**Rizal's Education in Manila (1872-1882)**

**Ateneo de Municipal Experience**

The Ateneo de Municipal

Jose was sent to Manila to study at the Ateneo de Municipal, a school run by Spanish Jesuits, four months
after the martyrdom of GOM-BUR-ZA and while his mother was still in prison. This school was later
renamed Ateneo de Manila and was run by highly qualified educators. It had a good reputation as an
excellent school for boys.
On his first day in Manila, Jose was accompanied by his brother, Paciano.
The first school where he took the entrance examination was the College of San Juan de Letran. He
passed all subjects. Following that, he and his brother returned to Calamba to participate in the town
fiesta. Don Francisco, who had originally planned for Jose to attend Letran, changed his mind and
enrolled his son at Ateneo. So, when Jose and his brother returned to Manila, they enrolled at Ateneo de
Municipal.

The Jesuits were regarded as the best educators in Spain and when they were allowed to return to the
Philippines, their power to administer parishes was limited except in the remote regions of Mindanao.
Their privilege of founding colleges was limited and they had to apply to the City of Manila for subsidies.
As a result, when they were granted permission to build a school, they named it the Ateneo Municipal,
and it first opened its doors in 1865.

A candidate for admission to the Ateneo had to pass an entrance examination in Christian doctrine,
reading, writing, grammar, and elementary arithmetic.

He was initially denied admission to the said school for two reasons: (1) he was already late for
registration and (2) he was frail and sickly, in addition to being too small for his age (Bagolong 2018, p.
28). However, Jose was finally admitted because of the intervention of Manuel Xeres Burgos, the nephew
of one of the martyred priests.

When Jose enrolled in Ateneo, he took the surname Rizal because the family name Mercado had raised
suspicions among authorities. Paciano used the surname Mercado while studying and working with
Father Burgos, in whose house he lived. Father Jose Burgos was one of the priests that was executed
through a garrote at Bagumbayan on February 17, 1872.
Paciano accompanied Jose and found him a house in the Walled City of Manila, but Jose was reluctant to
stay there because of its cheerless atmosphere, so they looked for a lodging house outside of Intramuros.
They found a house on Calle Carballo in Sta. Cruz.
He became acquainted in that house with various students who were mestizos.
The Jesuit educational system was thought to be more advanced than that of other colleges at the time. Its
discipline was strict and its methods were more mechanical.
It incorporated physical culture, as well as the cultivation of the arts such as music, drawing, and painting
into its program. As a religious institute, it also established vocational courses in agriculture, commerce,
and mechanics. Its main goal was to shape the character and will of the boys so that they could more
easily comply with the Church's teachings. Prior to the start of class, the students heard mass. Classes
opened and closed with prayers.

The classes were divided into internos and externos for the first two terms, with the first representing the
Roman Empire and the second representing the Carthaginian Empire.

Emperor, Tribune, Decurion, Centurion, and Standard-Bearer were the five dignitaries of each empire
(Balotol 2018, p. 31-32). Individual competitions were used to win these honors, in which one had to
catch one's opponent in error three times. When an individual from one empire was caught in error by one
from the opposing empire, a point was awarded to the latter. At the end of each week or two, the points in
favor of each empire were added, and the empire with the most points was declared the winner. Only
those who distinguished themselves in the class for their piety and diligence could join the fraternity of
Mary and Saint Louis Gonzaga.
This fraternity met on Sundays and held public programs after mass, such as poetry recitations or debates.
With all of these incentives, it was only natural that there would be a spirit of emulation, a striving to
outperform one's colleague.
Jose took private Spanish lessons during recess at Santa Isabel College to improve his knowledge and
fluency.
Despite being the class's brightest student, Jose had Fr. Bech as his first teacher.
Jose Bech is described as a tall man with a lean body and a 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 a bit of a lunatic with a sporadic sense of humor; at times he was harsh and intolerant, and at
others he was gay and playful as a child (Craig 1918, p. 21).
The sons of Peninsulares were among Jose's classmates. Jose learned to systematize his work from the
beginning and devised a plan for what he needed to do during the twenty-four hours of the day and did
not deviate from it in the least. As a result, he disciplined his will and subjected it to the dictates of his
reason.
As a newcomer, Jose was placed at the back of the class at first, but he was quickly promoted and
continued to be promoted until, at the end of one month, he had attained the rank of Emperor. At the end
of the semester, he received excellent grades in all subjects and examinations.

Rizal had reason to be pleased with his advancement,

so when he returned home for the summer vacation in March of 1873, he went alone to visit Dona
Teodora in prison and inform her of the good news.
He must have said this after learning from his mother that the prosecutor of the charge against her had
played a cruel joke on her. The judge, who had been a domestic for the friars, told her that if she
confessed to her guilt, he would immediately release her. She pleaded guilty in order to see her children
again, but instead of releasing her, the judge convicted her.

After a few months, the judge begged her forgiveness for what he had done, claiming that it had hurt his
conscience, but the case was already on appeal, so there was no recourse.
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 joy that her release caused in his spirit had a significant
impact on the outcome of his studies in the third year, as he began to win prizes in the quarterly
examinations.
Around that time, he began reading novels, and one of his favorites was Alexandre Dumas' novel The
Count of Monte Cristo.
The first foreign book read by Rizal, in a Spanish translation, was Dumas's great novel, "The Count of
Monte Cristo," and the story of the wrongs suffered by the prisoner of the Château d'If recalled the
injustice done to his mother.
Then came the book which had the greatest influence upon the young man's career, this was a Spanish
translation of Feodor Jagor's "Travels in the Philippines," the observations of a German naturalist who
had visited the Islands some fifteen years before. This latter book, among other comments, suggested that
it was the fate of the North American republic to develop and bring to their highest prosperity the lands
which Spain had conquered and Christianized with sword and cross. Sooner or later, this German writer
believed, the Philippine Islands could no more escape this American influence than had the countries on
the mainland, and expressed the hope that one day the Philippines would succumb to the same influence;
he felt, however, that it was desirable first for the Islanders to become better able to meet the strong
competition of the vigorous young people of the New World, for under Spain the Philippines had dreamed
away its past (Craig 1913, p. 95). Jose's family, seeing in him a natural ability to learn, decided to enroll
him as an intern or boarding student in college the following year. Jose completed his two years of
internship in a corner of the dormitory facing the sea and the pier.
Father Francisco Paula de Sanchez was his professor in the fourth year of his studies. Jose describes him
as a model of decency, solicitude, and love for the student, and he studied mathematics, rhetoric, and
Greek, and he must have made significant progress, as he received five medals at the end of the year. His
talent for poetry was evident from an early age, and he never stopped cultivating it. He majored in
philosophy, physics, chemistry, and natural history, but his love for poetry was so strong that his
philosophy professor once advised him to abandon it, which made him cry. In his spare time, however, he
continued to cultivate the Muses with the help of his old professor, Father de Sanchez. Jose was
considered short in stature, and he attempted to correct this flaw by participating in gymnastics on a
regular basis. He also did other physical activities, such as fencing. Following his baccalaureate, he
surprised his family with his sword-handling ability when he competed in an exhibition bout with the
town's best swordsman. 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 to have had such an excellent
pupil.