The Jesuit priest, Father Vicente Balaguer, the eyewitness to the event said

that Rizal accepted a shorter retraction document prepared by the superior

of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines.
 Fr. Vicente Balaguer, missionary pastor in Dapitan. Balaguer was
in Manila when Rizal was in his detention cell in Fort Santiago.

“ I was the one who assisted Rizal most of that sad day’s hours. I argued
with him and demolished his arguments. Better than anyone else I can
form an idea of what passed through his soul and what Rizal had been
and what he had in mind. I presented to him the formula of retraction, and
in my presence he wrote it word for word, revising a few words after some
discussion. In my presence he signed it, and I kept and presented it to
Your Reverence, who in turn gave it to His Grace, Archbishop Nozaleda
(Archbishop of Manila in 1889-1904)."
Basis for Rizal’s retraction:
(Understanding Rizal’s milieu)

1. According to Professor Austin Craig, ” Spanish law

had established civil marriage in the Philippines, but
the local government had not provided any way for
people to avail themselves of the right...”

2. Josephine Bracken is not in good terms with Rizal’s

family.
The following is a letter written by Rizal to his family before he died. It contains the request of Rizal to his
family on what to do after he died. (Source: National Historical Commission)

 
The letter bears no date

To my family,

I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I caused you, but some day I shall have to die and it is better that I
die now in the plentitude of my conscience.

Dear parents and brothers: give thanks to God that I may preserve my tranquility before my death. I die
resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left in peace. It is better to die than to live suffering.
Console yourselves.
 
I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meanness of life and try to live united in peace and good
harmony. Treat your old parents as you would like to be treated by your children later. Love them very
much in my memory.

Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and of my death.
Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries. I
prefer Paang Bundok.

Have pity on poor Josephine.

Topic for discussion:
Father Balaguer as an eyewitness
(Re: December 29, 1896, the night before Rizal’s execution

1. In verifying the final contrition of a criminal,

according to Canon Law, a single witness is
enough.
Fr. Balaguer on Rizal
“ For some month previously I had been in
contact with Dr. Rizal since I was the
missionary pastor in Dapitan where he had
been exiled. Following instructions I had
received from Superiors, I tried to treat him
with the greatest respect and affection, to
which he reciprocated with affection
confidence in me. “
Fr. Balaguer on Rizal
“ He boarded the boat for Manila in
September 1896 to proceed to Cuba as a
medical officer. I went to Manila in December
when Rizal, back from Spain, was in prison
and sentenced to death. When he summoned
the Jesuit Fathers (this is clear and cannot be
denied), he received them with affability). He
asked if any of his former teachers were
around. ”
Fr. Balaguer on Rizal
“ He received me with open arms. Since I
liked him very much, I was ready to do
whatever I could with divine grace to save his
soul. He asked to make his confession. But I
had to remind him that I believed he was not
properly disposed to received the sacraments
of the church."
Thoughts to ponder/Topics for discussion :

Did Rizal retract?

“He (Rizal) retracted. He died as a Catholic, and a proof that he died as a
Catholic was he was buried inside the sacred grounds of Paco Cemetery,
who compared to Apolinario Mabini, a revolutionary and free mason who
was buried in a Chinese cemetery.” (Augusto De Viana, UST)

On the issue of Rizal being a fickle-minded person, De Viana answered,

(b) “Well, that may be true, but that is human character. Rizal was not a
perfect person.” 

Will the issue invalidate Rizal’s works and contribution to the country? No.
PACO CEMETERY – Where Rizal was first buried after the execution
 “The body was found to have been buried directly
into the earth, without a coffin. Nevertheless, the
clothes were still recognizable, though whatever my
Lolo Jose had hidden in his shoes had long rotted
away. A vertebra showing a bullet wound was kept
in a glass and silver cup in Lola’s house.
The actual transfer of the urn of the mortal remains of Jose
Rizal on Dec. 30, 1912 around Plaza St. Ruiz, Binondo.
The Rizal Monument in Switzerland before it was
shipped to Manila
Mi Ultimo AdiosFarewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed
Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost,
With gladness I give you my Life, sad and repressed;
And were it more brilliant, more fresh and at its best,
I would still give it to you for your welfare at most.

On the fields of battle, in the fury of fight,

Others give you their lives without pain or hesitancy,
The place does not matter: cypress laurel, lily white,
Scaffold, open field, conflict or martyrdom's site,
It is the same if asked by home and Country.
 My life's fancy, my ardent, passionate desire,
Hail! Cries out the soul to you, that will soon part from thee
Hail! How sweet 'tis to fall that fullness you may acquire;
To die to give you life, 'neath your skies to expire,
And in your mystic land to sleep through eternity !

If over my tomb some day, you would see blow,

A simple humble flow'r amidst thick grasses,
Bring it up to your lips and kiss my soul so,
And under the cold tomb, I may feel on my brow,
Warmth of your breath, a whiff of your tenderness.
 Let the moon with soft, gentle light me descry,
Let the dawn send forth its fleeting, brilliant light,
In murmurs grave allow the wind to sigh,
And should a bird descend on my cross and alight,
Let the bird intone a song of peace o'er my site.

Let the burning sun the raindrops vaporize

And with my clamor behind return pure to the sky;
Let a friend shed tears over my early demise;
And on quiet afternoons when one prays for me on high,
Pray too, oh, my Motherland, that in God may rest I.
ied, For all those who unequalled torments have undergone; For our poo
s and captives to tortures were shied, And pray too that you may see yo

And when the dark night wraps the cemet'ry

And only the dead to vigil there are left alone,
Don't disturb their repose, don't disturb the mystery:
If you hear the sounds of cithern or psaltery,
It is I, dear Country, who, a song t'you intone.
 And when my grave by all is no more remembered,
With neither cross nor stone to mark its place,
Let it be plowed by man, with spade let it be scattered
And my ashes ere to nothingness are restored,
Let them turn to dust to cover your earthly space.

d forget me: Your atmosphere, your skies, your vales I'll sweep; Vibrant
es, murmur, song, moanings deep, Constantly repeating the essence of t
 My idolized Country, for whom I most gravely pine,
Dear Philippines, to my last goodbye, oh, harken
There I leave all: my parents, loves of mine,
menWhere faith does not kill and where God alone does reign. Farewell,
childhood, in the home distressed;
nks that now I rest from the wearisome day; Farewell, sweet stranger, m
who brightened my way;
Farewell, to all I love. To die is to rest.
“I die without seeing the dawn
brighten over my native
land! You, who have it to
see, welcome it — and
forget not those who have
fallen during the night!”

From Noli Me Tangere

Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend,
who brightened my way;
 Mi Ultimo Adios
My Last Farewell
The Last Goodbye

Mi Ultimo Pensamiento