JOSE P. RIZAL AT ATENEO MUNICIPAL

June 1872, Jose was sent to Manila to study at the Ateneo Municipal.

The Ateneo was the the former Escuela Pia or charity school of Manila which served as the city’s municipal school.

Ateneo was inside Intramuros near the western walls facing the Manila Bay.

Jose almost did not make his matriculation in Ateneo because the school registar believe that he was late for registration and because he appeared to be frail and sickly.

Jose used surname “Rizal” to avoid any association to the martyred Fr. Jose Burgos.

Jose was called an “Externo or a living out student during his days in the Ateneo Municipal.

From 1872 to 1882, Rizal would be a Manila student (Estudiante de Manila).

Jose took private lessons at the Santa Isabel College to improve his knowledge of Spanish.

Rizal won his first prize in the Ateneo and his prize was a religious picture.

Rizal describe Fr. Sanchez as a great educator and scholar, a model of rectitude, and had a great devotion to the student’s progress.

Under Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, Rizal was inspired to study harder and write poetry.

Rizal wrote many poems which were inspired by Fr. Sanchez.

All of Rizal’s poems in Ateneo were pro-Spanish in nature and these were about history, childhood memories, and war. These were:

Felicitacion (Felicitation) El Embarque: Himno a la Flota de Magallanes

(The Departure Hymn to Magellan’s Fleet) Y Es Español: Elcano, El Primero en dar la

Vuelta del Mundo (And He is Spanish: Elcano the First to Circumnavigate the World)

El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo ( The Battle: Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo)

Other outstanding poems written by Rizal showed the unmistakable influenced of Fr. Sanchez was the Un Recuerdo a Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).

During his final year in the Ateneo, Rizal wrote more poems which were:

El Heroismo de Colon (The Heroism of Columbus) Un Dialogo Alusiyo a la Despedida a las Colegiales

(A Farewell Dialogue to his fellow students)

The Painter and Scupltor Rizal studied painting under Austin Saez, a

famous Spanish painter.

He also studied under Romualdo Terodoro de Jesus a Filipino scultor.

Rizal Impressed his Jesuit professors by carving the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a piece of “Batikuling”.

The Other Aspects of Rizal at the Ateneo

The Image of the Sacred Heart was remind the students about the greatness of their alumnus.

A Lover of the Arts and the Sciences Rizal was also an active member of two

academics in the Ateneo, the Academics of Spanish Literature and the Academy of Natural Sciences.

The First Romantic Episode Segunda Katigbak, Rizal first romance.

Rizal at UST 1879: To the Filipino Youth • Rizal won first prize, a feather shaped, gold ribbon

decorated silver pen during literary contest by Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary Lyceum)

• During his second year in medicine at UST, Rizal wrote three poems.

Abd-el Azis y Mahoma Filipinas A la Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth)

• The poem is a classic. two reason:-It was the first great poem in Spanish written

by a Filipino whose merit was recognized by Spanish literary authorities

-It expressed for the first time the nationalistic concept that the Filipinos and not the foreigners were the “fair hope of the Fatherland”

Rizal wrote Zarzuela, Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig)

Rizal submitted an allegorical poem entitled El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of the Gods)

Rizal won first prize again but the Spanish community in Manila disapproves with the decision.

Rizal won a gold ring engraved with the burst of Cervantes and for the first time in history, an indio excelled in a national literary contest.