Rizal’s Life and Studies at Ateneo
The Jesuits were considered the best educators of Spain, and perhaps of
Europe, and so, when they were permitted to return to the Philippines,
although their power to administer parishes was restricted except in the
remote regions of Mindanao, the privilege of founding colleges, they had to
apply to the City of Manila for subsidies. That is why the college which
began to function in the year 1865, was called the Ateneo Municipal.
To enter the Ateneo a candidate was subjected to an entrance examination
on Christian doctrine, reading, writing, grammar, and elementary arithmetic.
Jose did not take his entrance examinations Jose did not remain in Manila
but returned first to his town to celebrate the fiesta of its patron saint; it was
then that his father changed his mind and decided to send him to the
Ateneo instead.
Since Mercado, the first surname of the family, had come under suspicion
of the authorities because it was the name used by Paciano when he was
studying and working with Father Burgos, in whose house he lived, Jose
adopted the second surname, Rizal.
Paciano who accompanied Jose, found him a house in Walled City, but
Intramuros looked gloomy to Jose, and he later found lodging outside, in
the house of a spinster situated on Calle Carballo, district of Santa Cruz. As
if chance would furnish him data for his future campaigns, he became
acquainted in that house with various mestizos, begotten by friars.
The Jesuitical system of instruction was considered more advanced than
that of other colleges in that epoch. Its discipline was rigid and its methods
less mechanical. It introduced physical culture as part of its program as well
as the cultivation of the arts, such as music, drawing, and painting. It also
establishes vocational courses in agriculture, commerce, and mechanics as
a religious institute, its principal purpose was to mold the character and the
will of the boys to comply more easily with the percepts of the Church. The
students heard mass before the beginning of the class, which was opened
and closed with prayers.
In the first two terms the classes were divided into groups of interns and
externs: the first constituted the Roman Empire and the second, the
Carthaginian Empire. In each empire there were five dignitaries: Emperor,
Tribune, Decurion, Centurion, and Standard-Bearer. These dignities were
won by means of individual competitions in which it was necessary to catch
one’s adversary in error three times. The empires considered themselves in
perpetual warfare, and when an individual of one empire was caught in
error by one belonging to the enemy empire, a point was counted in favor
of the latter. At the end of each week or two, the points in favor of each
were added and the empire, which obtained more point, was declared
winner.
There was a fraternity of Mary and Saint Louis Gonzaga, to which only
those who distinguished themselves in the class for their piety and
diligence could belong. This fraternity met on Sundays and after mass held
public programs in which poems were recited or debates were held. With
all these inducements it was only natural that should be a spirit of
emulation, a striving to surpass ones colleagues found in the Ateneo.
The first professor Jose had was Fr. Jose Bech, whom he describes as a
man of high stature; lean body, bent forward; quick gait; ascetic
physiognomy, severe and inspired; small, sunken eyes; sharp Grecian
nose; thin lips forming an arch with its sides directed toward the chin." He
was somewhat of a lunatic and of an uneven humor; sometimes he was
hard and little tolerant and at other times he was gay and playful as a child.
Among Jose’s classmates were Peninsulares and sons of Peninsulares;
Francisco G. Oliva, very talented but not very studious; Joaquin Garrido,
endowed with a poor memory but with much talent and industry; and
Gonzalo Marzano, who occupied the throne of Emperor.
From the first days Jose learned to systematize his work; he fixed a
program of what he had to do in the twenty-four hours of the day and did
not in the least deviate from it. Thus he disciplined his will and subjected it
to the commands of his reason.
As a newcomer, Jose was at first put at the tail of the class, but he was
soon promoted and kept on being promoted so that at the end of one
month he had attained to the rank of Emperor. At the end of the term he
obtained marks of excellent in all the subjects and in the examinations. He
had reason to feel proud of his advancement; and so when he went home
on vacation that year, he ran alone to see his mother in the prison and tell
her the happy news.
He must have uttered this exclamation on learning from his mother that
they had played her a mean trick. The judge, who was a blind partisan of
the friars having been a domestic of theirs, told her that if she confessed
her culpability he would release her at once. With the desire to see her
children again, she pleaded guilty; but the judge, instead of releasing her,
convicted her. In a few months the judge asked her forgiveness for what he
had done because according to him his conscience hurt him, but the case
had no remedy because it was already on appeal.
The second year, Jose had the same professor as in the previous year; but
instead of lodging outside the City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes.
At the end of the term he obtained a medal, and upon returning to his town,
he again visited his mother in jail alone. This was three months before her
release.
The rejoicing that her release produced in his spirit had much influence on
the result of his studies in the third year, for he began to win prizes in the
quarterly examinations.
About that time he devoted himself to reading novels, and one of those he
enjoyed most was Dumas’ (father) The Count of Monte Cristo. The
sufferings of the hero of the twelve years. He also asked his father to buy
him a copy of The Universal History by Cesar Cantanu, and according to
himself he profited much from its perusal.
The family, who saw in Jose great aptitude for study, decided to place him
as intern or boarding student in the college the following year. In the corner
of the dormitory facing the sea and the pier Jose passed his two years of
internship.
In the fourth year of his course he had Fr. Francisco Sanchez as professor.
Jose describes him as a model of rectitude, a solicitude, and love for the
student, and his studied mathematics, rhetoric, and Greek, and he must
have progressed much, for at the end of the year he-obtained five medals,
which pleased him immensely because with them I could repay my father
somewhat for his sacrifices.
His aptitude for poetry revealed itself early, and from that time on he did not
cease to cultivate it.
An incident which demonstrates Jose’s independence of character took
place at this time. Fr. Leoncio Lopez, parish priest of the town, who was a
great friend of his father, also liked Jose as a little friend. He was cultured
but at the same time timid and tender. One day Jose’s mother showed
Father Lopez a poem of his young friend and that the latter must have
copied it from a book. Jose, who heard this, answered the priest violently,
for which his mother reprehended him. Afterward Father Lopez came to
know from the Jesuits themselves that Jose was a pupil who excelled in
poetry; and, in spite of his age, made a trip to Manila expressly to apologize
to Jose. That gesture of Father Lopez’ won him Jose’s esteem and they
became good friends again, lending each other the books they had.
In the fifth years Jose had other professors: Frs. Vilaclara and Mineves. He
studied philosophy, physics, chemistry, and natural history, but his devotion
to poetry was such that his professor in philosophy advised him once to
leave it, which made him cry. But in his rest hours he continued cultivating
the Muses under the direction of his old professor, Father Sanchez. Jose
had then written a short story (leyenda), which was only slightly corrected
by his professor, and a dialogue, which was enacted at the end of the
course, alluding to the collegians’ farewell. However, philosophy, just and
serve, inquiring into the wherefores of things, interested him as much as
poetry; physics, drawing back the veil that divine drama of nature was
enacted, natural history seemed to him somewhat uninteresting although
he much liked the shells and sometimes imagined seeing a goddess in
each shell he was on the shelf.
Jose was considered small of stature and he tried to correct this defect by
applying himself regularly to gymnastics in the college. He also engaged in
other physical exercises, such as fencing. After his baccalaureate, he
surprised his family with his skill in handling the sword when he gave an
exhibition bout with the best swordsman of the town.
He also devoted time to painting and sculpture. In drawing and painting he
was under the guidance and direction of the Ateneo professor, the
Peninsula Don Augustin Saez, who honored him with his affection and
consideration because of his progress. In sculpture his instructor was a
Filipino, Romualdo de Jesus, who felt proud in the last years of his life of
having had such an excellent pupil.
Ateneo de Manila which was formerly Ateneo Muncipal, was a boys’ school
and its graduates finish their education with the title bachiller en artes which
is in Rizal’s time was equivalent to today’s high school. The University of
Santo Tomas on the other hand, was the only institution in the Philippines
that provided college degrees. As to the academic climate in both
institutions, in the Ateneo, classes last the whole day beginning with a
mass at 7 o’clock in the morning. All students are required to attend such
masses. The students are under strict supervision by their teachers. This
explains why most of Rizal’s poems and other literary works were proSpanish and pro-Catholic such as his poem praising the victory of
Urbiztondo over the Moros of Jolo and his poem about the Virgin Mary. All
the time in Ateneo is devoted to study, academics and co-curricular
activities such as contests in Spanish, Latin and Greek.
On the other hand, at the University of Santo Tomas, the students were
given more freedom. Half of the day is given to study and the rest was free
time. The students are not anymore required to attend mass. This freedom
is not leniency but this was allowed by the university authorities on the
basis that the college students are believed to be more mature and
responsible. Rizal in his spare time used returned to Ateneo to take up a
course in land surveying. His other classmate Rafael Palma also went back
to the Ateneo to take up commerce. Both courses were considered
vocational courses. Some students used the spare time on useless
activities such as doing la cuacha - which at that time meant doing nothing
or playing truant. They wasted their time courting women. Rizal also did
that when he courted three women at the same time. The students also
formed their barkadas and in Rizal’s experience formed El Companerismo.
As for the grades of the students, certainly study at the University of Santo
Tomas was harder than the Ateneo because UST was a university and the
Ateneo was a high school. It would be unfair to compare Rizal’s excellent
grades with the latter and those with the former, plus the many distractions
that faced young men such as Rizal such as the women, the barkadas and
the idle time at Ongpin’s El 88 store and the pancitan at the Panciteria
Macanista de Buen Gusto at San Fernando Street.
Another thing Ateneo remained a boy’s school during the Spanish period.
The University of Santo Tomas on the other hand, began admitting women
in its Escuela de Matronas y Pateras or the school for midwives in its San
Jose Building in the far side of Intramuros. The women had to be married
or widowed and if their husband was still alive, must have his permission.
Furthermore the woman wishing to become a midwife must have the
endorsement of the local parish priest.
So in a nutshell, the academic atmosphere in the Ateneo and UST during
Rizal’s time was different from each other. One was more strict with
students and the other granted them more freedom. That freedom was
actually responsible for allowing Rizal to show his true colors especially
when he wrote his prize-winning poem A La Juventud Filipina which
showed his nationalistic side. The same can be said for his allegorical play
Consejo de los Dioses.