Texts of Rizal's Retraction The "original" discovered by Fr. Manuel Garcia, C.M.

on May 18, 1935 Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y mo rir. Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y cond ucta ha habido contrario a mi cualidad de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y pr ofeso cuanto ella ensea y me somento a cuanto ella manda. Abomino de la Masonaria , como enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como Sociedad prohibida por la Iglesia. Pu ede el Prelado Diocesano, como Autoridad Superior Eclesiastica hacer publica est a manifastacion espontanea mia para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan pod ido causar y para que Dios y los hombers me perdonen. Manila 29 de Deciembre de 1896 Jose Rizal Jefe del Piquete Juan del Fresno Ayudante de Plaza Eloy Moure Translation (English) I declare myself a catholic and in this Religion in which I was born and educate d I wish to live and die. I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and con duct has been contrary to my character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and I confess whatever she teaches and I submit to whatever she demands. I abomi nate Masonry, as the enemy which is of the Church, and as a Society prohibited b y the Church. The Diocesan Prelate may, as the Superior Ecclesiastical Authority , make public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scan dal which my acts may have caused and so that God and people may pardon me. Manila 29 of December of 1896 Jose Rizal La Voz Espaola, December 30, 1896 Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y mo rir. Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y cond ucta ha habido contrario a mis cualidades de hijo de la Iglesia Catolica. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somento a cuanto ella manda. Abomino de la Masona ria, como enigma que es de la Iglesia y como sociedad prohibida por la Iglesia. Puede el Prelado Diocesano, como autoridad superior eclesiastica hacer publica e sta manifastacion espontanea para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podid o causar y para que Dios y los hombers me perdonen. Manila, 29 de Diciembre de 1896-Jose Rizal Jefe del Piquete Juan del Fresno

Ayudante de Plaza Eloy Moure Fr. Balaguer's text, January 1897 Me declaro catolica y en esta Religion en que naci y me eduque quiero vivir y mo rir. Me retracto de todo corazon de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, inpresos y conducta ha habido contrario a mi calidad de hijo de la Iglesia. Creo y profeso cuanto ella ensea y me somento a cuanto Ella manda. Abomino de la Masonaria, com o enigma que es de la Iglesia, y como Sociedad prohibida por la misma Iglesia. Puede el Prelado diocesano, como Autoridad superior eclesiastica hacer publica e sta manifastacion espontanea mia, para reparar el escandalo que mis actos hayan podido causar, y para que Dios y los hombers me perdonen. Manila, 29 de Diciembre de 1896-Jose Rizal Analysis Rizal's Retraction At least four texts of Rizal s retraction have surfaced. The fourth text appeared in El Imparcial on the day after Rizal s execution; it is the short formula of the retraction. The first text was published in La Voz Espaola and Diaro de Manila on the very da y of Rizal s execution, Dec. 30, 1896. The second text appeared in Barcelona, Spai n, on February 14, 1897, in the fortnightly magazine in La Juventud; it came fro m an anonymous writer who revealed himself fourteen years later as Fr. Balaguer. The "original" text was discovered in the archdiocesan archives on May 18, 1935 , after it disappeared for thirty-nine years from the afternoon of the day when Rizal was shot. We know not that reproductions of the lost original had been made by a copyist w ho could imitate Rizal s handwriting. This fact is revealed by Fr. Balaguer himsel f who, in his letter to his former superior Fr. Pio Pi in 1910, said that he had received "an exact copy of the retraction written and signed by Rizal. The hand writing of this copy I don t know nor do I remember whose it is. . ." He proceeded : "I even suspect that it might have been written by Rizal himself. I am sending it to you that you may . . . verify whether it might be of Rizal himself . . . ." Fr. Pi was not able to verify it in his sworn statement. This "exact" copy had been received by Fr. Balaguer in the evening immediately p receding Rizal s execution, Rizal y su Obra, and was followed by Sr. W. Retana in his biography of Rizal, Vida y Escritos del Jose Rizal with the addition of the names of the witnesses taken from the texts of the retraction in the Manila news papers. Fr. Pi s copy of Rizal s retraction has the same text as that of Fr. Balague r s "exact" copy but follows the paragraphing of the texts of Rizal s retraction in the Manila newspapers. Regarding the "original" text, no one claimed to have seen it, except the publis hers of La Voz Espanola. That newspaper reported: "Still more; we have seen and read his (Rizal s) own hand-written retraction which he sent to our dear and vener able Archbishop " On the other hand, Manila pharmacist F. Stahl wrote in a letter: "besides, nobody has seen this written declaration, in spite of the fact that q uite a number of people would want to see it. "For example, not only Rizal s famil y but also the correspondents in Manila of the newspapers in Madrid, Don Manuel Alhama of El Imparcial and Sr. Santiago Mataix of El Heraldo, were not able to s ee the hand-written retraction.

Neither Fr. Pi nor His Grace the Archbishop ascertained whether Rizal himself wa s the one who wrote and signed the retraction. (Ascertaining the document was ne cessary because it was possible for one who could imitate Rizal s handwriting afor esaid holograph; and keeping a copy of the same for our archives, I myself deliv ered it personally that the same morning to His Grace Archbishop His Grace testif ied: At once the undersigned entrusted this holograph to Rev. Thomas Gonzales Fe ijoo, secretary of the Chancery." After that, the documents could not be seen by those who wanted to examine it and was finally considered lost after efforts to look for it proved futile. On May 18, 1935, the lost "original" document of Rizal s retraction was discovered by the archdeocean archivist Fr. Manuel Garcia, C.M. The discovery, instead of ending doubts about Rizal s retraction, has in fact encouraged it because the newl y discovered text retraction differs significantly from the text found in the Je suits and the Archbishop s copies. And, the fact that the texts of the retraction w hich appeared in the Manila newspapers could be shown to be the exact copies of the "original" but only imitations of it. This means that the friars who control led the press in Manila (for example, La Voz Espaola) had the "original" while th e Jesuits had only the imitations. We now proceed to show the significant differences between the "original" and th e Manila newspapers texts of the retraction on the one hand and the text s of th e copies of Fr. Balaguer and F5r. Pio Pi on the other hand. First, instead of the words "mi cualidad" (with "u") which appear in the origina l and the newspaper texts, the Jesuits copies have "mi calidad" (with "u"). Second, the Jesuits copies of the retraction omit the word "Catolica" after the f irst "Iglesias" which are found in the original and the newspaper texts. Third, the Jesuits copies of the retraction add before the third "Iglesias" the w ord "misma" which is not found in the original and the newspaper texts of the re traction. Fourth, with regards to paragraphing which immediately strikes the eye of the cr itical reader, Fr. Balaguer s text does not begin the second paragraph until the f ifth sentences while the original and the newspaper copies start the second para graph immediately with the second sentences. Fifth, whereas the texts of the retraction in the original and in the manila new spapers have only four commas, the text of Fr. Balaguer s copy has eleven commas. Sixth, the most important of all, Fr. Balaguer s copy did not have the names of th e witnesses from the texts of the newspapers in Manila. In his notarized testimony twenty years later, Fr. Balaguer finally named the wi tnesses. He said "This . . .retraction was signed together with Dr. Rizal by Seor Fresno, Chief of the Picket, and Seor Moure, Adjutant of the Plaza." However, th e proceeding quotation only proves itself to be an addition to the original. Mor eover, in his letter to Fr. Pi in 1910, Fr. Balaguer said that he had the "exact " copy of the retraction, which was signed by Rizal, but her made no mention of the witnesses. In his accounts too, no witnesses signed the retraction. How did Fr. Balaguer obtain his copy of Rizal s retraction? Fr. Balaguer never all uded to having himself made a copy of the retraction although he claimed that th e Archbishop prepared a long formula of the retraction and Fr. Pi a short formul a. In Fr. Balaguer s earliest account, it is not yet clear whether Fr. Balaguer wa s using the long formula of nor no formula in dictating to Rizal what to write. According to Fr. Pi, in his own account of Rizal s conversion in 1909, Fr. Balague r dictated from Fr. Pi s short formula previously approved by the Archbishop. In h

is letter to Fr. Pi in 1910, Fr. Balaguer admitted that he dictated to Rizal the short formula prepared by Fr. Pi; however; he contradicts himself when he revea led that the "exact" copy came from the Archbishop. The only copy, which Fr. Bal aguer wrote, is the one that appeared ion his earliest account of Rizal s retracti on. Where did Fr. Balaguer s "exact" copy come from? We do not need long arguments to answer this question, because Fr. Balaguer himself has unwittingly answered this question. He said in his letter to Fr. Pi in 1910: " I preserved in my keeping and am sending to you the original texts of the two fo rmulas of retraction, which they (You) gave me; that from you and that of the Ar chbishop, and the first with the changes which they (that is, you) made; and the other the exact copy of the retraction written and signed by Rizal. The handwri ting of this copy I don t know nor do I remember whose it is, and I even suspect t hat it might have been written by Rizal himself." In his own word quoted above, Fr. Balaguer said that he received two original te xts of the retraction. The first, which came from Fr. Pi, contained "the changes which You (Fr. Pi) made"; the other, which is "that of the Archbishop" was "the exact copy of the retraction written and signed by Rizal" (underscoring supplie d). Fr. Balaguer said that the "exact copy" was "written and signed by Rizal" bu t he did not say "written and signed by Rizal and himself" (the absence of the r eflexive pronoun "himself" could mean that another person-the copyist-did not). He only "suspected" that "Rizal himself" much as Fr. Balaguer did "not know nor ... remember" whose handwriting it was. Thus, according to Fr. Balaguer, the "exact copy" came from the Archbishop! He c alled it "exact" because, not having seen the original himself, he was made to b elieve that it was the one that faithfully reproduced the original in comparison to that of Fr. Pi in which "changes" (that is, where deviated from the "exact" copy) had been made. Actually, the difference between that of the Archbishop (th e "exact" copy) and that of Fr. Pi (with "changes") is that the latter was "shor ter" be cause it omitted certain phrases found in the former so that, as Fr. Pi had fervently hoped, Rizal would sign it. According to Fr. Pi, Rizal rejected the long formula so that Fr. Balaguer had to dictate from the short formula of Fr. Pi. Allegedly, Rizal wrote down what was dictated to him but he insisted on adding the phrases "in which I was born and e ducated" and "[Masonary]" as the enemy that is of the Church" the first of which Rizal would have regarded as unnecessary and the second as downright contrary t o his spirit. However, what actually would have happened, if we are to believe t he fictitious account, was that Rizal s addition of the phrases was the retoration of the phrases found in the original which had been omitted in Fr. Pi s short for mula. The "exact" copy was shown to the military men guarding in Fort Santiago to conv ince them that Rizal had retracted. Someone read it aloud in the hearing of Capt . Dominguez, who claimed in his "Notes that Rizal read aloud his retraction. Howe ver, his copy of the retraction proved him wrong because its text (with "u") and omits the word "Catolica" as in Fr. Balaguer s copy but which are not the case in the original. Capt. Dominguez never claimed to have seen the retraction: he onl y "heard". The truth is that, almost two years before his execution, Rizal had written a re traction in Dapitan. Very early in 1895, Josephine Bracken came to Dapitan with her adopted father who wanted to be cured of his blindness by Dr. Rizal; their g uide was Manuela Orlac, who was agent and a mistress of a friar. Rizal fell in l ove with Josephine and wanted to marry her canonically but he was required to si gn a profession of faith and to write retraction, which had to be approved by th

e Bishop of Cebu. "Spanish law had established civil marriage in the Philippines ," Prof. Craig wrote, but the local government had not provided any way for peop le to avail themselves of the right..." In order to marry Josephine, Rizal wrote with the help of a priest a form of ret raction to be approved by the Bishop of Cebu. This incident was revealed by Fr. Antonio Obach to his friend Prof. Austin Craig who wrote down in 1912 what the p riest had told him; "The document (the retraction), inclosed with the priest s let ter, was ready for the mail when Rizal came hurrying I to reclaim it." Rizal rea lized (perhaps, rather late) that he had written and given to a priest what the friars had been trying by all means to get from him. Neither the Archbishop nor Fr. Pi saw the original document of retraction. What they was saw a copy done by one who could imitate Rizal s handwriting while the or iginal (almost eaten by termites) was kept by some friars. Both the Archbishop a nd Fr. Pi acted innocently because they did not distinguish between the genuine and the imitation of Rizal s handwriting.