Rizal did retract – I have the guarantee, on paper.
Written with his own blood!
The image above, taken by me 06 May 2017 at the plaza of
my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, is a different portrayal – this essay is another
view.
Jose Rizal was an extraordinary Filipino who loved his
country; unfortunately, that love brought him death after badly exaggerating
the bad side of the Church with his "historical" novel Noli.
On Facebook today, "Holy Innocents Day," I see Cristina
A Montes "Rizal And The Catholic Church" (16 June 2018, Inquirer.Net, opinion.inquirer.net);
that column is 6 months old, but I don't mind. I am richly rewarded immediately
with her opening paragraph, as Ms Cristina writes of a Rizal I have never
known:
As the birthdate of
Jose Rizal approaches this year (June 19) amid many public attacks against the
Catholic Church, we should ask: Can one admire Rizal – who criticized the
Catholic Church – and defend the Catholic Church at the same time?
6 months old – yet it is as new as today to me, who wrote
& published in 2005 his own book titled indios bravos subtitled Jose
Rizal As The Messiah Of The Redemption. Miss Cristina's is a revelation: Rizal as Critic and Champion of the Catholic Church simultaneously!
Yes, I am a Roman Catholic and will die a Catholic. Duh. So
I appreciate it when Miss Cristina says, "The book Rizal Through a Glass Darkly by Fr Javier de Pedro enlightens"
us Filipinos, and contends that:
Rizal's initial
hostility toward the friars notwithstanding, he kept traces of his childhood
faith amid his spiritual crises. De Pedro convincingly argues that these seeds
planted in Rizal's childhood ripened into his last-minute conversion before his
death, when he sincerely retracted his anti-Catholic writings…
Retraction is defense in reverse – you attack, afterwards ask
pardon.
I don't have to present a document of Rizal's
retraction – I can simply point to the proof.
For my book indios bravos, I translated his valedictory poem
from Spanish to English because I was unhappy with the many versions available,
including those of Filipino Nick Joaquin and American Charles Derbyshire. In
translating that poem, it dawned on me that 2 lines were dedicated to worship along with friendship, the Blessed Virgin Mary and best friend
forever, BFF, Ferdinand Blumentritt! I
found them in the 3rd and 4th lines of the 8th stanza:
Let the passionate sun
the rains evaporate
And give back to the sky pure with my last cry heard;
Let a friend weep over my inopportune death,
And in serene evenings, a prayer for me state;
Pray too, oh country, I may be at peace with God!
And give back to the sky pure with my last cry heard;
Let a friend weep over my inopportune death,
And in serene evenings, a prayer for me state;
Pray too, oh country, I may be at peace with God!
In the 3rd line, a "friend" is weeping over his
death. In the 4th line, he is asking that
friend to pray for him. The BFF is Roman Catholic, and he is being asked to
pray "in serene evenings," time for the Angelus, which belongs to the Virgin Mary. Finally, in the 5th
line, he asks forgiveness from all, most of all from God.
My hero!517
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