CHAPTER 25:

MARTYRDOM AT
BAGUMBAYAN
 During his last 14 hours on earth- from 6am of December 29 to
6am of December 30
Rizal met with some visitors and secretly finishing his farewell
poem
Rizal called the Philippines the “Pearl of the Orient Sea” in his
last poem “Pearl of the Orient” in an article entitled
“Unfortunate Philippines” published in The Hong Kong
Telegraph on September 24, 1892

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

6AM of December 29, 1896
CAPTAIN RAFAEL DOMINGUEZ, who was designated by
GOVERNOR GENERAL CAMILO POLAVIEJA to take
charge of all arrangements for the execution of the condemned
prisoner, read the death sentence to Rizal- to be shot at the back
by a firing squad at 7am in Bagumayan (Luneta)
7AM of December 29, 1896
Rizal was moved to the prison chapel, where he spent his last
moments

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

From 12PM to 3:30PM of December 29, 1896
Rizal was left alone; ate his lunch; wrote his farewell poem and
hid it inside his alcohol cooking stove given to him as gift by
Paz Pedro de Tavera during his visit to Paris in 1890.
From 3:30PM to 4PM of December 29, 1896
Father Balaguer returned to Fort Santiago and discussed with
Rizal about his retraction; Rizal’s mother arrived. Rizal knelt
down before her and kissed her hands, begging her to forgive
him.

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

8PM of December 29, 1896
Rizal had his last supper; he informed Captain Dominguez who
was with him that h forgive his enemies, including the military
judges who condemned him to death
10PM of December 29, 1896
The draft of the retraction sent by the anti-Filipino Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda was submitted by Father Balaguer to Rizal
for signature, but the hero rejected it because it was too long and
he did not like it.

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

According to Father Balaguer’s testimony, he showed Rizal a
shorter retraction which was prepared by Father Pio Pi, Superior
of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines, which was acceptable to
Rizal. After making changes in it, Rizal then wrote his
retraction, in which he abjured Masonry and his religious ideas
which were anti-Catholic.
This retraction document is controversial– for the Rizalist
scholars who are either Masons or anti-Catholic, claim it to be a
forgery, while Catholic Rizalists believe it to be genuine

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

3AM of December 30, 1896
Rizal heard mass, confessed his sins, and took holy comunion
5AM of December 30, 1896
Rizal took his last breakfast on Earth; he wrote two letters- one
to his family and the other to his brother Paciano

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

To My Family,
I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you,
but some day I shall have to die and it is better that I die
now in the plenitude of my conscience.
Dear Parents, brother, and sisters, give thanks to
God that I may preserve my tranquillity before my death,
I die resigned, hoping that with my death you will be left
in peace.. Ah! It is better to die than to live suffering.
Console yourselves.

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

 I enjoin you to forgive one another the little
meannesses of life and try to live united in peace and good
harmony. Treat your old parents as you would like to be
treated by your children later. Love them very much in my
memory.
Bury me in the ground. Place a stone and a cross over
it. My name, the date of my birth, and of my death. Nothing
more. If later you wish to surround my grave with a fence,
you can do so. No anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok.
Have pity on poor Josephine.

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

5:30AM of December 30, 1896
Josephine Bracken, accompanied by a sister of Rizal (Josefa),
arrived Josephine, with tears in her eyes, bade him farewell.
Rizal embraced her for the last time, and before she left, Rizal
gave her a last gift- a religious book, Imitation of Christ by
Father Tomas a Kempis
6AM of December 30, 1896
Soldiers were getting ready for the death march to Bagumbayan,
Rizal wrote his last letter to his beloved parents

RIZAL’S LAST 24 HOURS ON EARTH

6:30AM of December 30, 1896
Trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago, a signal to begin the death
march to Bagumbayan, the designated place for the execution.
A few meters behind, Rizal walked calmly, with his defense
counsel (Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade) on one side and two
Jesuit priests (Father March and Vilaclara) on the other. More
well-armed soldiers marched behind him.
Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black suit, black derby hat,
black shoes, white shirt, and black tie. His arms were tied behind
from elbow to elbow, but the rope was quite loose to give his
arms freedom of movement.

DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN

Rizal looked at the sky, and said to one of the priest:
“How beautiful it is today, Father. What morning could be more
serene! How clear is Corregidor and the mountains of Cavite!
On mornings like this, I used to take a walk with my
sweetheart.”

DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN

Rizal requested the commander of the firing squad that he be
shot facing the firing squad, but it was denied.
Rizal, with supreme effort, turned his bullet-riddled body to the
right, and fell on the ground dead- with face upward facing the
morning sun. it was exactly 7:03 in the morning when he died in
the bloom of manhood—aged 35 years, five months, and 11
days.

MARTYRDOM OF A HERO
Rizal died as he described in his farewell poem, third stanza:
“I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour’d out at need for thy sake,
To dye with its crimsore the waking ray.”

MARTYRDOM OF A HERO
RIZAL’S MONUMENT
Rizal’s monument at the Luneta is imported. It was created by a
Swiss, Richard Kissling, a runner-up in an international
competition for designing Rizal’s monument, sponsored by
nationalists in 1912 (The winner was an Italian sculptor Carlos
Napoli, but, he failed to present his own creation)
Inscribed on a marble stone below is his poem, Mi Ultimo Adios
(My Last Farewell)

MARTYRDOM OF A HERO