Rizal's own story of his life

by José Rizal

Diploma of Merit won by José Rizal

In a literary competition in honor of Spain’s greatest writer, Cervantes, held in Manila in 1880, the Liceo Artistico-Literario offered a gold ring as first prize and the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country gave the winner a diploma of merit. Rizal’s allegory, “The Council of the Gods” was preferred by the judges, all Spaniards. But when the envelopes containing the contestants’ names were opened, there was objection to giving first prize to a Filipino when prominent Spaniards had taken part in the contest. Rizal says that he was hissed off the stage when he appeared in answer to the reading of his name. Manila newspapers of that period dared not speak of the incident openly but there were several veiled allusions to it. One writer sarcastically said that medical students should be forbidden to write poetry.

THE COUNCIL OF THE GODS

“We gods and goddesses, met on Mount Olympus, find that the greatest three authors in the world’s history are of equal merit. So in justice equal respect must be paid them. To Homer we award fame’s trumpet, to Vergil the lyre of glory, and to Cervantes the laurel wreath of immortal honor.”

To the Philippine Youth

“Hold high the brow serene,

O youth, where now you stand;

Let the bright sheen,

Of your grace be seen,

Fair hope of my Fatherland!”

Prize, and the first verse of the winning poem, won by Rizal at the age of 17 in a public competition open to “Indians and Mestizos”. By these two names, the Spaniard called, and divided, the Filipinos.

My Last Thought

“Farewell, beloved Fatherland, thou sunny clime of ours,

Pearl of the Orient Ocean, our lost Paradise!

For thee my life I give, nor mourn its saddened hours;

And were’t more bright, strewn less with thorns and more with flowers,

For thee I still would give it, a welcome sacrifice.”

The alcohol lamp in which Rizal hid the poem, called “My Last Thought,” which he wrote in the night after he learned that he was to die. The original poem, whose ink shows the effects of the alcohol, is now in the Philippine Library.