RIZAL'S LAST HOUR *If you want the Ms Powerpoint Presentation of it just email me at gepfelaire@gmail.com

2. • After being court-martialed, Rizal returned to his cell
in Fort Santiago to prepare his rendezvous with
destiny.
• During his last 24 hours on earth – from 6:00 A.M.
of Dec. 29 to 6:00 A.M. of Dec. 30, 1896 – he was
busy meeting visitors which includes his family and
friends.
• He was also able to write his last poem – his final
contribution for the emancipation of the Filipino
people.
LAST DAY OF PEPE’S LIFE

3. RIZAL’S CELL IN FORT SANTIAGO

5. • 6:00 A.M. – Captain Rafael Rodriguez 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
visitors were Jesuit priests.
• 7:15 A.M. – Rizal reminded Fr. Luis Viza the
statuette of the Sacred Heart of Jesus whom he
carved as a student in Ateneo.
DECEMBER 29, 1896

6. • 8:00 A.M. – Rizal had a breakfast with Fr. Antonio
Rosell. After breakfast, his attorney, Lt. Luis Taviel de
Andrade came.
• 9:00 A.M. – Fr. Frederico Faura arrived. Rizal
reminded the priest of his earlier ‘prophecy’ about Rizal.
• 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.
DECEMBER 29, 1896

7. • 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. He also wrote his last
letter to Professor Blumentritt. At the same
time he wrote his farewell letter “Mi Ultimo
Adios”.
DECEMBER 29, 1896

8. DECEMBER 29, 1896
“Mi Ultimo Adios”
Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt:
My Dear Brother:
When you receive this letter, I shall be
dead. Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot: but I
am innocent of the crime of rebellion.
I am going to die with a tranquil
conscience.
Goodbye , my best, my dear dearest
friend and never think ill of me.
Fort Santiago, December 29, 1896.
(Signed) Jose Rizal
Regards to the entire family, to Sra.
Rosa, Loleng. Conradito and Federico.
I am leaving a book for you as a last
remembrance of mine.
Last letter to Blumentritt

9. MI ULTIMO ADIOS

10. • 3:30 P.M. – Father Vicente Balaguer
returned to his cell and discussed with Rizal his
retraction letter.
• 4:00 P.M. – Teodora Alonzo visited him.
They had a very emotional encounter. Rizal
gave the alcohol cooking stove to Trinidad
which contains his farewell poem. Several
priests have visited him afterwards.
DECEMBER 29, 1896

11. • 6:00 P.M. – Don Silvino Lopez, dean of the Manila
Cathedral visited him.
• 8:00 P.M. – Rizal had his last supper. He told
Captain Dominguez that he forgave his enemies including
the military judges.
• 9:30 P.M. – Rizal was visited by the fiscal of the
Royal Audiencia of Manila, Don Gaspar Cestaño 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.”
DECEMBER 29, 1896

12. • 10:00 P.M - The draft of the retraction letter sent
by the anti-Filipino Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda was
given by Fr. Balaguer to Rizal for his signature. He had
rejected it.
• Upon Rizal’s death, his supposedly ‘retraction letter’
became of one of the most controversial documents in
our history.
• This ‘retraction letter’ allegedly contains his
renunciation of the Masonry and his ‘anti-Catholic
religious ideas.’
DECEMBER 29, 1896

13. The so-called retraction letter of Rizal

15. • 3:00 A.M. - Rizal heard Mass, confessed his sins
and took Holy Communion.
• 5:30 A.M. - He took his last breakfast on earth.
After which he wrote his last two letters for his
family and his brother, Paciano.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

16. • 5:30 A.M. - Josephine Bracken arrived
together with Rizal’s sister, Josefa, with tears in her
eyes, bade him farewell. Rizal embraced her for the
last time, and before she left, Rizal gave her a last
gift – a religious book, Imitation of Christ by Father
Thomas Kempis.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

17. JOSEPHINE BRACKEN
The Imitation
of Christ

18. • 6:00 A.M. - As the soldiers were getting ready for the
death march to Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his last letter to
his beloved parents.
DECEMBER 30, 1896
My Beloved Father,
Pardon me for the pain with
which I repay you for sorrows
and sacrifices for my education.
I did not want not I prefer
it.
Goodbye father, goodbye…
Jose Rizal
To my very dear Mother,
Sra. Donya Teodora
Alonso
6 o’clock in the morning,
Decemeber 30, 1896.
Jose Rizal

19. DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
• 6:30 A.M. - a trumpet sounded at Fort Santiago, a
signal to begin the death march to Bagumbayan.
Rizal walked calmly with his defense counsel and two
Jesuit priests at his sides.
• He was dressed elegantly in a black suit, black derby
hat, black shoes, white shirt and black tie. His arms
were tied behind from elbow to elbow.
• There a lot of spectators lining the street from Fort
Santiago to Bagumbayan.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

20. DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
• Soldiers with bayoneted rifles lead the procession
followed by Rizal, Taviel de Andrade, Fathers
Vilaclara and March and other soldiers. They passed
by the Intramuros plaza, then turned right to the
Postigo gate then left at Malecon, the bayside road now
known as Bonifacio Drive.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

21. DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
• As he was going through the narrow Postigo Gate,
Rizal looked at the sky and said to one of the priests:
“How beautiful it is today, Father. What morning could be
more serene! How clear is Corregidor and the mountains
of Cavite! On mornings like this, I used to take a walk
with my sweetheart.”
• While he was passing in front of the Ateneo, he saw
the college towers above the walls. He asked: “Is that the
Ateneo, Father?” “Yes”, replied the priest.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

22. DEATH MARCH TO BAGUMBAYAN
• Rizal bade farewell to Fathers March and Vilaclara
and to his defender, Lt. Luis Taviel de Andrade. Although
his arms were tied, he had firmly clasped their hands in
parting.
• One of the priests blessed him and offered him a
crucifix to kiss.
• He requested the commander of the firing squad
that he be shot facing them. His request was denied for
the captain had implicit orders to shoot him at his back.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

23. • A Spanish military physician, Dr. Felipe Ruiz Castillo,
asked his permission to feel his pulse. He was amazed to
find it normal, showing that Jose Rizal was not afraid to
die.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

24. • “Preparen.” “Apunten.” Rizal shouted,
“Consummatum est.” It is done.
• The death ruffles of the drums filled the air. Above
the drum beats, the sharp command “Fire” was heard,
and the guns of the firing squad barked. Rizal, with
supreme effort, turned his bullet-riddled body to the
right, and fell on the ground dead – with face upward
facing the morning sun.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

25. DECEMBER 30, 1896

26. • At exactly 7:03 A.M, Rizal died at the age of 35, five
months and 11 days.
DECEMBER 30, 1896

27. Rizal died as he described in his farewell poem, third stanza;
“I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour’d out of need for thy dear sake,
To dye with it’s crimson the waking ray”

28. It is also interesting to note that fourteen years before his execution,
Rizal predicted his execution, Rizal predicted that he would die on
December 30th.
January 1, 1883
Two nights ago, that is December 30, I had a frightful
nightmare when I almost died. I dreamed that, imitating an
actor dying on stage, I felt vividly that my breathe was failing
and I was rapidly losing my strength. Then my vision became
dim and dense darkness enveloped me – they are the pangs of
death.

29. AFTERMATH OF A HERO-MARTYR’S DEATH
• At the time when Spanish bullets of Spain’s firing
squad killed Dr. Rizal, the Spaniards residents, friars
(except Jesuits), corrupt officials exulted with sadistic joy.
After the execution, Spanish spectators shouted “Viva
Espana!” “Muerte a los Traidores” (Long Live Spain,
Death to the Traitors.) They even played a gay song
Marcha de Cadiz.

30. Dr. Jose Protacio
Mercado Rizal Y
Alonso Realonda
June 19, 1861 –
December 30, 1896