RIZAL’S RETRACTION

Fr. Vicente Balaguer

- One of the Jesuit priests who visited Rizal during his last hours in Fort
Santiago
- Persuaded Rizal to denounce Masonry and return to the Catholic fold
- Claimed that he was the one who solemnized the marriage of
Josephine Bracken and Rizal hours before the execution

o 10am
 Fr. Balaguer and Fr. Vilaclara went to Fort Santiago
where the chapel cell of Rizal was
o 3pm
 Fr. Balaguer went to Ateneo to report the conversion of
Rizal to Father Viza and requested the retraction
formula
o 10pm
 Rizal wrote his own formula for his retraction
o 11pm
 Rizal finished writing
 The Declaration/Retraction of Rizal was signed by Senor
Fresno, Chief of Picket, and Senior Moure, Adjutant of
the Plaza

Fr. Pio Pi
- A Jesuit Superior in the Philippines during the time when Rizal was
executed
- Involved only in securing the retraction from the Archbishop of Manila
Bernardino Nozaleda
- Wrote another shorter retraction document

Rafael Palma

- Lawyer, writer and politician

- Author of Biografia de Rizal
- Thinks that Rizal’s conversion was a pious fraud
Austin Coates

- Compared Rizal to Gandhi, Tagore and Sun Yat-Sen – “remoulded the

thinking of a continent
- Of all the national leaders of Asia, Rizal was the most considerable,
balanced and far-seeing. Although the least known, Rizal was the most
remarkable. Rizal’s is the most documented life of any Asian of the 19 th
century, perhaps of any Asian ever.”
- Stated that Rizal made no retraction and that Rizal never married
Josephine Bracken