RETRACTED:

PRIMARY SOURCE:

 Letter of Rizal to his mother received on January 5, 1893

 Rizal have been going to the church every Sunday in Dapitan Shows that Rizal returned
to Church.
 Testimony of the eyewitness
 Father Balaguer who was with Rizal and presented the retraction format prepared by
Father Pio Pi, the superior Jesuit society in the PH before the execution, stated that on
Dec 29, 1896, day before execution, Rizal have accepted and signed a document.
 On May 13, 1935, Fr. Manuel A. Garcia found a document of Rizal’s retraction.
 After Rizal marriage, Rizal dedicated a Catholic devotional book to his two sisters, Josefa and
Trinidad, and wife Josephine, which in his dedication mentioned “to my dear and unhappy wife,
Josephine”. This shows a proof of marriage between the two.

SECONDARY SOURCE:

 Fr. Manuel A. Garcia account in his book, The Great Debate: Rizal Retraction, that Fr. Fr. Manuel
A. Garcia found the retraction letter including the marriage certificate of Rizal and Josephine.

NOT RETRACTED:

SECONDARY SOURCE:

 Documents were forged. According to online source, joserizal.ph maintained by Jose Rizal
University, the fact of document forgery was revealed by Fr. Balaguer himself. Fr. Balaguer said
that he couldn’t remember whose exact copy was the document and even Fr. Pio Pi couldn’t
verify it in his own statements. The copy of the retraction paper that was said to be signed by
Rizal was even kept in secret and was only published in newspapers who claimed to have seen
and read it.
 According to Ricardo Pascual, Ph. D, who was given permission by Archibishop Nozelada , to
examine the document, later concluded in his book “Rizal beyond Grave” that the document
presented was forgery.

PRIMARY SOURCE:

 When Rizal family requested for the original copy, it was said that it was lost. 39 years later, the
original copy was found in the archdiocesan archives. The documents caused more arguments
because of significant differences in the text of retraction documents
 No document of marriage between Rizal and Josephine. Rizal did not call Josephine as his “wife”
in his last letter of Mi Ultimo Adios. Rizal said “Adios, dulce estanjera, mi amiga, mi alegria”
 If Rizal retracted, his name should’ve appeared in the registry for Roman Catholics.
 3 copies of retraction: 1st copy year of 1890, 2nd 189C, 3rd 1896