JOSE RIZAL IN ATENEO (1872-1877) AND IN UST (1877-1882)
June 10, 1872 - took the entrance examination, which
covered reading, arithmetic, and Catholoc doctrines, at
Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
 Ateneo Municipal - formerly known as Escuela Pia
 Fr. Magin Ferrando - college registrar of Ateneo ; refused
to admit Rizal.
Reasons: (1) he was late for registration
(2) he was sickly and undersized for his age
 Manuel Xerxes Burgos - finally admitted Jose Rizal
 Jose was the first of his family to adopt the surname “Rizal”
 Boarding house at Caraballo St. (outside Intramuros) - 1st
boarding house which was owned by Titay.
JESUIT/ATENEAN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
 It trained the character of the student by rigid discipline
and religious instruction.
 It promoted physical culture, fine arts and scientific studies.
 Aside from academic courses leading to the degree of A.B it
offered vocational courses in agriculture,
commerce,surveying and mechanics.
 Students were divided into 2 groups: Roman Empire
(internos or boarders) and Carthaginian Empire
(externos/non-boarders).
Ranks in each empire:
Emperor
Tribune
Decurion
Centurion
Standard Bearer
 Ratio Studiorum - the method of instruction in Ateneo
-a system of indoctrination under tight and constant
discipline, with every incentive of compensation and
reward.
 Atenean education at that time pursued one aim - Ad
majorem Dei gloriam or For the greater glory of God. Thus,
the ultimate task of Jesuit teacher was to make lifelong
Catholics.
RIZAL’S FIRST YEAR IN ATENEO (1872-1873)
 Fr. Jose Bech - Rizal’s first teacher in Ateneo
 Rizal became the emperor after one month.
 To improve his Spanish, Rizal took private lessons in Santa
Isabel College during the noon recesses. He paid 3 pesos
for those extra Spanish lessons.
 In the 2nd half of his year in Ateneo, Rizal did not try hard
enough to retain his scholarship.
SUMMER VACATION (1873)
 Without telling his father, he went to Santa Cruz and visited
his mother in prison.
 No. 6 Magallanes St. (inside Intamuros) - Doña Pepay was
the landlady
SECOND YEAR IN ATENEO (1873-1874)
 He studied harder and became an emperor once again.
 At the end of school year, Rizal received excellent grades in
all subjects and a gold medal.
 With such scholastic honors he triumphantly returned to
Calamba in March 1874 for summer vacation.
SUMMER VACATION (1874)
 He went to Santa Cruz to visit his mother in the jail.
 Rizal interpreted the dream of his mother and said to her
that she would be released from prison in 3 months time.
Rizal’s prophecy became true.
 Rizal began to take interest in reading romantic novels.
 The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - first
favourite novel of Rizal
 Universal history by Cesar Cantu - was a great aid in his
studies and enabled him to win more prizes in Ateneo.
 Travels in the Philippines by Dr. Feodor Jagor- Rizal was
impressed because of 2 reasons: (1)Jagor’s keen
observations of the defects of the Spanish colonization; and
(2) his prophecy that someday Spain would lose Philippines
and that America would come to succeed her as colonizer.
THIRD YEAR IN ATENEO (1874-1875)
 His mother arrived and joyously told him that she was
released from prison.
 Rizal did not make an excellent showing in his studies.
FOURTH YEAR IN ATENEO (1875-1876)
 June 14, 1875 - he became an internee in the Ateneo.
 Fr. Francisco Sanchez - inspired Rizal to study harder and
write poetry.
-he was Rizal’s most beloved professor in the Ateneo.
 Rizal won 5 medals at the end of the school term.
LAST YEAR IN ATENEO (1876-1877)
 He obtained the highest grades in all subjects.
GRADUATION WITH HIGHEST HONORS
 March 23, 1877 - Rizal (16 years old) received the degree of
Bachelor of Arts with highest honors.
 3 factors of his success:
1. Racial Pride
2. Monastic Discipline;
3. Seclusion of boarding school life
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AT ATENEO
 Rizal was an active member of the following societies in
Ateneo:
A. Marian Congregation - he was the secretary
B. Academy of Spanish Literature
C. Academy of Natural Sciences
 Agustin Saez - a Spanish painter whom Rizal took lessons in
painting.
 Romualdo de Jesus - whom Rizal took lessons in sculpture.
 Image of Our Virgin Mary - carved by Jose Rizal on a piece
of batikuling.
 Fr. Lleonart -requested him to carve for him an image of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
 He continued his physical training.
POEMS WRITTEN IN ATENEO
 Mi Primera Inspiracion (My First Inspiration) (1874) - first
poem in Ateneo.
-dedicated to his mother on her birthday.
 Poems in 1875:
1. Felicitacion (Felicitation)
2. El Embarque: Himno a la Flota de Magallanes (The
Departure: Hymn to Magellan’s Fleet)
3. Y Es Español: Elano, el Primero en dar Vuelta el Mundo
(And He is Spanish: Elcano, the First to Circumnavigate
the World)
4. El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo (The Battle:
Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo)
 Poems in 1876
1. La Tragedia de San Eustaquio (The Tragedy of St.
Eustace) - recounts the tragic story of St. Eustace.
2. Un Recuerdo a Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town) - in
honor of Calamba
3. Alianza Intima Entre la Religion y la Bueno Educacion
(Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good
Education)
4. Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la Patria ( Through
Education the Country Receives Light)
5. El Coutiverio y el Triunfo: Batalla de Lucena y Prision de
Boadbil (The Captivity and the Triumph: Battle of Lucena
and the Imprisonment of Boadbil) - describes the defeat
and capture of Boadbil, last Moorish sultan of Granada.
6. La Entrada Triunfal de los Reyes Catolicos en Granda (The
Triumphal Entry of the Catholic Monarchs into Granada)-
relates the victorious entry of King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella into Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain.
 Poems in 1877 (last year in Ateneo)
1. El Heroismo de Colon ( The Heroism of Columbus) -
praises Columbus, the discoverer of America
2. Colon y Juan II (Columbus and John II) -relates how King
John II of Portugal missed fame and riches by his failure to
finance the projected expedition of Columbus to the New
World.
3. Gran Conseulo en la Mayor Desdicha (Great Comfort in
Great Misfortune) -a legend in verse of the voyage of
Columbus.
4. Un Dialogo Alusivo a la Despedida de los Colegiales (A
Farewell Dialogue of the Students) -last poem written in
Ateneo. A poignant poem of farewell to his classmates.
Poems on Education:
1. Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la Patria (Through
Education the Country Receives Light) - Rizal believed in
the significant role in which education plays in the progress
and welfare of a nation.
-compared education to a lighthouse, considering that it
can guide people in their behaviours and actions
-singled out the benefits that a country and its people can
reap from a wise or prudent education
-believed that through education the country could have a
pool of educated youth who can steer it to progress.
-message: people have to seek knowledge.
-Prudent education consists of 3 vital components:
education for truth and knowledge; education for
refinement; education for love of one’s country.
2. Alianza Intima Entre la Religion y la Bueno Educacion
(Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good
Education) - to him, education without God is not true
education.
-religion serves as a guide and nourishment to true
education.
POEMS ON RELIGION
1, Al Niño Jesus (To the Child Jesus) (1875)- Rizal expressed
his devotion to the Catholic faith
2. A la Virgen Maria (To the Virgin Mary)
FIRST ROMANCE OF RIZAL
 Segunda Katigbak
RIZAL IN UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS (1877-1882)
 Doña Teodora did not want Rizal to study anymore.
April 1877 - enrolled in UST taking Philosophy and Letters
Reasons: (1) his father liked it
(2) failure to solicit the advice of Fr. Pablo Ramon,
rector of Ateneo, who was in Mindanao.
 1877-1878 - Rizal enrolled surveying course in Ateneo. He
was conferred the title on November 25, 1881 since he was
underage when he passed the final examination in this
course.
 1878-1879 - Rizal shifted to medicine
Reasons: (1) he wanted to be a physician so that he might
cure his mother’s failing eyesight
(2) Fr. Pablo Ramon recommended medicine
ROMANCES WITH OTHER GIRLS
 Miss L -young woman in Calamba
Reasons for his change of heart:
(1) the sweet memory of Segunda was still in his heart
(2) his father objected to the match
 Leonor Valenzuela (Orang) - he sent her love notes written
in invisible ink.
 Leonor Rivera (Taimis)- his cousin from Camiling
VICTIM OF SPANISH OFFICER’S BRUTALITY
 Summer vacation in 1880 - a lieutenant of the Guardia Civil
brutally slashed Rizal on the back.
IMPORTANT LITERARY WORKS AS A UNIVERSITY STUDENT
 A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) (1879) -
submitted to the Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary
Lyceum) of Manila who held a literary contest.
-first prize (silver pen, feather-shaped and decorated with a
golden ribbon)
 -Rizal beseeched the Filipino youth to “rise from lethargy to
let his genius fly swifter than the wind and descend with art DECISION TO STUDY ABROAD
and science to break the chain that has long bound the  Rizal decided to study in Spain.
poetic genius of the country.”
-classic in Philippine literature for 2 reasons:
(1) it was the first great poem in Spanish written by a
Filipino, recognized by the Spanish authorities;
(2) it was the first expression of the nationalistic concept
that the Filipinos were the fair hope of the motherland.
-it can be considered to be Rizal’s first testimony of his
nationalism.
-Philippines - his motherland, Mi Patria
-youth - the fair hope of the motherland.
Rizal challenged the youth of his day to do 3 things:
(a)to cultivate their talents in the arts
(b)to develop their knowledge of the sciences
(c) to look forward and break their chain of bondage

 El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of the Gods) (1880) -

an allegory in prose submitted by Rizal to the Artistic-
Literary Lyceum in 1880.
-it was allegory in praise of Cervantes as co-equal of Homer
and Virgil
-the entry was judged the best entry in the competition but
upon discovering that its author was a Filipino, the jury
decided to confer the prize to a Spaniard.
 Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig) (1880) - it is a one-act play
written by Rizal at the request of the Jesuits and was
staged at Ateneo, in connection with the celebration of the
Feast Day of Immaculate Concepcion.
 A Filipinas (1880) - a sonnet written by Rizal not only to
praise the Philippines for its beauty but to encourage
Filipino artists to glorify the country through their art
works.
 Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma (1879) - a poem declaimed by an
Atenean on December 8, 1879 in honor of Ateneo’s
Patroness.
 Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon, Rector del Ateneo, en Sus Dias
(1881) -poem written as an expression of affection to Fr.
Pablo Ramon

CHAMPION OF FILIPINO STUDENTS

 Compañerismo (Comradeship) (1880) - secret organization
or society of Filipino students. The members called
themselves “Companions of Jehu”

RIZAL’S UNHAPPY DAYS AT UST

 Reasons why he was unhappy at UST:
(1) the Dominican professors were hostile to him
(2) the Filipino students were racially discriminated
(3) the method of instruction was obsolete and repressive

3 factors according to Guerrero:

(1) Medicine, not Rizal’s real vocation
(2) Dissatisfaction with the Dominican system of education
(3) The exciting distractions of youth

 Rizal failed to win high scholastic honors.