MARTYRDOM AT

BAGUMBAYAN
CHAPTER 25
The Martyrdom of
Dr. Jose Rizal: A
Light and Sound
Presentation, a
sculptural tableau
which depicts the
final moments of
Rizal. This is the
exact spot where
Rizal was executed
on December 30,
1896, at 7:03 in the
morning.
 RIZAL’S LAST HOURS

• DECEMBER 29, 1896 AT 6 A.M.

Captain Rafael Rodriguez read Rizal’s death
sentence – he will be shot at the back by
firing squad at 7:00 A.M. in Bagumbayan.
 • 7:00 A.M.
Rizal was moved to the prison
chapel where he spent his last
moments. His first visitors were
Jesuits priests.
• 7:15 A.M.
Rizal reminded Fr. Luis Visa the
statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
whom he carved as a student in
Ateneo. • 8:00 A.M.
Rizal had breakfast with Fr.
Antonio Rosell. After breakfast,
his attorney, Andrade came.
Fr. Frederico Faura arrived. Rizal • 9:00 A.M.
reminded the priest of his earlier
‘prophecy’ about Rizal. In
1887, Faura warned the author of
“Noli me tangere” that he would
end up on the gallows. And now
Nine years later, when Faura went to
Fort Santiago to comfort Rizal in his
death cell, the author of “Noli”
reminded him that his prediction had
come true.
 10:00
A.M.
More Jesuit priest had
visited him. After then, he
was interviewed by
Santiago Mataix for the
newspaper El Heraldo de
Madrid.
 • 12:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M
Rizal was left alone in his cell.
He took his lunch and
continued writing his farewell
poem which he hid in an
alcohol cooking stove.
He also wrote his last letter to
Professor Blumentritt.
 • 3:30 P.M
Father Vicente Balaguer returned to
his cell and discussed with Rizal his
retraction letter.
• 4:00 P.M
Teodora Alonzo visited him. They had
a very emotional encounter. Rizal
gave the alcohol cooking stove to
Trinidad which contains his farewell
poem. Several priests have visited
him afterwards.
“Now I am about to die, and it
is to you I dedicate my last
lines, to tell you how sad I am to
leave you alone in life, burdened
with the weight of the family
and our old parents.”
 • 10:00 P.M.
The draft of the retraction
letter sent by the anti-Filipino
Archbishop Bernardino
Nozaleda was given by Fr.
Balaguer to Rizal for his
signature. And he had rejected
it. He rejected it because he
did not like it and its too long
Upon Rizal’s death, his supposedly
retraction letter became one of the
controversial documents in our
history.
This retraction letter allegedly
contains his renunciation of the
Masonry and his anti-Catholic
 December 30,1896
• 3:00 A.M
Rizal heard Mass, He confessed his sins and
took Holy Communion.

• 5:30 A.M.
He took his last breakfast. After this he wrote
two letters, the first address to his family and
the second to his older brother Paciano.
To my family.

I ask you for forgiveness for the pain I cause you, but someday 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
tranquility before my death you will be left in peace. Ah! It is better to than to live
suffering. Console yourselves.
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 date 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 little Josephine.
 • 5:30 A.M
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 Thomas a kempis, which
authograph:
To my dear unhappy wife, Josephine
December 30th, 1896
Jose Rizal,
 6:00 A.M.
As the soldiers were getting ready for the death march to
Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his last letters to his beloved parents;
My beloved Father,
Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and sacrifices for
my education.
I did not want nor did I prefer it.
Goodbye, Father, goodbye…
To my very dear Mother, Jose Rizal
Sra. Dna. Teodora Alonso
6 o’clock in the morning, December 30,1896.
Jose Rizal
A trumpet sounded at fort DEATH MARCH AT
Santiago, a signal to begin BAGUMBAYAN
the death march to 6:30 A.M.
bagumbayan, the designated
place for the execution. The
advance guard of four
soldiers with bayoneted
rifles moved. A few meters
behind, Rizal walked calmly
, with his defense counsel
(Lt. Luis Traviel de
Vilaclara)
Rizal was dressed elegantly in a black suit, 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.

To the muffled sounds of the drums, the cavalcade somnolently marched

slowly. There was a handful of spectators lining the street from fort
Santiago to the plaza del palacio in front of the manila cathedral.

Going through the narrow Postigo Gate, one of the gates of the city hall,
the cavalcade reached the Malecon (now Bonifacio Drive), which was
deserted. 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 corridor and mountains of Cavite! On morning like this, I used to
take a walk with my sweetheart”
 MARTYRDOM OF A
HERO
Rizal, knowing that his rendezvous with destiny was imminent,
bade bade farewell to fathers March and Vilacra and to his
gallant defender, Lt. luis Traviel de Andrade although his arms
were tied, he firmly clasped their hands in parting. One of the
priest blessed him and offered him a crucifix to kiss. Rizal
revently bowed his head and kissed it. Then he requested the
commander of the firing squad, that he be shot facing the firing
squad. His request was denied, for the captain had implicit
orders to shoot him in the back.
Reluctantly, Rizal turned his back to the firing squad and face the
sea. A Spanish military physician, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo,
asked his permission to feel his pulse, which request was
graciously granted. Dr. Castillo was amazed to find normal,
showing that Rizal was not afraid to die .
The death ruffles of the drums filled the air. Above the drum-beats
, the sharp command “Fire!” was heard, and the guns of the firing squad
barked. Rizal, with supreme effort, turned his bullet-riddle body to the
right, and fell on the ground dead – with face upward facing the 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.
Rizal died as he describe in his farewell poem, third
stanza:

“I died just when I see the down break,

Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if the color is lacking my blood though
shalt take,
Pour’d out at need for thy dear sake,
To dye with its crimson the waking ray”
It is also interesting to note that fourteen years before his
execution, Rizal predicted that he would die on December 30 th.
He was then a medical student in Madrid, Spain. The entry in his
diary reads as follows:

January 1, 1883

Two nights ago, that is 30 December, I had a frightful nightmare

when I almost died. I dreamt that, imitating an actor dying in the
stage, I felt vividly that my breath was failing and I was rapidly
losing strength. Then my vision became dim and dense darkness
envelope me – they are the pangs of death.
 Aftermath of a Hero-Marty’s Death.

At the time when the bullets of Spain’s firing squad

killed Dr. Rizal, the Spaniards residents, friars (Jesuits
not include), corrupt officials exulted with sadistic joy.
After the execution, Spanish spectators shouted “Viva
Espana!” “Muerte a los Traidores” ( Long live Spain,
Death to the traitors.) they even played a gay song
Marcha de Cadiz. By his writings, many-splendored
genius, writer, scientist, and political martyr, he richly
deserves history’s salute as the national hero of the
Philippines.
Poor bigoted Spaniards of no vision! They were fully unaware of history’s inexorable
tides. For the execution of Rizal presaged the foundation of an independent nation. True
that the Spanish bullets which killed Rizal destroyed the Spanish rule in the
Philippines. As Cecilio Apostol, greatest Filipino epic poet in Spanish, aptly
rhapsodized:

“Rest in peace in the shadows of oblivion,

Redeemer of a country in the bandage!
In the mystery of the grave, do not cry,
Heed not the momentary triumph of the Spaniards
Because if a bullet destroyed your cranium,
Likewise your idea destroyed an empire!”
By his writings, which awaked Filipino nationalism and paved the way to the
Philippine revolution, he proved that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Many-
splendored genius, writer, scientist, and political martyr, he richly deserves history’s
salute as the national hero of the Philippines.
“After Rizal's remains were
exhumed from Paco Cemetery,
these were placed in a specially
carved wooden urn and kept in the
Rizal home in Binondo. Here,
visitors of Teodora Alonso would
hear about the human side of the
national hero, and if she was in a
good mood she would open the box
and show the skull to visitors.
he space that later
served as Rizal’s
cell had been used
in the olden days
as a carto de
repuesto, a
Spanish term for a
storage area for
military supplies
and equipment.
Inside the room,
it tells the story of
how the trial of
Jose Rizal took
place on
December 26,
1896, at 8:00 am
at the Hall of
Banners of the
Cartel de España
in Intramuros.
El Filibusterismo was
written by the unofficial
national hero of the
Philippines, José Rizal,
and first published in
1891 in Ghent, Belgium.
It is Rizal’s second
novel and the sequel to
his first novel, Noli Me
Tángere. The novel’s
alternate title is The
Reign of Greed.