The Masonic Life Of Dr. Jose Razal (2024)

Article by
Fred Lamar Pearson, Jr., 33°

The lifeand death of Brother Jose Rizal were central to his fame as the "GeorgeWashington of the Philippines."

Dr. Jose P. Rizal (photo right), a Philippine national born on June 19, 1861,died before a firing squad on December 30, 1896. Thus came to an ingloriousend the life of a remarkable man and Mason. Martyr, patriot, poet, novelist,physician, Mason—he was all of these and more. In fact, he squeezedinto a very few years, 35, an incredible array of activities. Further, hetraveled extensively and affected profoundly lives far removed from his nativeland. As is often the case with great men, controversy surrounded his lifeand continues to surface today. In this article for the Journal, I am pleasedto comment on a biography of Bro. Rizal by Reynold S. Fajardo. Titled Dimasalang:The Masonic Life of Dr. Jose Rizal, this book will be more thoroughly reviewedand excerpted from in a future issue of Heredom, the transactions of theScottish Rite Research Society.

The Sovereign Grand Commander of the Philippine Supreme Council of the ScottishRite, Ill. Rudyardo V. Bunda, 33°, writes in the preface to Dimasalang:"Most Filipinos know that Rizal was a Mason, but very few are familiar withthe extent of his involvement in the Fraternity." The Grand Commander goeson to note that his Supreme Council "considers this book as a meaningfulcontribution to the scholarship on Rizal and is proud to publish it as itsshare in the commemoration of the Centennial [1996] of Rizal’s martyrdom."

The 1800s were tumultuous years for the Spanish monarchy. Napoleon had invadedthe Iberian Peninsula earlier in the century taking the royal family intoexile and installing a puppet on the throne. Revolution had racked her westernhemisphere possessions, and Spain lost all of them, except Cuba and PuertoRico, by the end of 1824. Then she lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in 1898. Theeconomic life of Spain and her empire had been little changed by the industrialrevolution. Intellectually, a sterility existed and did not change significantlyuntil the Generation of 1898 writers and thinkers appeared.

Also, scandal tore at the very heart of the homeland when Generals Prim andSerrano removed Queen Isabel II from the throne for, among other things,gross immorality. They provided a military junta arrangement until the monarchycould be reestablished under more capable hands.

The 19th century produced volatility at home and abroad. Cuba experienceda ten-year civil war in the middle part of the century. Cuban expatriatesas well as non-Cuban adventurers sought to wrest the island from the controlof what they considered a fossilized monarchy and an absolutist church. Theirefforts intensified in 1895 when José Martí returned to theisland, losing his life but setting off a current of events which ultimatelyincluded an invasion by the United States and which resulted in Cubanindependence. The Philippine Islands shared much in common with Cuba duringthe 19th century. It was in this environment that Jose Rizal made his appearancein 1861.

The Philippine hero was born to affluent parents in Calamba. He showed earlyacademic promise and eventually obtained a licentiate in medicine specializingin ophthalmology. Few Masonic Lodges existed in the Philippines duringRizal’s adolescence, and Lodge membership consisted primarily of EuropeanSpaniards with only a sprinkling of Philippine nationals. Rizal’s uncle,Jose Alberto Alonzo, a Knight Commander of the Spanish Orders of Isabel theCatholic and Carlos III, had joined the Masonic Fraternity, possibly in Spain,certainly in Manila. Rizal lived in his uncle’s home during part ofhis student days. Whether his uncle exercised a Masonic influence on Rizalis not clear; what is certain is that Rizal acquired a lasting positive memoryof Masonry which was enhanced when he visited Naples in 1882. There he sawa multitude of posters and signs announcing the death of the great Italianpatriot Giuseppe Garibaldi, a 33° Scottish Rite Mason who had servedas Grand Master. This impressed Rizal greatly for he wrote about this Masonicencounter in a letter to his family.

In Spain the young and highly impressionable Rizal encountered an intellectualenvironment with far fewer restraints than the one in his native land. Herehe came under the influence of a host of outstanding thinkers, many of themFreemasons. For example, Grand Master Miguel Morayta helped to expandRizal’s historical mind-set, and ex-President Francisco Pi y Margalexerted a profound influence on Rizal’s political evolution. Further,these republican liberals were staunch advocates of Philippine independence.Not surprisingly, Rizal petitioned Acacia Lodge No. 9, Gran Oriente deEspaña, the very Lodge in which Morayta and Pi y Margal held membership.When initiated, Rizal selected Dimasalang as his symbolic name within theCraft, a custom prevalent at the time among Spanish Masons.

Rizal quickly became involved in Filipino expatriate circles in Spain andrevealed a remarkable ability to write both poetry and prose. He soon commencedwork on his famous novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not). In this seminalwork, Rizal dissected the Philippine colonial government and placed particularblame for its repressive nature on certain religious elements. Rizal wasconvinced that conditions in the Philippines existed not because of Spainor the Catholic Church but because of the practices of certain regular clergy,namely Dominicans and Recollects. Spanish newspapers ran stories about theexciting Philippine firebrand, stories which soon made their way to Manila.There, government and religious authorities immediately took note and didnot hesitate to label Rizal a subversive.

Bro. Rizal departed Spain in July 1885 to further his ophthalmology studiesin France and Germany. For the next two years, he met and associated withthe leading minds of Paris, Leipzig, Berlin, and Heidelberg. It was a headyatmosphere for the young Brother, and Masons in Germany, Dr. Rudolf Virchowand Dr. Feodor Jagor, were instrumental in his becoming a member of the BerlinEthnological and Anthropological Societies. While in Germany, Rizal acquiredadditional Masonic Degrees.

When his novel Noli Me Tangere, came off the press in Europe, Rizal sentcopies to, among others, the Governor-General of the Philippines and theArchbishop of Manila. The Governor-General, Emilio Terrero y Perinat, a 33°Mason, represented no problem, and he protected Rizal upon his return tothe islands and for as long as he held the Governor-Generalship. The Archbishop,however, presented a problem which did not go away. Rizal had become increasinglyconvinced of his need to campaign in person for reform in the Philippinesas opposed to propagandizing from afar. His friends cautioned him not toreturn but failed to dissuade the idealist. On August 5, 1887, Dr. Rizalstepped ashore in Manila.

Almost immediately, serious problems emerged. The Manila Archbishop put pressureon Governor-General Terrero to ban Rizal’s book. Terrero, who had areal liking for Rizal, hesitated to suppress the book which rapidly circulatedin the capital. The church authorities did not delay in publishing a condemnationof the work, but, to their chagrin, the condemnation only enhanced sales.Rizal also involved himself in a sticky matter which concerned a Dominicanhacienda in Calamba. According to critics of the Dominicans, their haciendaholdings were excessive, and the friars had not paid their fair share oftaxes. Rizal, when requested by the town council of Calamba, got involvedin an investigation of the matter, and his report during a public meetingwas highly critical of the Dominicans.

The church hierarchy did not take long to react. The Archbishop increasedpressure on the Governor-General to suppress Noli Me Tangere as an inflammatorybook and to arrest its author. Accordingly, Governor-General Terrero, fearinghe might not be able to protect him, put pressure on Rizal to depart thecountry. Rizal heeded the advice and traveled to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, thereligious authorities carried out reprisals against Rizal’s family whichincluded the arrest of his mother.

After a short stay in Hong Kong, Rizal traveled to Japan and then the UnitedStates where he enjoyed the experience of a coast-to-coast visit. New York,in particular, impressed him, and cryptic evidence in his diary suggestshe may have visited the Grand Lodge of New York. From New York City, Rizaljourneyed to England and then on to the continent. While in Paris, Rizalpublished, with annotations, Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las IslasFilipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands). Financial pressure forced himto relocate from Paris to Belgium. There, he worked hard on his second novel,El Filibusterismo (The Subversives), in which he sounded clearly the tocsinfor Philippine revolution.

During a visit to Spain, Dr. Rizal affiliated with an all-Filipino MasonicLodge, Solidaridad (Solidarity) No. 53. At their annual communication, theBrethren elected him to a minor office, Supervising Architect. Before hisdeparture from Spain, the Gran Oriente Español designated Rizal asits Grand Representative with authority to represent the Body in France andGermany. This was a distinct honor, for Rizal apparently had never servedas Worshipful Master of a constituent Lodge.

Rizal’s El Filibusterismo was published in September 1891, and in Octoberhe departed for Hong Kong. There he enjoyed a delightful reunion with familymembers. He wanted to return to Manila but desisted in view of the controversyhis books had generated, especially his second, El Filibusterismo. Whilein Hong Kong, Rizal developed an extensive and lucrative medical practice.Meanwhile, a Lodge for Filipinos, Nilad No. 144, had been established inManila. The Lodge membership honored Rizal in absentia by electing him "HonorableVenerable Master" and had the Secretary inform him by letter of his preferment.Soon after formation of Nilad Lodge, Masonic growth in the Philippinesmushroomed, and when Rizal returned in 1892, Masonry was well established.

The Filipino Masons seized every opportunity to honor Rizal after his return,and the Spanish authorities, in turn, monitored his every movement. Worriedabout revolution, the authorities, constantly encouraged by Rizal’senemies among the friars, had him arrested and deported to Dapitan on July6, 1892. Further, the authorities began to close Lodges and deport activeMasons.

The Jesuits made a determined effort to influence Rizal in his Dapitan exile,even enlisting former college professors. Their effort failed. Rizal enjoyedfamily visits in Dapitan, and friends of his sought to arrange a flight tosafety. Rizal, however, did not want to embrace the safety net of a fugitive.When José Martí and his compatriots launched the Cuban Revolutionin 1895, Dr. Rizal offered his services to the Governor-General as a volunteerphysician. Governor-General Blanco seized the opportunity to send Rizal outof the country and, hopefully, save his life. In fact, Blanco wrote to cabinetministers in Spain requesting the Spanish government to pardon Rizal. WhenRizal departed for Spain, he was unaware of the doom which awaited him. WhenRizal’s ship reached Spain, the authorities returned him to the Philippinesto stand trial for treason, and he was executed on December 30, 1896. Thestory however does not end there. The subsequent Philippine Revolution provedsuccessful and removed European Spaniards from all positions of authority.The scales of justice not only righted but tipped in favor of suchrevolutionaries as Bro. Jose Rizal. Recognized as the "George Washingtonof the Philippines," Bro. Rizal endures today as a national and Masonic hero.

Scottish Rite Temple
1828 Taft Ave., 1004 Malate
(1099 PO Box 555)
Manila, Republic of the Philippines
Tel. 011–63–2–526–06–25
Fax. 011–63–2–526–06–13

F. Lamar Pearson, Jr. is the editor of the Masonic Messenger of Georgia and a Professor of History at Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Ga. A member of St. John the Baptist Lodge No. 184, he is a 33° Scottish Rite Mason, Valley of Macon, Georgia, and a Knight York Cross of Honour, Georgia Priory No. 39. He and his wife, Nancy, are the very proud parents of three children and five, soon to be six, grandchildren.