CHAPTER 3:

SCHOOL LIFE AT
ATENEO AND
THE UNIVERSITY
OF SANTO
TOMAS
RIZ411 – LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL
SCHOOL LIFE AT ATENEO AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
SANTO TOMAS

Jose, accompanied by his brother; Paciano the eleven-year old boy from
Calamba went to Manila on June 10, 1872 to take the entrance examinations
and enrolled in the Ateneo Municipal, a college under the supervision of
Spanish Jesuits. This college was a rival of the Dominican-owned College of
San Juan de Letran, formerly the Escuela Pia (Charity School), an educational
institution established by the City government in 1917 for poor boys in
Manila. When the Jesuits returned to the Philippines in 1768 after almost a
century of exile, the management of the Escuela Pia whose name was
changed to Ateneo Municipal, and later on became the Ateneo de Manila.
SCHOOL LIFE AT ATENEO AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

It should be noted that, at the outset, Jose took the entrance examinations on
Christian doctrine, arithmetic, and reading at the College of San Juan de Letran and
passed them all. He returned contentedly to Calamba after having undergone for the
first time the trial of examinations and stayed a few days with his family. At first, Don
Francisco, wished him to study at Letran, but later, changed his mind and decided to
send Jose to the Ateneo de Manila.
The Jesuits opened the Ateneo tov everyone without any racial or financial
discrimination. However, screening of applicants was strictly observed. Rizal
reminisced in his Memories de un estudiante de Manila that he was almost denied
admission because of poor health and short stature. At the time Jose studied in the
Ateneo, this educational institution was located in Intramuros, within the walls of old
Manila.
RIZAL’S FIRST DAY IN ATENEO

When the school year 1871 – 1872, opened in June, Rizal like any other neophytes in a new
school environment was fill of excitement and joy. He was dressed like the others with coat
and tie. He went to the school chapel to hear Mass and preyed fervently to God for guidance.
When the Mass finished, he went to his class, where he saw a great number of boys,
Spaniards, mestizo, and Filipinos, and a Jesuits who was the professor.
His first professor in the Ateneo was Father Jose Bech. Rizal related how he became
“emperor” at the Ateneo. In Jesuit colleges, two empires were established to stimulate the
students, a Roman “emperor” and a Carthaginian or Greek “empire” constantly at war for
supremacy in the class, whose leading posts are won by means of challenges which are
successful if the opponent committed three mistakes. Rizal was placed at the tail-end of the
line because he was a newcomer and knew little Spanish, although he could already make
some sense of it.
RIZAL’S FIRST DAY IN ATENEO

After a week, he improved his class standing. After a month, he was already
“emperor” because he was the brightest in the class. Because of his excellent
performance, he was awarded a saint’s picture as his prize.

To improve his Spanish at that time, he spent the noon recesses in Sta. Isabel
College where he spent three pesos for Spanish lessons.
“MY FIRST INSPIRATION”

This poem was written by Rizal in Ateneo as a expression of good wishes

which was full of endearing filial affection on his mother’s birthday. The
translation from Sapanish to English was by Leon Ma. Guerrero, Jr.
 MY FIRST INSPIRATION

Why do the scented bowers And why does the crystal

In fragnant fray
Rival each other’s flowers
This festive day?
Why is sweet melody
bruited In the sylvan dale,
Harmony sweet and fluted
Like the nightingale?
Why do the birds sing
so In the tender grass,
Flitting from bough to bough
With the winds that pass?
Sweet mother, they celebrate
spring Run among the
flowers While lullaby
zephyrs sing Like its crystal
showers?
I see the dawn in the
East With beauty
endowed. Why goes she
to a feast In a carmine
cloud?
Your natal day
The rose with
her scent
innate, The
bird with his
lay.
MY FIRST INSPIRATION

The murmurous spring this

day Without alloy,
Murmuring bids you
always To live in joy.

While the crystalline murmurs

glisten, Hear you the accents
strong Struck from my lure,
listen!
To my love’s first song.
 Being a brilliant student, Rizal obtained excellent grades and received many prizes
offered by the school. He was very active in co-curricular activities. He participated in
the literary and religious affairs, took lessons in solfegio and in drawing and painting
under Don Agustin Saez. He read many good books like Alexandre Duma’s The Count of
Monte Cristo and Cesar Cantus’ Universal History. His prize-winning pieces were “To
the Filipino Youth” (a poem) and “The Council of God’s (an allegory). He also wrote a
melodrama entitle “Along the Pasig” which was staged at the Ateneo auditorium on
December 8, 1880.
RIZAL’S POEM ON EDUCATION

Rizal wrote this poem when he was only fifteen years old. At an early age, he was already aware of the
value of education and its significant role in the intellectual, physical and moral development of an
individual in particular and the progress and welfare of a nation in general.

He believed that the ultimate goal of education is the effective participation of the individual in the total
process of social interaction in its society. This interpersonal relation maybe the improvement of basic
knowledge, intellectual and manual skills, power of reasons and criticism, acquisition of desirable values
and attitudes, power of creativity and innovation, cultural appreciation, sense of responsibility and
understanding of the modern world.

The translation from Spanish to English was by Dr. Frank C. Laubach.

 THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGH

So education without stint or measure gives

The vital breath of prudent Security and peace to lands in which she lives
Education Instills a virtue of
enchanting power,
She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her
shower.
And as the zyphyr's gentle exhalation
Rivives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace,
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race.

For her a mortal man will gladly part

With all he has, will give his calm repose,
For her are bom all sciences and all arts,
That brews of men with laurel fair
enclose
As from the towering mountain's lofty heart.
The purest current of the stremlet flows,
 Where education reigns on lofty
seat Youth blossoms forth with
vigor and agility, His error
subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of
nobility. She breaks the neck of
vice and its deceit, Black crime turs
pale at Her hostility,
The barbarous nations She knows how
to tame, From savages create heroic
fame.

And as the spring doth sustenance

bestow On all the plants, on
bushes in the mead, Its placid
plenty goes to overflow
And endlessly with lavish love to
feed The banks by which it wanders,
gliding slow, Supplying beauteous
nature's every need. So he who
prudent Education doth procure
The towering heights of honor will secure.
THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGH

From out his lips the watercrystal right.

pure, Of perfect virtue shall not cease That gives to life its surest consolation.
to go.
With careful doctrines of his faith made
sure, The powers of evil he will overthrow,
Like feaming waves that never long endure,
But perish on the shore at every blow;
And from his good example other men shall learn
Their upward steps toward the heavenly paths to
turn.

Within the breast of wretched humankind

She lights the living flame of goodness
bright; The hands of fiercest criminal doth
bind;
And in these breast will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find, --
Those souls She sets aflame with love of
 And as the mighty rock aloft may Within their noble, faith-enraptured nation.
tower Above the center of the
stormy deep
In scom of storm, or fierce Sou’wester’s
power Or fury of the waves that raging
sweep,
Until, their first mad hatred, spent, they
cower And, tired at last subside and fall
asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the
hand, Invincible shall guide the reigns of
motherland.

On sapphires shall his service be

engraved,
A thousand honors to him by his land be
granted; For in their bosoms will his noble
sons have saved Luxuriant flowers his
virtue transplanted;
And by the love of goodness ever
laved. The lords and governors will
see implanted To endless days the
Christian Education;
THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGH

And s in early morning we behold

The ruby sun pour forth resplendent
rays; And lovely dawn her scarlet and her
gold, Her brilliant colors all about her
sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways
She offers our dear motherland the
light That leads us to immortal glory’s
height.
Rizal developed an insatiable appetite in reading books fiction and non-fiction. He read romantic
novels and lives of great men who had left remarkable achievements with interest and fervor.

One of his professors that inspired him to study with seal and enthusiasm and write poetry was
Father Francisco Sanchez which he described,”a great educator and scholar.”Young Jose was deeply
impressed with fine qualities of this professor who possessed an acuteness of mental discernment
and soundness of mind. Rizal had the deepest affection and esteem for this professor whom he
considered a consummate teacher.

“To the Filipino Youth” was written by Rizal when he was eighteen years old at the University of
Santo Tomas in connection with literary contest sponsored by Liceo Artistico-Literario, a
society of men interested in literature and arts. This literary contest was participated in by Filipinos
and Spanish-mestizos. The board of judges were composed of Spaniards who were impressed by
Rizal’s poem and awarded the first prize.
The prize-winning poem, A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) is an poem
and explixit expression of love of country. Rizal appealed to the youth to rise from apathy and
enjoined them to create beautiful verses with art and science “to break the chain that has long
bound the poetic genius of the country.”

The classic poem gives a nationalistic and eloquent manifestation that the Philippines is the
“fatherland of the Filipinos” and not the Spaniards who were born in our country.

The translation from Spanish was by Charles E. Derbyshire.

 TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH
Theme: “Grow, O Timid Flower

Hold high the brow serence, flight, O youth, and there untie
O youth, where now you The chains that heavy lie, Your spirit
stand. free to bright.
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be
seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!

Come now, thou genius

grand, And bring down
inspiration; With thy mighty
hand,
Swifter than the winds volation,
Raise the eager mind to higher
station.

Come down with pleasing light

Of art and science to the
 See how in
flaming zone Thou, whose voice divine
Amid the Rivals Philomel’s refrain,
shadows And with varied line
thrown, The Through the night
Spaniard’s holy benign
hand Frees mortality from pain.
A crown’s
resplendent
band Proffers to
this Indian land.

See how in
flaming zone
Amid the
shadows
thrown, The
Spaniard’s holy
hand
A crown’s
resplendent
band Proffers to
this Indian land.
 TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH
Theme: “Grow, O Timid Flower

Thou, who by sharp To spread around the flame.

strife Wakest thy mind And in victory acclaim,
to life; And the memory Through wider spheres the human name.
bright Of thy genius’s
light
Makest immortal in its strength.

And thou, in accents clear

Of Phoebus, to Apollos dear;
Or by the brush’s magic art
Takest from nature’s store a part
To fix it on the simple canva’s
length.

Go forth, and then the sacred fire

Of thy genius to the laurel may
aspire;
 Day, O
happy day,
Fair Filipinas,
for thy land!
So bless the
Power today
That
places in
thy way
This favor and this
fortune grand.
ARTISTIC SKILL IN SCULPTURE

Sculpture is the art of curving; molding; welding or producing works of art in

three dimensions. Young Rizal impressed his professors and classmates when he
curved the image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of Philippine hardwood—
batikuling with a pocket-knife. The professors were amazed at the proportion,
the beauty and the finish of the image. Because of his sculptural talent, Father
Leonard requested Rizal to curve
for him the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The old Jesuit priest was very much
pleased and expressed his profound appreciation to the young sculptor. His intention
was to take with him the image when he went back to Spain, but unfortunately he
forgot. This image was placed on th door of the dormitory of the Ateneo and
remained there for almost twenty years.
EDUCATION UNDER THE JESUITS

The system of education under the Jesuits in the Ateneo was probably more advanced from
that of other colleges in that period. The students t trained by rigid discipline and character
development. were Religious instruction was given emphasis to acquire the manners and morals of
Christian gentlemen. The students heard Mass in the morning before classes begun and classes in all
subjects were opened and closed with prayers. Prizes were given for outstanding and impeccable
department. Penalties were meted out for disorderly conduct.

The government subsidized the school from the municipal treasury. Students who belonged to
the wealthy group paid a monthly fee of P2.00; and those who are classified poor, paid nothing.

The curriculum includes Christian doctrine, Spanish, Latin, Greek and French; world geography
and history, the history of Spain and the Philippines; arithmetic, algebra and geometry, mineralogy,
chemistry, physics, botany and zoology, poetry and rhetoric and philosophy. Jose consistently
received the grade of excellent.
RIZAL STARTED MEDICAL STUDIES AT STO. TOM

At the outset, Doña Teodora believed that her son had enough education after graduating
with highest honors from Ateneo and so she opposed Jose's going back to Manila for further
studies. However, Don Francisco thought otherwise., so his son enrolled in the University of
Sto. Tomas, taking the first course of philosophy in June 1877. Simultaneously he studied at the
Ateneo those subjects that would entitles him to a diploma in surveying. Doña Teodora did not
approve his son To acquire more knowledge because she had apprehension hat this might
endanger Jose's life, like the fate of Filipino intellectuals, e.g. Father Burgos, Dr. Antonio
Regidor and other Filipino exiles and executed by the Spanish authorities. But inspite of her
objection, Don Francisco and Paciano were able to persuade Doña Teodora about Jose's further
studies.
RIZAL’S FIRST DAY AT THE PONTIFICAL UNIVER

Rizal who was sixteen years old enroll in the university taking Philosophy and Letters.
The following school year, 1878-1879 he begun his medical studies. He studied medicine
because he wanted to be a physician so that he could look after her mother's failing eyesight.
Besides, Father Pablo Ramon, Rector of Ateneo, whom he consulted for advice on the choice
of career, recommended medical course.

Even if he was now at Sto. Tomas, he still frequented the Ateneo because there, he was the
president of the Literary Academy, secretary of the Natural Sciences, secretary of the Marian
Congregation, and Celador of the Apostolado dela Oracion.
RIZAL’S DAYS AT STO. TOMAS

The academic climate at the University of Sto. Tomas was quite different from the Ateneo.
Rizal's impression was not like that of Ateneo because most Dominican professors seemed
hostile to him. The methods of instruction were traditional and in some cases repressive.

In his novel, El Filibusterismo, Rizal described how Dominican professors insulted Filipino
students and mockingly called them "Indio." Because of unfriendly attitude of his professors,
this most brilliant graduate of Ateneo, virtually failed to maintain high scholastic honors. While
some of his scholastic grades in medical education were not excellent, however, they were all
passing.

After five years in the University of Sto. Tomas, the oldest university in the Philippines
and even older than Harvard University, Rizal decided to quit and continued his medical
education abroad.
RIZAL’S FIRST LOVE

Rizal like other teen-agers also experienced the "pleasure and pains of first love." The girl who captured
his heart was the fourteen-year-old Segundiwa

Katigbak, who was a boarder at La Concordia College, where his elder sisters were studying.
Unfortunately, she was a engaged to another young man, thus ending, at an early stage of his life, his first love.

Rizal's next feeling of passionate personal affection happened in 1880, while boarding in the home of his
uncle, Antonio Rivera. He fell in love with his beautiful daughter Leonor

Rafael Palma's pen-portrait of this lovely young lass says: "Leonor was a beauty: light skin almost white;
wavy hair, almost blond; small and gracious mouth; large, dark eyes shaded by long eyelashes; nose of correct
profile, neither too sharp nor too flat; a smile tinged with two glad dimples in the cheeks; agreeable
conversation; sweet voice and harmonious laughter.

Between the young lovers, Jose and Leonor grew a feeling of warm personal attachment and a tenderly beautiful
romance. They became sweethearts for eleven years.
THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS

His prize-winning poem, A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) whom Rizal
emplored urgently the Filipino youth to "rise from lethargy, to let his genius fly swifter
than the wind and descend with art and science to break the chain that has long
bound the poetic genius of the country," inspired him to submit an allegory in prose
entitled El Consejo delos Dioses (The Council of Gods) in another literary contest
sponsored by the Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary Lyceum). This was in
connection with the fourth centennial commemoration of the death of Miguel de
Cervantes, a noted Spanish novelist and famous author of Don Quixote (a person who
is inspired by lofty and chivalrous but impractical ideals).
THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS

The contest was opened to both Filipinos that is why many participated - priests,
newspapermen, scholars, and professors of the University of Sto. Tomas. The board of judges of the
contest were all Spaniards. After a long, deliberate and critical evaluation of the entries based on the
criteria, the first prize was awarded to Rizal. The prize was a gold ring on which the bust of Cervantes
was engraved. Inspite of the objections of the Spaniards, because the winning author was an Indio,
the Board of Judges was firm in their decision and declared: "The idea and plot of the work are of
great originality to which should be added the circumstances that throughout the same strive to the
utmost a correct style, an admirable richness of details, delicacy of thought, and figures, and lastly, a
taste so Hellenic that the reader imagines himself relishing some delicious passage of Homer which
with such frequency the Olympic sessions describe to us in their works." It may be interesting to
know, that probably, that was the first time in history, that an Indio- - a young Filipino medical
student excelled in a national literary contest and participated in by the best writers at that time and
defeated the best Spanish writers. Rizal was indeed happy, because he proved, that, Filipinos given
the fair chance and opportunity to demonstrate their talents can be equal to all races of the world.
THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS

This winning allegory-literary masterpiece of Rizal based on classics which has a

figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another was a result of the kind
assistance of Father Rector of Ateneo who provided the needed reference materials.
"The allegory established a parallel among Homer (Greek epic poet and author of Iliad
and Odyssey), Virgil famous poet of Ancient Rome) and Cervantes, a noted Spanish
novelist. The gods discuss the comparative merits of these different bards and finally
decide to give the trumpet to Homer, the lyre to Virgil, and the laurel to Cervantes.
The allegory fittingly and gloriously closes with the naids, nymphs, satyra, and other
mythological characters dancing and gathering myrrh and laurel for Cervantes."
Group 3 Presentation

THANKYOU!!!
Quiz Time:

1. When did Jose and Paciano go to Manila?

2. What is the former name of College of San Juan De Letran?
3. Who is Jose Rizal first professor in Ateneo?
4. How much Jose Rizal spent money in Spanish lesson?
5. How old was Rizal when he wrote “To the Filipino Youth”?
6. In “My First Inspiration” poem by Rizal who translate it to Spanish to English?
a. Dr. Frank C. Laubach b. Leon Ma. Guerrero Jr. c. Charles E. Derbyshire
Quiz Time:

7. Father Francisco Sanchez inspired Rizal to study with sealer enthusiasm write
poetry. True False
8. Is Leonor Rivera was Rizal’s first
love? True False
9. Is Segunda Katigbak the one Rizal loved the
most? True False
10. Who were Rizal’s board of judge when he participated in University of Sto. Tomas?
a. Filipino b. Indio c. Spaniards