Saturday, December 29, 2012 WHEN the Masons had their convention here in Bacolod, I saw them making a flower offering in his statue at the Jose Rizal Elementary School. Of course, my curiosity prompted me to look further into his life. One hundred fifty one years ago, on December 30, 1896, Jose Rizal, our National hero was shot before a firing squad at the age of 35. Jose Rizal was the embodiment of a true to form martyr. He was a nationalist, a patriot, a poet, a painter, a physician, a novelist, a historian, an educator, an anthropologist, an ethnologist, a linguist, a sportsman, a farmer, an economist, sociologist, cerographist, and a lot more varieties of expertise plus being a prophet. He travelled extensively and books tell of his colorful relationship with women. But Jose Rizal was likewise a Mason. From the biography written by Reynold S. Fajardo titled Dimasalang: The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal, it says: “The Philippine hero was born to affluent parents in Calamba. He showed early academic promise and eventually obtained a licentiate in medicine specializing in ophthalmology. Few Masonic Lodges existed in the Philippines during Rizal’s adolescence, and Lodge membership consisted primarily of European Spaniards with only a sprinkling of Philippine nationals. Rizal’s uncle, Jose Alberto Alonzo, a Knight Commander of the Spanish Orders of Isabel the Catholic and Carlos III, had joined the Masonic Fraternity. Rizal lived in his uncle’s home during part of his student days. Rizal acquired a lasting positive memory of Masonry which was enhanced when he visited Naples in 1882. There he saw a multitude of posters and signs announcing the death of the great Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, a 33° Scottish Rite Mason who had served as Grand Master. This impressed Rizal greatly for he wrote about this Masonic encounter in a letter to his family.” While in Spain, Jose Rizal came under the influence of a host of outstanding thinkers, many of them Freemasons like Miguel Morayta, a history professor in the Universidad de Madrid. When he was anointed under the Gran Oriente de España, he adopted the Masonic name Dimasalang. He was made honorary Worshipful Master. There he delivered a lecture entitled “La Masonria”. Masonic principles stress on individual liberty, freedom of speech, equality, religious tolerance, separation of Church and State and more. While in Spain, he commenced work on his famous novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) where he placed particular blame on certain religious elements for its repressive nature. Rizal was convinced that conditions in the Philippines existed because of the practices of certain regular clergy, namely Dominicans and Recollects. “When his novel Noli Me Tangere, came off the press in Europe, Rizal sent copies to the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Archbishop of Manila. The Governor-General, Emilio Terrero y Perinat, a 33° Mason, represented no problem, and he protected Rizal upon his return to the islands and for as long as he held the Governor-Generalship. The Archbishop, however, presented a problem which did not go away. Rizal had become increasingly convinced of his need to campaign in person for reform in the Philippines as opposed to propagandizing from afar. His friends cautioned him not to return but failed to dissuade the idealist. On August 5, 1887, Dr. Rizal stepped ashore in Manila.” “Almost immediately, serious problems emerged. The Manila Archbishop put pressure on Governor-General Terrero to ban Rizal’s book. The church authorities did not delay in publishing a condemnation of the work, but, to their chagrin, the condemnation only enhanced sales. Rizal also involved himself in a sticky matter which concerned a Dominican hacienda in Calamba. Rizal, when requested by the town council of Calamba, got involved in an investigation of the matter, and his report during a public meeting was highly critical of the Dominicans.” “The church hierarchy did not take long to react. The Archbishop increased pressure on the Governor-General to suppress Noli Me Tangere as an inflammatory book and to arrest its author. Governor-General Terrero, fearing he might not be able to protect him, put pressure on Rizal to depart the country. Rizal heeded the advice and traveled to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the religious authorities carried out reprisals against Rizal’s family which included the arrest of his mother.” After a short stay in Hong Kong, Rizal traveled to Japan and then the United States. From New York City, Rizal journeyed to England and then on to the continent. While in Paris, Rizal published, with annotations, Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands). Financial pressure forced him to relocate from Paris to Belgium. There, he worked hard on his second novel, El Filibusterismo (The Subversives). During a visit to Spain, the Gran Oriente Español designated Rizal as its Grand Representative with authority to represent the Body in France and Germany. This was a distinct honor, for Rizal apparently had never served as Worshipful Master of a constituent Lodge. Rizal’s El Filibusterismo was published in September 1891, and in October he departed for Hong Kong. There he enjoyed a delightful reunion with family members. He wanted to return to Manila but desisted in view of the controversy his books had generated, especially his second, El Filibusterismo. Meanwhile, a Lodge for Filipinos, Nilad No. 144, had been established in Manila. The Lodge membership honored Rizal in absentia by electing him Honorable Venerable Master. Soon after formation of Nilad Lodge, Masonic growth in the Philippines mushroomed, and when Rizal returned in 1892, Masonry was well established. Revolutionaries such as Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Ladislao Diwa, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Juan Luna, Deodato Arellano, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, H. Pardo de Tavera, and so many others in the Propaganda Movement and La Liga Filipina were also Masons and as such were automatically excommunicated as decreed for all Catholics becoming Masons since 1738 and reaffirmed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in 1990. The Filipino Masons seized every opportunity to honor Rizal after his return, and the Spanish authorities, in turn, monitored his every movement. Worried about revolution, the authorities had him arrested and deported to Dapitan on July 6, 1892. Further, the authorities began to close Lodges and deport active Masons. The Jesuits made a determined effort to influence Rizal in his Dapitan exile. Their effort failed. Friends of his sought to arrange a flight to safety. Rizal, however, did not want to embrace the safety net of a fugitive. When José Martí and his compatriots launched the Cuban Revolution in 1895, Dr. Rizal offered his services to the Governor-General as a volunteer physician. Governor-General Blanco seized the opportunity to send Rizal out of the country and, hopefully, save his life. When Rizal departed for Spain, he was unaware of the doom which awaited him. When Rizal’s ship reached Spain, the authorities returned him to the Philippines to stand trial for treason and he was executed by musketry on December 30, 1861. Jose Rizal was an advocate of peaceful reforms, however, his martyrdom fanned the patriotic spirit of the Filipinos and solidified their sense of nationhood. The subsequent Philippine Revolution proved successful and removed European Spaniards from all positions of authority. In 1912, Rizal’s family rejected a petition from the Jesuits to rebury their famous Atenean student. The honor was, instead, granted to the Masons, led by Timoteo Paez, who in full regalia, carried Rizal’s remains in a long procession to the Masonic Temple in Tondo for funeral rites, before his final interment at the Luneta in December 1912. Whether Dr. Jose Rizal, retracted his Masonic beliefs and converted back to Catholicism during his last hours is debatable. The fact is: Dr. Jose Rizal ranks with the great men of all races of all times. He is the greatest man of the Malay race, the greatest Filipino, our National Hero as well as a Mason hero and we honor him today.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 07:49:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015