The Last Hours, Retraction, and Execution of Rizal

December 28, 1896 – Governor General Camilo Polavieja decreed the execution of Rizal on December 30,
1896.

Upon hearing the court’s decision Rizal already knew that there is no way that his destiny would be changed –
Rizal knew it was his end, and had accepted his fate. During his last 24 hours on earth – from 6:00 A.M of
December 29 to 6:00 A.M of December 30. 1896 – He was busy meeting visitors which includes his family and
friends.

December 29, 1896

6:00 A.M. – Captain Rafael Dominguez 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 visitor was Fr.
Miguel Saderra Mata, the Rector of the Ateneo Municipal.

7:15 A.M. – Fr. Luis Viza came with Fr. Mata, the priest to whom Rizal asked for the image of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus which he made as a student in Ateneo. They convince him to go back to the Catholic fold.

8:00 A.M. – Rizal had breakfast with Fr. Antonio Rosell. After breakfast, his attorney, Lt. Luis Taviel de
Andrade came.

9:00 A.M. – Fr. Federico Faura arrived. Rizal reminded the priest of his earlier ‘prophecy' about Rizal, that he
would lose his head for writing the Noli Me Tangere, and the latter “congratulated” the priest for being right.

10:00 A.M. – More Jesuit priests had visited him. After then, he was interviewed by Santiago Mataix for the
newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid.

12:00 – 3:30 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.

3:30 P.M. – Fr. Vicente Balaguer returned to his cell and discussed with Rizal his retraction letter.

4:00 P.M. – Visit of Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso. Then Rizal’s sister Trinidad entered to get her mother
and Rizal whispered to her in English referring to the alcohol cooking stove, “There is something inside.” They
were also accompanied by Narcisa, Lucia, Josefa, Maria and son Mauricio Cruz. Leoncio Lopez Rizal,
Narcisa’s eleven-year-old son, was not allowed to enter the cell. While leaving for their carriages, an official
handed over the alcohol cooking stove to Narcisa. After their visit, Fathers Villaclara and Estanislao March
returned to the cell followed by Father Rosell.

6:00 P.M. – Rizal was visited by the Dean of the Manila Cathedral, Don Silvino Lopez Tuñon. Fr. March left
Fr. Villaclara to be with the two.
8:00 P.M. – Rizal’s last supper where he informed Captain Dominguez that he already forgave those who
condemned him.

9:30 PM – Rizal was visited by the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of Manila, Don Gaspar Castaño with whom
Rizal offered the best chair of the cell. According to accounts, the fiscal left with “a good impression of Rizal’s
intelligence and noble character.”

10:00 P.M. – A retraction letter prepared by Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda was presented to Rizal, however,
he rejected it for being too long. Fr. Vicente Balaguer, on the other hand, showed another draft from Fr. Pio Pi,
which Rizal liked but some parts of which be changed.

11:30 P.M. – Rizal wrote and signed the retraction letter in which he renounced the mason movement –
witnesses to this event ere Juan del Fresno (Chief of the Guard Detail) and Eloy Moure (Assistant of the Plaza)
Rizal confessed to Fr. Villaclara, and after which, slept.

December 30, 1896

1:30 A.M. – He rose up and prayed and confessed again. In the chapel, he knelt before the altar and prayed with
the rosary. He, for the third time, confessed to Fr. Villaclara and once finished, read Imitacion de Cristo by
Thomas á Kempis.

3:30 A.M. – Fr. Balaguer lead a mass – Rizal, once again made a confession and received Communion.

5:00 A.M. – Teary-eyed Josephine Bracken and Josefa, Rizal came. According to the testimony of the agent
of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia, Josephine and Rizal were married. Josephine was gifted by Rizal with the classic
Thomas á Kempis book Imitacion de Cristo in which he inscribed, “To my dear and unhappy wife, Josephine,
December 30th, 1896, Jose Rizal.” They embraced for the last time.

5:30 A.M. – He took his last breakfast and autographed some memorabilia including religious pictures and
books which will be passed on to his mother, and her sister, Trinidad.

6:00 A.M. – Rizal wrote his father, Francisco Mercado “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… Jose Rizal.” To his mother, he had only these words, “To my very dear Mother, Sra. Doña Teodora
Alonso 6 o’clock in the morning, December 30, 1896. Jose Rizal.”

6:30 A.M. – Rizal’s death march in Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan commenced. He - is in his black suit, black
necktie, black hat, black shoes and white vest. With Lt. Taviel de Andrade on one side, Fr. Estanislao March
and Jose Villaclara on the other side and four advanced guards armed with bayonets. Rizal was tied behind from
elbow to elbow, although, still had the freedom to move his arm, in his right arm was a rosary which he kept
holding until his final breath. Rizal, after arriving on the execution site at the Luneta de Bagumbayan, Dr. Felipe
Ruiz Castillo, checked his pulse and it was perfectly normal. Rizal had one request, that is, that he be shot
facing the firing squad, however, in vain since the captain of the squad ordered a back shot. His last word, said
in loud voice: “It is finished”.

7:00 – 7:03 A.M. – Sounds of guns. Rizal vacillates, turns halfway around, falls down backwards and lies on the
ground facing the sun. What can be heard from the crowd of Spaniards was their loud, audible voice, shouting
“Viva España! Muerte a los traidores!” (“Long live Spain! Death to traitors!”) It was all over. Rizal had been
executed.

The body of Rizal was laced in a van and with the greatest secrecy buried in the old and unused Paco Cemetery.

December 30 1896. In the Afternoon, Narcisa, after a long search, discovered where her brother’s body was
secretly buried, at the old unused Paco Cemetery. Rizal’s body was buried without a coffin, and his clothes and
shoes could still be identified by the family. She asked the guards to place a marble plaque designed by Doroteo
Ongjungco containing Rizal’s initials in reverse—“RPJ.”

August 17, 1898. Four days after the Mock Battle of Manila when the Americans took over the city, the remains
of Rizal where exhumed. They were brought to Narcisa’s house, washed and cleansed and were placed in an
ivory urn designed by Romualdo Teodoro de Jesus. The urn stayed there until 1912. From Estraude Street in
Binondo, Manila, the urn was transferred in a procession headed by the masons and the Knights of Rizal to the
marble hall of the Ayuntamiento de Manila, where it stayed overnight with the Knights on guard.

December 30, 1912. In a solemn procession, the urn began its last journey to Rizal’s final resting place the base
of the soon-to-rise national monument to José Rizal.

December 30, 1913. The Rizal National Monument at the Luneta was inaugurated. Its original design name
was “Motto Stella” (Guiding Star) and was made by Swiss sculptor Dr. Richard Kissling who earlier also made
the National Monument to William Tell, the National Hero of Switzerland.

December 30, 2012: The transfer of the remains of Rizal from Binondo to the site of the Rizal Monument was
recreated one hundred years later by the Order of the Knights of Rizal and the National Historical Commission
of the Philippines in commemoration of Rizal’s 116th Martyrdom Anniversary.