Rizal’s letters to

family members
and Blumentritt
Group 4

APRIL 15, 2023 Rizal

 Content of Jose Rizal’s Letter to His Parents

According to Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, Rizal’s letter to his parents reveal the context of time, place, and
circumstance of events that would follow after 1883.
The letter was written at a difficult time during Rizal’s life in which he was experiencing a period of
adjustment. In 1882, he left the love of his life in the Philippines and abruptly sailed to Europe without
saying goodbye to his lover and his family. It was also the year when he started medical school in Spain.
“The letter gives added dimension to the country’s foremost hero. Like any Filipino expatriate, Rizal would
succumb to the enchantments of his foreign surroundings but also to its political liberalism,” said Nakpil.
Rizal was very detailed in his letters, in which he told his parents in great detail the places he saw, and the
food he ate.
“Rizal’s letter reveals he took his meals on the very next street, at Calle del Lobo (Street of the Wolf),
which had a couple of restaurants frequented by Filipinos, including Hotel Ingles which still exists to this
day,” said Nakpil.
TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023
 Content of Jose Rizal’s Letter to His Parents

“The letter situates him at No. 15 Calle del Baño (Street of the Bath)
where Rizal slyly claims he is there only to sleep and study,” Nakpil said,
referring to the letter of Rizal to his parents. In the letter to his parents,
Rizal also detailed his notorious brindis or toasts. “Jose Rizal would make
the legendary brindis or toasts but would include so many political barbs
and insults to the Spanish colonial authorities that his brother would fear
for his life and plead for him not to return to the Philippines,” said Nakpil.
“This would mark Rizal’s metamorphosis as an activist that would reach
its zenith in his novels, the Noli and the Fili, and his eventual
martyrdom.”

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

Letters of Rizal to Paciano the “Amusements” in Madrid
In the same year he wrote the letter to his parents, Rizal also wrote his brother Paciano about the
“amusements” in Madrid.

“Women abound even more (here in Madrid) and it is, indeed, shocking that in many places they
intercept men and they are not the ugly ones either... With respect to morality there are some who
are models of virtue and innocence and others who have nothing womanly about them, except
their dress or at most their sex. Rightly it has been said that the women in the South of Europe
have fire in their veins. However, here prostitution is a little more concealed than at The letter
does not imply that Rizal partook in such amusements. However, it was Rizal’s friend and
namesake, Jose Alejandrino, who outs Rizal’s gallivanting in his book, La Senda del Sacrificio
(1945):
Barcelona, though not less unrestrained.“

“One day he invited me to amuse ourselves, telling me we could pass the time in the house of two
sisters whom he knew. We went there and I came to like the amusement very much, because a
few days later I asked him when we could return for more fun, but then he grew serious, saying
that he considered such entertainment was necessary once a month, but more than once was
already a vice, and he was not willing to encourage vices.”
TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023
Letters of Rizal to Consuelo

Contrary to what Rizal’s letter to his parent's state,

Rizal did more than “sleep and study” during his
stay in Madrid. Nakpil also tells the story of
Consuelo, one of Rizal’s flings. “The house at Calle
del Baño was owned by one Don Pablo Ortiga y
Rey, the former mayor of Manila,” said Nakpil.
“Don Pablo had two daughters, the ‘prettier one’
being the 18-year-old Consuelo. She would keep a
rather detailed, albeit indiscreet diary, on her
gentleman admirers, which included Jose Rizal,
then 23 years of age.”

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 In one of Consuelo’s diaries, she writes about Rizal:

“Rizal says he never goes out except to go to

medical school and come here at night. Rizal
too is in love, he hasn’t proposed outright but
almost, almost… I am divided between Rizal
and Lete, the former attracts me because of his
conversation and because he seems such a
serious young man… Rizal told me he was
leaving for Paris to forget, to heal himself of a
disease acquired a year ago…”

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

Ferdinand Johann Franz Blumentritt

Born in Prague on 10 September

1853, Blumentritt studied History at
Prague University. When his
correspondence with Rizal began, he was
a master teacher at Leitmeritz and had
already published scholarly writings on
Philippine languages and
ethnography. He has a daughter named
Dolores that sometimes blumentritt
addressed by its tagalog nickname which
is “Loleng”
Rizal and Blumentritt

Rizal and Blumentritt met only once, but they had been sending
each other tons of letters for many years since 1886 (the last of this
snail-mail correspondence was written from Rizal’s Fort Santiago
cell on the eve of his execution); in an age when there was still no
Internet and electricity, we can say that the two formed part of an
earlier generation of social media users. Even though they were
miles apart, they had formed a kindred bond, like that of brothers.
So, when Blumentritt finished reading Rizal’s first novel, alarm
struck his heart for he realized the potential danger caused by his
dear Filipino friend’s pen. He advised Rizal to just stay in Madrid
for good and from there continue his Propaganda activities.

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 Rizal responded to Blumentritt. In a letter dated 19 June 1887

Your advice for me to stay in Madrid and write from there

is very kind of you, but I cannot even accept it. Life is
difficult in Madrid. All of us there are but “vox clamantis
in deserto”. My relatives preferred seeing me and I feel the
same way. In no place is life as nice as the one in my
country, with my family right by my side. I’m still not
Europeanized, as Filipinos say in Madrid. I always want to
return to my native country. As they say, “the goat always
goes to the mountain”.

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 Jose Rizal in his letter to Blumentritt
It reads as follow:

“My mother is not a woman of ordinary culture. She is more

knowledgeble about literature and speaks more fluently than I
do. When I was studying rhetoric, she even corrected my
poems and gave me sound advice. She is a mathematician
who has read a lot of books. Her father, the Philippine
delegate to the Cortes, had been her teacher.

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 Rizal’s last letter to Blumentritt

 “My dear Brother, when you

receive this letter, I shall be
dead by then. Tomorrow at
seven, I shall be shot,” Jose
Rizal's last letter to one of his
closest friends, Ferdinand
Blumentritt, read.

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 Letters Between Rizal and Blumentritt

There is no doubt that Blumentritt was the greatest, the number one, a
friend of Rizal. There is no doubt also that their friendship was as
close and as intimate as any friendship between two human beings
could be. Rizal considered Blumentritt as his father, brother, and
friend, while Blumentritt undoubtedly looked upon Rizal as his son,
brother, and friend. This friendship was shown in their letters which
are preserved and collected in the Epistolario Rizalino. It is
unfortunate that the collection is not complete. There are many
missing letters. However, there are enough of them that can give the
reader more or less a complete picture of the friendship that existed
between the two.
Jose Rizal bids his family farewell
"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 plentitude of my
conscience.
Dear parents and brothers: give thanks to God that I may preserve my
tranquility 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.

I enjoin you to forgive one another the little meanness 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 it. No anniversaries. I prefer Paang Bundok.

Have pity on poor Josephine.

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 2-3 - Content of Jose Page 9 - Rizal’s last letter
Rizal’s Letter to His Parents to Blumentritt

Page 4 - Letters of Rizal to Page 10 - Jose Rizal bids

Paciano his family farewell
Page 5 - Letters of Rizal to
Page 11 - Rizal responded
Consuelo
to Blumentritt
Page 6 - Consuelo’s diaries

Page 7 - Jose Rizal in his

letter to Blumentritt

Page 8 - Rizal and

Blumentritt

TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023

 QUIZ NA
GUYS!
TOPIC No. 4 RIZAL APRIL 15, 2023
Multiple Choice
Questions:
1. What is the date of birth of Ferdinand
blumentritt?

A. September 10,1853
B. September 12,1854
C. October 13,1855
D. October 14,1853
2. Who is the mother of Rizal?

A.Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos

B. Teodora Alonso Romero
C. Leonor Alonso Realonda
D. Ester Alonso Soriano
3. Who was the older brother of Dr. Jose
Rizal?

A. Pedro Ruiz
B. Paciano Rizal
C. Francisco Mercado
D. Simon Herrero
4. Blumentritt studied History at what
university?

A. Prague university
B. Saint thomas university
C. Brent university
D. Purdue university
5. Where did Rizal met Consuelo?

A.Madrid spain
B. Brazil
C. Germany
D. Australia
6. Rizal responded to Blumentritt. In a letter
date in?

A. June 19, 1887

B. June 21, 1881
C. July 20, 1886
D. July 19, 1887
7. Who is the woman Rizal met in Madrid?

A. Consuelo Ortega Y Rey

B. Marcelo H. del Pilar
C. Mariano Ponce
D. Graciano Lopez-Jaena
8. What is the Tagalog nickname given by
Blumentritt to his daughter Dolores?

A. Neneng
B. Loleng
C. Norma
D. Nelia
9. What is the full name of Blumentritt friend of Rizal?

A. Ferdinand John Fratz Bluemetrit

B. Ferdinand Johann Franz Blumentritt
C. Ferdinand John Lucas Blumentritt
D. Ferdinand Johann Franz Bluementritt
10. Who was the first to read and appreciate the
novel of Rizal?

A. Mariano Gomez
B. Paterno Rizal
C. Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos
D. Ferdinand Blumentritt
 ANSWER KEY:
1.A
2.A
3.B
4.A
5.A
7.A
8.B
9.B
10.D
 Members:
Daniel John Vargas
Juan Paolo Romero
Ace John Samson
AJ Rocha
Argel Bataan
Wilhelmsen Soriano
Mark Perando
Wenifredo Herrero
Ballester
 THANK YOU FOR
APRIL 15, 2023
LISTENING!