Life and Works of

Father Jose Burgos

• Fr. Dr. Jose A. Burgos
(1837-1872) is a name
always associated with
Fathers Jacinto Zamora and
Mariano Gomez. In 1872 the
three priests, together with
the snitch who testified
falsely against them, were
executed by garrote at the
Luneta, in a spot close to
the Rizal monument. Thus
has the term “Gomburza”
been burned into the minds
of Filipino schoolchildren.
• As of 1959 there were 44 known works of
Father Burgos, 12 of which were in
manuscripts and preserved in the Luis Ma.
Araneta collection in Manila. Only two
have seen print: “La Loba Negra” and
“Mare Magnum.” The first listing of
Father Jose Burgos’ work is to be found in
a 1938 publication of “La Loba Negra,” a
historical novel allegedly written by him
in 1869 based on a true story culled from
primary-source documents. Translated
from the original Spanish as “Black She-
wolf” (1970), it has since been exposed as
a 20th-century forgery by Jose E. Marco.
Nevertheless, it has taken on a life of its
own, being reset into a prize-winning play
by Virginia Moreno, “Onyx Wolf” (1969),
which was recently recast into dance by
Myra Beltran as “Itim Asu” (2010).