https://thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.

com/2016/06/rizal-at-
university-of-santo-tomas-1877.html
https://prezi.com/ehs8iezgc1ka/rizal-at-ust/?
frame=e21ea509afd5045ca9e72a67ad337b39969fba20
https://thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.com/2012/02/rizals-
romances.html
http://allaboutjoserizal.blogspot.com/2013/09/at-university-of-santo-
tomas.html

Rizal at the University of Santo Tomas 1877-1882

Jose Rizal, having completed his Bachiller en Artes at the Ateneo

Municipal, was now eligible for higher education at a university. His mother,
Doña Teodora, had second thoughts about sending her son to school because of
the previous incident involving the execution of friars Gomez, Burgos and
Zamora. She was vocal in her opposition to the decision of Don Francisco.
However, the father of Rizal was convinced of the great future that awaited his
son whose intelligence was among the best at that time. It was Don Francisco who
decided his son to go to University of Santo Tomas, a prestigious institution run
by the Dominican order.

UNDECIDED

Rizal, upon entering the university, was not certain which

course of study he wanted to pursue. The Jesuit priests who had
been his former mentors had advised him to take up farming, or to
join the order and be a man of the cloth. However, his tastes went
towards law, literature, or medicine. In the end, he decided to sign
up for Philosophy and Letters during his freshman year because
of the following reasons:

1. It was what his father would have wanted for him.

2. He had failed to seek the advice of the rector of Ateneo,
Father Ramon Pablo.

As part of the course, he had to complete units in the following

subjects:

● Cosmology and Metaphysics

● Theodicy
● History of Philosophy

His report card was very impressive:

Shifting to Medicine
After completing his first year, Rizal decided to take up medicine as his university
course. This change of heart was due to two factors:

1. Father Ramon Pablo, rector of the Ateneo, had advised him to pursue the course.
 2. Rizal's mother had failing eyesight and he thought he owed it to her to become a
doctor and cure her condition

Rizal's performance at the University of Santo Tomas was not as excellent as his time at the
Ateneo. His grades after shifting to medicine had suffered as well.

Rizal’s Experience of Spanish Brutality

Rizal was accustomed to going home during vacation in Calamba to join his family and
spending time with them after a long arduous study as a medical student at UST. One
night in 1878, while he was walking alone along a dark street, Rizal failed to recognize
the Spanish Civil Guard who was passing by his side; thus, he did not bow, salute or
greet the soldier. At a striking distance, the Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) whipped Rizal
mercilessly at the back with a dry stingray tail (buntot pagi). He suffered from wounds
inflicted on his back that lasted for two weeks before it completely healed.
Rizal could not accept such brutal treatment inflicted by the Civil Guard; he went to
Captain General Primo de Rivera and complained of the Spanish soldier. Instead of
adhering to Rizal’s complaint, the Captain General even reprimanded him, said that
Rizal should even be thankful for being alive, and was spared by the Guardia Civil.

Jose Rizal manifested his literary genius while at UST. In 1879, the Artistic and Literary
Lyceum, a society whose members were composed of artists in literature, sponsored a
contest in poetry writing and composition. Rizal joined the contest and wrote a
poem entitled “A La Juventud Filipina,” (To the Filipino Youth) as his entry to
the competition. After the expert reading and scrutiny of the Board of Judges, the
entries coming from Spanish, mestizo and Filipino students, who submitted their
respective pieces to the competition, Rizal’s poem was adjudged as superior and won
him the first prize and recognition in UST, and from his hometown in Calamba.

In 1880, the same society, the Artistic-Literary Lyceum sponsored another artistic
completion in honor of the 264th death anniversary of “Spain’s most glorified man-of-
letter” Don Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the book, “Don Quixote,” a celebrated
work produced by a Spanish writer.

In this competition, many writers participated and submitted their pieces with
respective assumed names such as journalist, priests, scholars and professors. Rizal, on
his part, submitted an allegorical drama entitled “El Consejo de los Dioses” (The
Council of the Gods). After a critical scrutiny and appraisal by an entirely Spanish
Board of Judges, they awarded the first prize to Rizal’s literary work, due to its
superiority and quality. Unfortunately, Rizal was temporarily stripped of the award due
to his identity as an Indio (Filipino). Despite all objections from Spaniards in Manila,
the board of judges insisted that the work of Rizal deserved the first place. Thus, Rizal
was awarded a gold ring, where the bust of Cervantes was engraved. A Spanish writer
took second place.

While Rizal was considered a Thomasian, he continued an active connection in Ateneo. He was
the president of the Academy of Spanish Literature, secretary of Academy of Natural Sciences
and member of the Marian Congregation.

Rizal also composed literary works while an active alumni of Ateneo de Manila
and a medical student at UST. He wrote the following artistic pieces:

1879: Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma

A poem, declaimed by an Atenean, manuel Fernandez on

December 8, 1879 in honor of the Ateneo’s Patroness
 1880: Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig)

A zarzuela, staged by the Ateneans on December 8, 1880 on the

Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Ateneo. Rizal
wrote it as President of the Academy of Spanish Literature

1880: A Filipinas

A sonnet, for the album of the Society of Sculptors .Rizal urged all
Filipino artist to glorify the Philippines

1881: Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon

A poem, an expression of affection to Father Pablo Ramon, the

Ateneo rector

Romances with Other Girls

Notwithstanding his academic studies in the University of Santo Tomas and

extracurricular activities in Ateneo, Rizal had ample time for love. He was a romantic dreamer
who liked to sip the “nectar of love.” His sad experience with his first love had made him wiser in
the ways of romance.
Shortly after losing Segunda Katigbak, he paid court to a young woman in Calamba.
In his memoirs, he called her simply Miss L, describing her as “fair with seductive and attractive
eyes.” After visiting her in her house several times, he suddenly stopped his wooing, and the
romance died a natural death.
 Several months later, during his sophomore year at the University of Santo Tomas, he
boarded in the house of Doña Concha Leyva in Intramuros. The next door neighbors of Doña
Concha were Capitan Juan and Capitana Sanday Valenzuela, parents of a charming girl named
Leonor. Rizal, the medical student from Calamba, was a welcomed visitor in the Valenzuela
home, where he was the life of the social parties because of his clever sleight-of-hand tricks. He
courted Leonor Valenzuela, who was a tall girl, “almost as tall as Jose himself,” and had a regal
bearing. He sent her over love notes written in invisible ink. This ink consisted of common table
salt and water. It left no trace on the paper. Rizal, who knew his chemistry, taught Orang(pet
name of Leonor Valenzuela) the secret of reading any note written in the invisible ink by heating
it over a candle or lamp so that the lettering may appear. But as with Segunda, he stopped short
of proposing marriage to Orang.
Rizal’s next romance was with another Leonor- Leonor Rivera- his cousin from
Camiling. In 1879, the start of his junior year at the University, he lived in “Casa Tomasina,” a
boarding house managed by his Uncle, Antonio Rivera, at No. 6 Calle Santo Tomas,
Intramuros. His landlord-uncle had a pretty daughter, Leonor, a student at La Concordia
College, where Soledad(Rizal’s younger sister) was then studying. Leonor, born in Camiling,
Tarlac, on April 11, 1876, was a frail, beautiful, “tender as a budding flower with kindly, wistful
eyes.” Between Jose and Leonor sprang a tenderly beautiful romance. They became engaged.
In her letters to Rizal, Leonor signed her name as “Taimis,” in order to hide their intimate
relationship from their parents and friends.

UNHAPPY DAYS AT THE UST

Rizal was unhappy in the Dominican institution because:
Ø The Dominican professors were hostile to him
Ø The Filipino students were racially discriminated against by the Spaniards
Ø The method of instruction was obsolete and repressive.

He failed to win high scholastic honors due to the attitude of his professors.

Likewise, there were three main reasons for his struggling academic performance
(Guerrero, 1998):

1. Rizal was not satisfied with the system of education at the university.
2. There were plenty of things to distract a young man in the peak of his youth.
3. Medicine was not Rizal's true vocation.
DECISION TO STUDY ABROAD

Rizal decided to study in Spain after finishing the fourth year of his medical course.

The people who approved this are the following:

Ø His older brother Paciano

Ø His sisters Saturnina (Neneng) and Lucia

Ø Uncle Antonio Rivera

Ø The Valenzuela family

Ø Some friends

The people who did not know of his decision are the following:

Ø Rizal’s parents

Ø Leonor Rivera

Ø Spanish authorities

Ipinaskil ni Unknown sa 7:38 PM