Azariah Alfante

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Decimonónica

Volume

15

Issue

2

Publisher

Decimonónica

Publication Date

2018

First Page

1

Last Page

17

Abstract

José Rizal (1861-1896) was a Philippine nationalist, writer, and physician, whose status as national hero is manifest in the mandatory study of his works in educational institutions across the Philippine archipelago since the enactment of the nationalist Rizal Law (Republic Act No. 1425) on 12 June 1956 (Francia, “José Rizal” 44-45). Joan Torres Pou describes Rizal as a “médico oftalmólogo, licenciado en Filosofía y Letras, políglota, filólogo, antropólogo, escritor, agricultor, liberal, asimilacionista, independentista y masón” (7). In his profile of the Filipino polymath, however, Torres Pou omits a salient dimension of Rizal’s identity: his Catholic religion. Although during his life Rizal struggled to come to terms with the Spanish Church, he was baptized a Catholic, was educated by Jesuits, and received the Sacraments before his execution.1 His conceptualization of, and turbulent relationship with, the Catholic faith informed the thematic framework of his literary corpus. Several scholars have discussed how Catholicism informs Rizal’s works. Petronilo Bn. Daroy’s The Ideas of European Liberalism in the Fiction of Rizal touches on aspects of Catholicism and European liberalism in Rizal’s novels. John D. Blanco’s study analyzes the intersection of Christianity and Spanish colonialism in the Philippines, and provides an allegorical interpretation of the first of Rizal’s two novels, Noli me tángere (1887).2 Raúl Bonoan’s article distinguishes Rizal from his liberal deist influences in terms of religion (65), thus opening up an inquiry into aspects of Catholicism in Rizal’s writing.

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