Higher Education and Life Abroad

(Part I)
• 4 months after the execution of Gom-
Bur-Za and with Doña Teodora still in
prison.
• Jose, was sent to Manila.
•He studied in the Ateneo Municipal.
•Under the supervision of the Spanish
Jesuits.
•Bitter rival of the dominician-owned
College of San Juan de Letran.
Formerly Escuela Pia Charity
School.
Established by City Government in
1817 for poor boys in Manila.
1768 Jesuits expelled from
Philippines.
Returned to Manila in 1859.
Later, became Ateneo de Manila.
RIZAL ENTERS THE ATENEO
• June 10, 1872 – Entrance Exam

• Father Magin Ferrando – College

Registrar

• Manuel Xerez Burgos, (nephew of

Father Burgos)

• Boarded in a house outside

Intramuros, on Caraballo Street.

• Titay (a spinster) owned the

boarding house, and owed the Rizal’s
family the amount of
300.
 JESUIT SYSTEM OF
EDUCATION
• Promotes physical culture, humanities, and scientific
studies

• Vocational courses on agriculture, commerce,

mechanics and surveying

• Religiously operate the school

- mass every morning
- classes/subjects are open & close with prayer

• Students were divided into two:

•Roman Empire – Internos (boarders)
•Carthaginian Empire – Externos (non-boarders)
Each empires had its Ranks:

• Best Student – Emperor

• 2nd Best – Tribune
• 3rd Best – Decurion
• 4th Best – Centurion
• 5th Best – Standard Bearer

• Student could challenge any officer in his “empire” to

answer questions on the day’s lesson.

• Failure to answer correctly (3) times, an officer could lose

his position
 Rizal’s First Year in Ateneo (1872 – 1873)

• June 1872, first day of class in Ateneo.

• Fr. Jose Bech, first professor of Rizal.

• He was an externo and was assigned to Carthaginians.

• At the end of the month he became “emperor”.

• He was the brightness pupil in the whole class.

• He took private lessons in Santa Isabel College and paid three pesos for extra Spanish
lessons.

• He placed seconds at the end of the year although his grades were marked “Excellent”.
 Summer Vacation (1873)

• March 1873 – Rizal returned to Calamba for summer vacation.

• His sister Neneng (Saturnina) brought him to Tanawan to cheer him

up.

• Visited his mother in prison at Santa Cruz without telling his father.

• After vacation, he returned to Manila for his 2nd year term in Ateneo.

• He boarded inside Intramuros at No. 6 Magallanes Street.

• Doña Pepay was his landlady, an old widow with a widowed daughter
and 4 sons.
Second Year in Ateneo (1873 – 1874)
• He repented having neglected his studies
the previous year because he was offended by
the teacher’s remarks.

• Rizal studied harder, and once more he

became an “emperor” after losing his class
leadership.

• He had 3 classmates from Biñan who had also

been his classmates in the school of Maestro
Justiniano.

• At the end of the school year, he received

excellent grades in all subjects and a gold
Medal.
 Teenage Interest in Reading
• During the summer vacation in Calamba (1874)

•1st favorite novel of Rizal “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexander

Dumas.

• A voracious reader

• Cesar Cantu’s historical work entitled “Universal History”.

• “Travels in the Philippines” by Dr. Feodor Jagor, a German scientist-

traveler (1859 – 1860)

3rd Year in Ateneo (1874 – 1875)
• Shortly after the opening of classes, his mother was
released from prison.

• In the previous years, Rizal did not make an excellent

showing in his studies.

• He failed to win the medal in Spanish because his spoken

was not fluently sonorous.

• March, 1875 Rizal returned to Calamba for summer

vacation.
4th Year4 in
thYear Ateneo
in Ateneo (1875-1876)
• June 16, 1875

• He became an interno in Ateneo.

• Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez inspired him to study

harder and write poetry.
“model of uprightness, earnestness and love for the
advancement of his pupils”.

• Rizal won five medals

Last Year in Ateneo (1876 – 1877)
• June 1876, last year of Rizal in Ateneo.

• He was truly “the pride of the Jesuits”.

• Obtained highest grades in all subjects

• “Excellent” scholastics records from 1872 to

1877.
• March 23, 1877 – Commencement Day.
• Received the degree of Bachelor of Arts with
highest honors.
 Extra – Curricular Activities in Ateneo
• An “emperor” inside the classroom and campus leader outside.

• Secretary of the Marian Congregation.

• Members of Academy of Spanish Literature and the Academy of

Natural Sciences.

• Studied painting under the famous Spanish painter Agustin Saez.

• Sculpture under Romualdo de Jesus, noted Filipino sculptor.

• Engaged in gymnastics and fencing.

 Sculptural Works in Ateneo

• Carved an image of The Virgin Mary on a piece of batikuling (Philippine

Wood)

• Father Lleonart requested him to carve an image of the Sacred Heart of

Jesus.

• The old Jesuit forgot to take the image with him to Spain.

• Ateneo boarding students placed the image on the door of the dormitory
and remain there for many years.
 Anecdotes of Rizal

• Felix M. Ramos – one of Rizal’s contemporaries in Ateneo.

• Manuel Xerex Burgos – whose house of Rizal boarded shortly before

he became an interno in Ateneo.

Poems Written in Ateneo

• Mi Primera Inspiration (My first Inspiration)

- The first poem Rizal probably wrote during
his days in Ateneo.
In 1875, inspired by Father Sanchez, he wrote more poems
such as:

• Filicitacion (Felicitation)

• El Embarque: Himni a la Flota de Magallenes

(The Departure Hymn to Magellan’s fleet)

• Y Es Español : Elcano, the first to circumnavigate

the world

• El Combate: Urbiztondo Terror de Jola

(The Battle: Urbiztondon, Terror of Jolo).
In 1876, Rizal wrote poems on various topics:

• Un Recuerdo a Mi Pueblu (In Memory of My Town)

•Alianza Intima Entre la Region Y La Buena Educacion

(Intimate Alliance between Religion and Good
Education)

• Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre La Patria (Through Education

the Country Receive Light)

•E Cultivero Y El Triunfo(The Captivity and the Triumph:

Battle of Lucena And the Imprisonment of Boabdli)

• La Entrada Triuntal de Los Reyes Catolices en Granada (The

Triumphal Entry of the Catholic Monarches into Granada)
A year later, in 1877 he wrote more poems:

 El Heroismo de Colon (The heroism of Colombus)

 Colon y Juan II (Colombus and John II)

 Gran Consuelo en la Mayor Desdicha (Great Solace in

Great Misfortune)

 Un Diarogo Alusivo a la Despedida de los Colegiales (A

Farewell Dialogue of the Students)
Dramatic Work in Ateneo

 Father Sanchez, his favorite teacher ask him to write a drama

based on the prose story of Eustace the Martyr

 Summer 1876 in Calamba, he wrote the religious drama in

poetic verses

 June 2 1876, finished the manuscript

 He submitted the finished manuscript entitled “San Eustacio,

Martir” (St. Eustace, the Martyr) to Father Sanchez in his last
academic year in Ateneo
First Romance of Rizal

 16 years old, experienced his first romance

 Segunda Katigbak, a pretty 14 years old Batanguena from

Lipa

 Sister of his friend Mariano Katigbak

 His sister Olimpia was a close friend of Segunda in La

Concordia College
First Romance of Rizal

 Segunda was already engaged to Manuel Luz

 His first romance was ruined by his own shyness and reserve

 Segunda returned to Lipa and later married Manuel Luz

 Rizal remained in Calamba, a frustrated lover, cherishing nostalgic

memories of lost love
EDUCATION AT THE UST
1877 – Rizal enrolled in the UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS,
taking the course on Philosophy and Letters.
- at the same time he took at the ATENEO a land
surveyor and assessor’s degree (expert surveyor), a vocational course.
MAY 1878 – passed the licensing examination (surveyor’s training in
1877)
1881 – his license was granted when he reached the age of majority.
1882 – Rizal stopped attending classes at UST.
EDUCATION AT THE UST
REASONS FOR RIZAL NOT COMPLETING MEDICINE
*Being tired of the discrimination by the Dominican professors against
Filipino students.
*The method of instruction was obsolete and repressive.
(Rizal’s observation perhaps had served as a challenge for UST to improve its
mode of instruction.)

If records were accurate, Rizal had taken a total of 19 subjects in UST

and finished them with varied grades, ranging from excellent to fair. Notably, he
got ‘excellent’ in all his subjects in the Philosophy course.