthority,ma e public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scandal hich my acts mayhave caused and so that /od and people may pardon me.

Manila %& of #ecember of '(&)

*ose Rizal

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La Voz Espaola !ece"#er $% &

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir.

Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habido

contrario a mis cualidades de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y mesomento a cuanto ella manda. bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia y comosociedad prohibida por la Iglesia. "uede el "relado #iocesano, como autoridad superior eclesiasticahacer publica esta manifastacion espontanea para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podidocausar y para que #ios y los hombers me perdonen.

Manila, %& de #iciembre de

'(&)0*ose Rizal

*efe del "iquete*uan del +resno

yudante de "laza $loy Moure

*r. +alaguer's text ,anuar- &

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir. Me retracto detodo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habido contrario a micalidad de hijo de la Iglesia. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somento a cuanto $lla manda.

bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como !ociedad prohibida por la misma Iglesia.

"uede el "relado diocesano, como utoridad superior eclesiastica hacer publica esta manifastacionespontanea mia, para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podido causar, y para que #ios y loshombers me perdonen.

Manila, %& de #iciembre de

'(&)0*ose Rizal

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/nal-sis Rizal's Retraction

At least four texts of Rizal+s retraction have surfaced. The fourth text appeared in ,l Imparcial on theday after Rizal+s execution- it is the short formula of the retraction.

The first text was published in a /oz ,spa0ola and 1iaro de "anila on the very day of Rizal+s

execution$ 1ec. )2$ &'(3. The second text appeared in 4arcelona$ 5pain$ on !ebruary &6$ &'(7$ in thefortnightly magazine in a 8uventud- it came from an anonymous writer who revealed himself fourteenyears later as !r. 4alaguer. The original text was discovered in the archdiocesan archives on "ay &'$&()*$ after it disappeared for thirty9nine years from the afternoon of the day when Rizal was shot.

:e know not that reproductions of the lost original had been made by a copyist who could imitateRizal+s handwriting. This fact is revealed by !r. 4alaguer himself who$ in his letter to his formersuperior !r. ;io ;i in &(&2$ said that he had received an exact copy of the retraction written and signedby Rizal. The handwriting of this copy I don+t know nor do I remember whose it is. . . bra$ and was followed by 5r. :. Retana in his biography of Rizal$ /ida y,scritos del 8ose Rizal with the addition of the names of the witnesses taken from the texts of theretraction in the "anila newspapers. !r. ;i+s copy of Rizal+s retraction has the same text as that of !r.4alaguer+s exact copy but follows the paragraphing of the texts of Rizal+s retraction in the "anilanewspapers.

Regarding the original text$ no one claimed to have seen it$ except the publishers of a /oz ,spanola.That newspaper reported= 5till more- we have seen and read his ?Rizal+s@ own hand9written retraction

which he sent to our dear and venerable Archbishop >n the other hand$ "anila pharmacist !. 5tahlwrote in a letter= besides$ nobody has seen this written declaration$ in spite of the fact that Buite anumber of people would want to see it. !or example$ not only Rizal+s family but also thecorrespondents in "anila of the newspapers in "adrid$ 1on "anuel Alhama of ,l Imparcial and 5r.5antiago "ataix of ,l

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,spa0ola@ had the original while the 8esuits had only the imitations.

:e now proceed to show the significant differences between the original and the "anila newspaperstexts of the retraction on the one hand and the text s of the copies of !r. 4alaguer and !*r. ;io ;i on theother hand.

!irst$ instead of the words mi cualidad ?with u @ which appear in the original and the newspapertexts$ the 8esuits+ copies have mi calidad ?with u @.

5econd$ the 8esuits+ copies of the retraction omit the word %atolica after the first Iglesias which arefound in the original and the newspaper texts.

Third$ the 8esuits+ copies of the retraction add before the third Iglesias the word misma which is notfound in the original and the newspaper texts of the retraction.

!ourth$ with regards to paragraphing which immediately strikes the eye of the critical reader$ !r.4alaguer+s text does not begin the second paragraph until the fifth sentences while the original and thenewspaper copies start the second paragraph immediately with the second sentences.

!ifth$ whereas the texts of the retraction in the original and in the manila newspapers have only fourcommas$ the text of !r. 4alaguer+s copy has eleven commas.

5ixth$ the most important of all$ !r. 4alaguer+s copy did not have the names of the witnesses from thetexts of the newspapers in "anila.

In his notarized testimony twenty years later$ !r. 4alaguer finally named the witnesses.

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signed by Rizal. The handwriting of this copy I don+t know nor do I remember whose it is$ and I evensuspect that it might have been written by Rizal himself.

In his own word Buoted above$ !r. 4alaguer said that he received two original texts of the retraction.The first$ which came from !r. ;i$ contained the changes which Eou ?!r. ;i@ made - the other$ which isthat of the Archbishop was the exact copy of the retraction written and signed by Rizal

?underscoring supplied@. !r. 4alaguer said that the exact copy was written and signed by Rizal buthe did not say written and signed by Rizal and himself ?the absence of the reflexive pronounhimself could mean that another person9the copyist9did not@. rlac$ who was agent and a mistress of a friar.Rizal fell in love with 8osephine and wanted to marry her canonically but he was reBuired to sign aprofession of faith and to write retraction$ which had to be approved by the 4ishop of %ebu. 5panishlaw had established civil marriage in the ;hilippines$ ;rof. %raig wrote$ but the local government hadnot provided any way for people to avail themselves of the right...

In order to marry 8osephine$ Rizal wrote with the help of a priest a form of retraction to be approved bythe 4ishop of %ebu. This incident was revealed by !r. Antonio >bach to his friend ;rof. Austin %raigwho wrote down in &(&J what the priest had told him- The document ?the retraction@$ inclosed withthe priest+s letter$ was ready for the mail when Rizal came hurrying I to reclaim it. Rizal realized?perhaps$ rather late@ that he had written and given to a priest what the friars had been trying by allmeans to get from him.

Ceither the Archbishop nor !r. ;i saw the original document of retraction. :hat they was saw a copydone by one who could imitate Rizal+s handwriting while the original ?almost eaten by termites@ was

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kept by some friars. 4oth the Archbishop and !r. ;i acted innocently because they did not distinguishbetween the genuine and the imitation of Rizal+s handwriting.

Reference= http=KKwww.joserizal.ph

http://www.joserizal.ph/http://www.joserizal.ph/

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1avid Angelo . RazonJA%2J

Texts of Rizal's RetractionThe original discovered by !r. "anuel #arcia$ %.". on "ay &'$ &()*

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir.

Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habidocontrario a mi cualidad de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somentoa cuanto ella manda. bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como !ociedad

prohibida por la Iglesia. "uede el "relado #iocesano, como utoridad !uperior $clesiastica hacer publica esta manifastacion espontanea mia para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podidocausar y para que #ios y los hombers me perdonen.

Manila %& de #eciembre de '(&)

*ose Rizal

*efe del "iquete*uan del +resno

yudante de "laza $loy Moure

Translation (English)

I declare myself a catholic and in this Religion in hich I as born and educated I ish to live and die.

I retract ith all my heart hatever in my ords, ritings, publications and conduct has been contraryto my character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and I confess hatever she teaches and Isubmit to hatever she demands. I abominate Masonry, as the enemy hich is of the Church, and as a!ociety prohibited by the Church. -he #iocesan "relate may, as the !uperior $cclesiastical uthority,ma e public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scandal hich my acts mayhave caused and so that /od and people may pardon me.

Manila %& of #ecember of '(&)

*ose Rizal

La Voz Espaola !ece"#er $% &

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir.

Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habidocontrario a mis cualidades de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y mesomento a cuanto ella manda. bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia y como

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sociedad prohibida por la Iglesia. "uede el "relado #iocesano, como autoridad superior eclesiasticahacer publica esta manifastacion espontanea para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podidocausar y para que #ios y los hombers me perdonen.

Manila, %& de #iciembre de

'(&)0*ose Rizal*efe del "iquete*uan del +resno

yudante de "laza $loy Moure

*r. +alaguer's text ,anuar- &

Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y morir. Me retracto de

todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habido contrario a micalidad de hijo de la Iglesia. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somento a cuanto $lla manda. bomino de la Masonaria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como !ociedad prohibida por la misma Iglesia.

"uede el "relado diocesano, como utoridad superior eclesiastica hacer publica esta manifastacionespontanea mia, para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podido causar, y para que #ios y loshombers me perdonen.

Manila, %& de #iciembre de

'(&)0*ose Rizal

Reference= http=KKwww.joserizal.ph

http://www.joserizal.ph/http://www.joserizal.ph/