3. 1877-1878 Rizal finished the first year course in Philosophy and
Letters then he transferred to the medical course.
Rizal study at the University of Santo Tomas but he remained loyal
to Ateneo, where he completed the vocation course in surveying.
As a Thomasian, he won more literary laurels, had other romances
with pretty girls and fought against Spanish students who insulted the
brown Filipino Students.
ATENEO – administered by the Jesuits.
UST – administered by the Dominicans.
4.
5. MOTHER’S OPPOSITION TO HIGHER EDUCATION
Doña Teodora opposed the idea of sending Rizal to
University to pursue Higher Education because she was
aware what happened to Gom-Bur-Za. She told her
husband: “Don’t send him to Manila again; he knows
enough. If he gets to know more, the Spaniards will cut
off his head.”
Despite her mother’s opposition, Don Francisco
told Paciano to accompany Rizal to Manila. Rizal himself was
surprised by his mother’s opposition whom he knows a woman of
education an culture.
6. RIZAL ENTERS THE UNIVERSITY
April 1877 Rizal who was then nearly 16 years old, matriculated in the
UST, taking the course on Philosophy and Letters.
Reasons:
1. his father it
2. he was “still uncertain as to what career to
pursue”.
7. • Father Pablo Ramon - Rector of the Ateneo –
who have been good to him during his student
days in that college, asking advice on the choice
of a career.
• First year term (1877-1878) – Rizal studied
Cosmology, Metaphysics,
• Theodicy, and History of Philosophy.
• 1878-1879 Rizal took up medical course upon
the advised of Ateneo’s Rector to study
medicine.
• Reason: To be able to cure his mother’s growing
blindness.
8. FINISHES SURVEYING COURSE IN ATENEO (1878)
• While Rizal was studying at UST, he also studied in Ateneo. He
took the vocational course leading to the title of perito
agrimensor (expert surveyor).
• Vocational courses: agriculture, commerce, mechanics, and
surveying.
• Rizal excelled in all subjects in the surveying course, obtaining
gold medals in agriculture and topography.
9. • At the age of 17, he passed the final exam in the surveying course,
but he could not be granted the title as surveyor because he was
below age.
November 25, 1881 – the title was issued to Rizal.
• Extra-curricular activities:
1. President, Academy of Spanish Literature.
2. Secretary, Academy of Natural Sciences.
3. Secretary, Marian Congregation.
10. ROMANCES WITH OTHER GIRLS
Rizal was a romantic dreamer who liked to sip
the “nectar of love”. His sad experience with his first
love, Segunda Katigbak, had made him wiser in the
ways of romance.
“Miss L” – fair with seductive and attractive eyes.
Two reasons for Rizal change of heart:
1. The sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh in his heart
2. His father did not like the family of “Miss L”.
11. Several months later, during his sophomore year at the UST, he
boarded in the house of Doña Concha Leyva in Intramuros. The next-
door neighbors of Doña Concha were Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday
Valenzuela from Pagsanjan, Laguna, who had a charming daughter
named Leonor.
Leonor Valenzuela – a tall girl with a regal bearing.
- Rizal send her love notes written in invisible
ink. The ink consisted of common table salt
and water).
Orang – pet name of Leonor Valenzuela.
12. In 1879, at the start of Rizal’s junior year at the University,
he lived in “Casa Tomasina”, at No. 6 Calle Santo Tomas,
Intramuros. His landlord-uncle, Antonio Rivera had a pretty
daughter Leonor.
Leonor Rivera
• Rizal’s cousin from Camiling.
• a student at La Concordia College, where Soledad (Rizal’s youngest
sister) was then studying.
• born in Camiling, Tarlar on April 11, 1867.
• a frail, pretty girl “tender as a budding flower with kindly, wistful
eyes”.
“Taimis” – Leonor’s pseudonym in order to camouflage their
intimate relationship from their parents and friends.
13. VICTIM OF SPANISH OFFICER’S BRUTALITY
One dark summer vacation night of 1878 in Calamba
when Rizal was a freshman Medical student at the UST,
he experience his first taste of Spanish Brutality. He
was walking in the street and dimly perceived the
figure of a man while passing him not knowing that the
was a Lieutenant of the Guardia Civil due to darkness.
He did not salute nor say a courteous “Good Evening”.
With a snarl, he turned upon Rizal, whipped out his
word and brutally slashed the latter on the back.
14. Rizal reported the incident to General Primo
de Rivera, the Spanish governor general of the
Philippines at that time. But nothing came out
because he was an Indio and the abusive
lieutenant was a Spaniards.
Later, in a letter to Blumentritt, dated March
21,1887, he related: “I went to the Captain-
General but I could not obtain justice; my wound
lasted two weeks”.
15. “TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH”
Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary Lyceum) of Manila 1879
- A society of literary men and artists.
- Held a literary contest and offered prize (Silver Pen, feather shaped
decorated with gold ribbon) for best poem.
A la Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth
- Rizal’s prize-winning and inspiring poem of flawless form.
Reasons why Rizal’s Poem was a classic in Philippine literature:
1. It was the first great poem in Spanish written by a Filipino, whose
merit was recognized by Spanish literary authorities.
2. It expressed for the first time the nationalistic concept that the
Filipinos, and not the foreigners, were the “fair hope of the Fatherland”.
16. “THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS” (1880)
Artistic-Literary Lyceum
> opened another literary contest (to both Filipinos and
Spaniards) to commemorate the 4th centennial of the death
of Cervantes.
Cervantes
> was a Spain’s glorified man-of-letters and famous author of
Don Quixote.
Rizal submitted an allegorical drama entitled “El Consejo de los
Dioses” (The Council of the Gods).
17. The Council of Gods
> was based on the Greek classics.
> aided by Fr. Rector of the Ateneo.
Winners:
1st Place: Jose Rizal (19 years old)
Prize: Gold Ring engraved the bust of Cervantes
2nd Place: D.N. del Puzo (Spanish)
The allegory established a parallel among Homer, Virgil, and Cervantes.
The Gods discuss the comparative merits of these great writers and finally
decide to give the trumpet to Homer, the lyre to Virgil, and the laurel to
Cervantes.
18. OTHER LITERARY WORKS
Zarzuela – Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig)
> Staged by the Ateneans on December 8, 1880 of the annual celebration of
the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Ateneo.
A Filipinas (1880)
> A sonnet for the album of the Society of Sculptors. In this sonnest, Rizal
urged all Filipino artists to glorify the Philippines.
Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma (1879)
> A poem and was declaimed by an Atenean, Manuel Fernandez, on the night
of December 8, 1879 in honor of the Ateneo’s Patroness.
Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon (1881)
> Rizal wrote this poem as an expression of affection to Father Pablo Ramon,
the Ateneo rector, who had been so kind and helpful to him.
19. RIZAL’S VISIT TO PAKIL AND PAGSANJAN
Summer of May 1881
> Rizal went to a pilgrimage to the town of Pakil,
famous shrine of the Birhen Maria de los Dolores.
> He was accompanied by his sisters: Saturnina,
Maria, and Trinidad and their female friends.
> They took a casco (flat-bottom sailing vessels)
from Calamba to Pakil, Laguna, and stayed at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Regalado, whose
son Nicolas was Rizal’s friend in Manila.
20. > Rizal and his companions were fascinated by the
famous Turumba (people dancing in the streets during
the procession in honor of the miraculous Birhen Maria
de los Dolores).
> Rizal was infatuated by a pretty girl colegiala,
Vicenta Ybardolaza, who skillfully played the harp at
the Regalado home.
Reasons why Rizal and his party made a side trip to
the neighboring town of Pagsanjan:
1. It was the native town of Leonor Valenzuela, one of
Rizal’s girlfriends in Manila.
2. To see the world famed Pagsanjan Falls.
21. CHAMPION OF FILIPINO STUDENTS
• Rizal was the champion of the Filipino students in their fights against the
arrogant Spanish students.
• In 1880, Rizal founded the secret society of Filipino students in the UST
called “Compañerismo” (Comradeship), whose members were call
“Companions of Jehu”, after the valiant Hebrew general who fought the
Amaeans.
• Galicano Apacible (Rizal’s cousin from Batangas) was the secretary.
• Fierce encounter near the Escolta in Manila were Rizal was wounded on
the head, and tenderly washed and dressed by Leonor Rivera in his
boarding house “Casa Tomasina”.
22. UNHAPPY DAYS AT THE UST
He was unhappy at this Dominican institution of higher learning
because :
1. The Dominican professors were hostile to him.
2. The Filipino students were racially discriminated against by the
Spaniards.
3. The methods of instruction was obsolete and repressive.
Result:
Rizal , the most brilliant graduate of the Ateneo, failed to win
high scholastic honors.
25. DECISION TO STUDY ABROAD
After finishing the fourth year of his medical course, Rizal
decided to study in Spain. He could no longer endure the rampant
bigotry, discrimination, and hostility in the UST.
He dis not seek his parents permission and blessings to go abroad,
because he knew that they, especially his mother, would
disapprove it.
