JOSE PROTACIO RIZAL MERCADO Y ALONSO REALONDA DID NOT RETRACT HIS WORDS AGAINST THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH (Retraction doc discovered in 1935)

Rizal had published books and articles abroad which showed disloyalty to Spain and which were frankly
anti-Catholic. He pursues in his efforts and writings to tear the loyal Filipino breasts the treasures of
Catholic Faith. These were the reasons why Rizal exiled in Dapitan. The following are the evidences that
Rizal did not retract his words against the Catholic church:

 FORGED DOCUMENT

According to an online source, joserizal.ph, maintained by Jose Rizal University, the fact of
document forgery was revealed by Fr. Balaguer, himself. Fr. Balaguer said that he could not
remember whose exact copy was the document and even Fr. Pio Pi could not verify it in his own
statements. The copy of the retraction paper that was said to be signed by Rizal was even kept
secret and was only published in newspapers who claim to have seen and read it. When Rizal’s
family requested for the original copy, it was said that it was lost. According to Ricardo Pascual
Ph.D, who was given permission by the Archbishop Nozaleda to examine the document, later
concluded in his book, “Rizal beyond the Grave” that the documents presented was a forgery.
There are three copies of the documents about the retraction. The first one indicates the year of
1890, the second one changes it into 189C, and the final one, the written year is 1896. There
was a revelation of a forger. Antonio K. Abad tells how on August 13, 1901 at a party at his
ancestral home in Nueva Ecija a certain Roman Roque told how he was employed by the friars
earlier that same year to make several copies of a retraction document (Alojado et. Al.). This is
enough proof that there was a forgery of the retraction. With the case that the one who
presented the retraction letter was a priest of the Catholic Church was also questionable.

 RIZAL WAS EXECUTED

In exchange to retraction was Rizal’s freedom, return to his family what has been confiscated or
give its equivalent, and P50, 000 to start a business. The fact that Rizal was not freed means that
he did not retract. If you say that Rizal really retracted, how come he was still executed? Wasn’t
the retraction enough for salvation of Rizal?
 NO DOCUMENT OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN RIZAL AND JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
The retraction establishes the act of marriage between Rizal and Josephine Bracken. In Dapitan,
the condition for them to be wedded was the retraction. No retraction, No marriage. There was
no document of marriage between Josephine and Rizal.
 Consequently, a number of Rizal’s writings and letters does not mention Josephine as
his wife. Correspondingly, Rizal did not even call Josephine “wife’ in his last letter of Mi
Ultimo Adios which was the last written text of him before his execution. In that letter,
he said his farewell to her as follow: “Adios, dulce estranjera, mi amiga, mi alegria”
instead of “Adios, dulce estranjera, mi esposa, mi alegria.”
 The apparent discovery of an obviously forged autobiography of Josephine Bracken
claiming marriage to Rizal showed a handwriting that bore no resemblance to
Josephine’s and had glaring errors in syntax, which revealed that the perpetrating
 author’s primary language was Spanish (not Josephine’s original language), thus proving
that the document was manufactured and disingenuous.
 Fr. Vicente Balaguer, S.J. claimed that he performed the official marriage between 6 to
6:15 am of Dec. 30, 1896 in the company of one of the Rizal sisters but the Rizal family
denied that any of the Rizal sisters were there that significant morning. Dr. Jose Rizal
was martyred at 7:03 am and nobody had reported seeing Ms. Josephine in the vicinity
of Fort Saniago in the morning of the execution.
 Considering the time it would take for the three priests to discuss the region of the walk
to offer spiritual upkeep to the condemned in Josephine’s matrimony to Vicente Abad,
the church register of marriages kept at the roman catholic cathedral in Hong Kong
made no reference that Josephine was a Rizal by marriage, or that she was the widow of
Rizal. In the legal register of Hong Kong, Josephine used the last name Bracken instead
of Rizal to be married to Vicente Abad.
 RIZAL DID NOT DIE AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC
If he really retracted, then he would have been given a decent Christian burial, not buried like a
dead dog outside Paco cemetery. Rizal’s name did not appear in the registry for Roman
Catholics. No masses were said for his soul or funeral held by Catholics. Father Estanisiao March,
S.J., and Fr. Jose Vilaclara, S.J. (who had accompanied Dr. Jose Rizal to the execution site) could
have ordered a Christian burial, but they did not. They must have known that no retraction was
made. In these circumstances, did Rizal really die as a Roman Catholic?
 RETRACTION IS NOT IN LINE WITH RIZAL’S MATURE BELIEFS AND PERSONALITY
Rizal was always fearless in denouncing the evil of the administration during his time. He was
mature enough to realize the consequences of the choice he had made even before he opposed
to the Jesuits; he had been anticipating this to happen and would be unlikely if he had a
behavior showing a threat from death. Anyone who has been studying his biography and had
been acquainted with him knows this is so, even the priests had admitted that Rizal showed a
behavior consistent of what he was throughout his mature years.
 RIZAL DID NOT LIVE AT THE PARISH CONVENT
In the beginning of the exile in Dapitan, the steamer CEBU which brought Rizal to Dapitan
carried a letter from Father Pablo Pastells, Superior of the Jesuit Society in the Philippines, to
Father Antonio Obach, Jesuit parish priest of Dapitan. In this letter, father Superior Pastells
informed Father Obach that Rizal could live at the parish convent on several conditions. One
condition says that Rizal must publicly retract his errors concerning religion, and make
statements that were clearly pro-Spanish and against revolution. In the book ‘Jose P. Rizal, His
life, works, and role in the Philippine revolution,’ by Libert Acibo and Estela Galicano-Adanza, it
was mentioned in Chapter 14 entitled His Life in Dapitan that instead of living at the parish
convent, Rizal preferred to live in the house of the commandant, Captain Carnicero with whom
he developed a warm friendship and a pleasant relationship. Rizal admired Carnicero and even
wrote a poem, A Don Ricardo Carnicero on the occasion of his birthday on August 26, 1892. This
goes to show that Rizal refused to follow the conditions set. Therefore, he did not retract.
 RIZAL’S NOVELS WOULD BE BANNED TODAY IF CATHOLIC CHURCH SUCCEEDED
 Rizal’s writings began the wheels of change in Philippine colonial society during the Spanish
period – a change that led to our independence. The way Rizal is taught in schools today means
retraction never happened.
 NO RETRACTION LETTER WAS SHOWED TO RIZAL’S FAMILY
Te Rizal family was informed by the church that approximately nine to eleven days after the
execution, a mass for the deceased would be said, after which the letter of retraction would be
shown to the family. Though the family was in attendance, the mass was never celebrated and
no letter of retraction was shown. They were told that the letter had been sent to the
Archbishop’s palace and that the family would not be able to see it. Despite numerous
immediate supplications from the Rizal family after the execution, no letter of retraction could
be produced.