Chapter 5 - Medical Studies at the University of Santo Tomas (1877-1882)

Fortunately, Rizal's tragic first romance, with its bitter disillusionment, did not adversely
affect his studies in the University of Santo Tomas. After finishing the first year of a
course in Philosophy and Letter (1877-78), he transferred to the medical course. During
the years of his medical studies in this university which was administered by the
Dominicans, rival educators of the Jesuits, he remained loyal to Ateneo, where he
continued to participate in extra-curricular activities and where he completed the vocation
course in surveying. As a Thomasian, he won more literary laurels, had other romances
with pretty girls, and fought against Spanish students who insulted the brown Filipino
students.

A. Mother's Opposition to Higher Education

After graduating with the highest honors from the Ateneo, Rizal had to go to the
University of Santo Tomas for higher studies. The Bachelor of Arts course during the
Spanish times was equivalent only to the high school and junior college courses today. It
merely qualified its graduate to enter a university. Both Don Francisco and Paciano wanted
Jose to pursue higher learning in the university. But Doña Teodora, who knew what
happened to GomBurZa, vigorously opposed to the idea, and told her husband:

"Don't send him to Manila again; he knows enough. If he gets to know more, the
Spaniards will cut off his head."

Don Francisco kept quiet and told Paciano to accompany his younger brother to Manila
despite their mother's tears.

Jose Rizal himself was surprised why his mother, who was a woman of education and
culture, should object to his desire for a university education. Years later he wrote in his
journal:

"Did my mother perhaps have a foreboding of what would happen to me? Does a
mother's heart really have a second sight?"

B. Rizal Enters the University

In April 1877, Rizal who was then nearly 16 years old, matriculated in the University of
Santo Tomas, taking the course of Philosophy and Letters. He enrolled in this course for
two reasons:

1. His father liked it

2. He was still uncertain as to what career to pursue

He had written to Father Pablo Ramon, Rector of Ateneo, who had been good to him
during his student days in that college, asking for advice on the choice of a career. But the
Father Rector was then in Mindanao so that he was unable to advise Rizal. Consequently,
during his first-year term (1877-78) in the University of Santo Tomas, Rizal studied
Cosmology, Metaphysics, Theodicy, and History of Philosophy.
 It was during the following term (1878-79) that Rizal, having received the Ateneo Rector's
advice to study medicine, took up the medical course and the regular first year medical
course. Another reason why he chose medicine for a career was to be able to cure his
mother's growing blindness.

C. Finishes Surveying Course in Ateneo (1878)

During his first school term in the University of Santo Tomas (1877-78), Rizal also studied
in the Ateneo. He took the vocational course leading to the title of perito agrimensor
(expert surveyor). In those days, it should be remembered, the colleges for boys in Manila
offered vocational courses in agriculture, commerce, mechanics, and surveying.

Rizal, as usual, excelled in all subjects in the surveying course in the Ateneo, obtaining
gold medals in agriculture and topography. At the age of 17, he passed the final
examination in the surveying course, but he could not be granted the title as surveyor
because he was below age. The title was issued to him on November 25, 1881.

Although Rizal was then a Thomasian, he frequently visited the Ateneo. It was due not
only to his surveying course, but more because of his loyalty to the Ateneo, where he had
so many beautiful memories and whose Jesuit professors, unlike the Dominicans, loved
him and inspired him to ascend to greater heights of knowledge. He continued to
participate actively in Ateneo's extra-curricular activities. He was president of the
Academy of Spanish Literature and secretary of Academy of Natural Sciences. He also
continued his membership in the Marian Congregation, of which he was a secretary.

D. Romances with Other Girls

Notwithstanding his academic studies in the University of Santo Tomas and extra-
curricular activities in the 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
student 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 wooing,
and the romance died a natural death. Nobody today knows who this woman was. Rizal
himself did not give her name. hence, her identity is lost to history. However, he gave two
reasons for his change of heart, namely:

1. The sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh in his heart

2. His father did not like the family of "Miss L"

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 from Pagsanjan,
Laguna, who had a charming daughter named Leonor. Rizal, the medical student from
Calamba, was
 a welcome visitor in the Valenzuela home, where he was the life of social parties because
of his clever sleight-of-hand tricks. He courted Leonor Valenzuela, who was a tall girl with
a regal bearing. He sent her 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 words 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, at the start of his junior year at the university, he lived in "Casa Tomasina," at No.
6 Calle Santo Tomas, Intramuros. His landlord-uncle, Antonio Rivera had a pretty
daughter, Leonor, a student at La Concordia College, where Soledad (Rizal's youngest
sister) was then studying. Leonor, born in Camiling, Tarlac, on April 11, 1867, was a frail,
pretty girl "tender as a budding flower with kindly, wistful eyes". Between Jose and
Leonor sprang a beautiful romance. They became engaged. In her letters to Rizal, Leonor
signed her name as "Taimis", in order to camouflage their intimate relationship from their
parents and friends.

E. Victims of Spanish Officer's Brutality

When Rizal was a freshman medical student at the University of Santo Tomas, he
experienced his first taste of Spanish brutality. One dark night in Calamba, during the
summer vacation in 1878, he was walking in the street. he dimly perceived the figure of a
man while passing him. Not knowing the person due to darkness, he did not salute nor say
a courteous "Good Evening". The vague figure turned out to be a lieutenant of the Guardia
Civil. With a snarl, he turned upon Rizal, whipped out his sword and brutally slashed the
latter on the back.

The wound was not serious, but it was painful. When he recovered, Rizal reported to
General Primo de Rivera, the Spanish governor general of the Philippines at that time. But
nothing came out of his complaint, because he was an Indio and the abusive lieutenant was
a Spaniard. Later, in a letter to Blumentritt, dated March 21, 1887, he related:

"I went to the Captain-General but I could not obtain justice; my wound lasted two weeks."

F. "To the Filipino Youth" (1879)

In the year 1879 the Liceo Artistico-Literario (Artistic-Literary Lyceum) of Manila, a

society of literary men and artists, held a literary contest. It offered a prize for the best
poem by a native or a mestizo. Rizal, who was then eighteen years old, submitted his poem
entitled A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth).

The Board of Judges, composed of Spaniards, was impressed by Rizal's poem and gave it
the first prize which consisted of a silver pen, feather-shaped and decorated with a gold
ribbon. Young Rizal was happy to win the poetry contest. He was sincerely congratulated
by the Jesuits, especially his former professors at the Ateneo, and by his friends and
relatives.
 The prize-winning poem, A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth), is an inspiring
poem of flawless form. In exquisite verses, Rizal beseeched the Filipino youth to rise from
lethargy, to let their genius fly swifter than the wind and descend with art and science to
break the chains that have long bound the spirit of the people.

This winning poem of Rizal is a classic in Philippine literature for two reasons:

1. It was the first great poem in Spanish written by a Filipino, whose merit was
recognized by Spanish literary authorities
2. It expressed for the first time the nationalistic that the Filipinos, and not the
foreigners, were the "fair hope of the Fatherland"

G. "The Council of the Gods" (1880)

The following year (1880) the Artistic-Literary Lyceum opened another literary contest to
commemorate the fourth centennial of the death of Cervantes, Spain's glorified man-of-
letters and famous author of Don Quixote. This time the contest was opened to both
Filipinos and Spaniards.

Many writers participated in the contest - priests, newspapermen, scholars, and

professors. Rizal, inspired by his poetical triumph the previous year, entered the literary
joust, submitting an allegorical drama entitled El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of
the Gods).

The judges of the contest were all Spaniards. After a long and critical appraisal of the
entries, they awarded the first prize to Rizal's work because of its literary superiority over
the others. The Spanish community in Manila spear-headed by the Spanish press, howled
in great indignation against the decision because the winning author was an Indio.
Despite all objections, the prize was awarded to Rizal, a gold ring on which was engraved
the bust of Cervantes. A Spanish writer, D.N. del Puzo, won the second prize. For the
first time in history an Indio - a nineteen-year old Filipino medical student at that -
excelled in a national literary contest, defeating several Spanish writers of his time in
Manila. Rizal was particularly happy, for he proved the fallacy of the alleged Spanish
superiority over the Filipinos and revealed that the Filipinos could hold his own fair
competition against all races.

The winning allegory of Rizal was a literary masterpiece based on the Greek classics. In
writing it, Rizal, although a student of University of Santo Tomas, was aided by the kind
Father Rector of Ateneo in securing the needed reference materials. The allegory
established a parallel among Homer, Virgil, and Cervantes. The gods discuss the
comparative merits of these great writers and finally decided to give the trumpet to
Homer, the lyre to Virgil, and the laurel to Cervantes. The allegory gloriously closes with
the naiads, nymphs, satyrs, and other mythological characters dancing and gathering
laurels for Cervantes.
H. Other Literary Works

Aside from the two prize-winning works mentioned above, Rizal, although studying
medicine, produced other poems and a zarsuela, this zarsuela was Junto al Pasig (Beside
the Pasig), which was staged by the Ateneans on December 8, 1880, on the occasion of the
annual celebration of the Feast Day of Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the Ateneo.
He wrote it as President of the Academy of Spanish Literature in the Ateneo.

As as piece of literature Junto al Pasig is mediocre. But there are passages in it which
express in subtle satire the author's nationalist ideas. For instance, Rizal makes Satan say
that the Philippines -

"Now without comfort,

Sadly groans in the power of a foreign
people, And slowly dies
In the impious clutch of Spain."

In the same year (1880), he wrote a sonnet entitled A Filipinas for the album of the Society
of Sculptors. In this sonnet, he urged all Filipino artists to glorify the Philippines.

The year before, in 1879, he composed a poem entitled Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma, which
was declaimed by an Atenean, Manuel Fernandez, on the night of December 8, 1879 in
honor of the Ateneo's Patroness.

Later in 1881, he composed a poem entitled Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon. he wrote this poem
as an expression of affection in Father Pablo Ramon, the Ateneo rector who had been so
kind and helpful to him.

I. Rizal's Visit to Pakil and Pagsanjan

In the summer month of May 1881, when he was still a medical student at the University
of Santo Tomas, Rizal went on a pilgrimage to the town of Pakil, famous shrine of the
Birhen Maria de los Dolores. He was accompanied by his sisters - Saturnina, Maria, and
Trinidad and their female friends. They took a casco (flat-bottom sailing vessel) from
Calamba to Pakil, Laguna, and stayed at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Regalado,
whose son Nicolas was Rizal's friend in Manila.

Rizal and his companions were fascinated by the famous turumba, the people dancing in
the streets during the procession in honor of the miraculous Birhen Maria de los Dolores.

In Pakil, Rizal was infatuated by a pretty girl colegiala, Vicenta Ybardolaza, who skillfully
played the harp at the Regalado home. From Pakil, Rizal and his party made a side trip to
the neighboring town of Pagsanjan for two reasons:

1. It was the native town of Leonor Valenzuela, one of Rizal's girlfriends in

Manila
 2. To see the world famed Pagsanjan Falls.

Years later, Rizal mentioned the Turumba in Chapter VI of Noli Me Tangere and
Pagsanjan Falls in his travel diary (United States - Saturday, May 12, 1888), where he said
that the Niagara Falls was the "greatest cascades I ever saw" but "not so beautiful nor fine
as the falls at Los Baños, (sic) Pagsanjan."

J. Champion of the Filipino Students

Rizal was the champion of the Filipino students in their frequent fights against the arrogant
Spanish students, who were often surpassed by the Filipinos in class work and who
insultingly called their brown classmates - "Indio, chongo!" in retaliation, the Filipino
students called them "Kastila, bangus!" Hostility between these two groups of students
often exploded in angry street rumbles.

Rizal participated in these student brawls. Owing to his skills in fencing, his prowess in
wrestling, and his indominating courage, he distinguished himself in these student
skirmishes. In 1880, he founded a secret society of Filipino students in the University of
Santo Tomas called Compañerismo (Comradeship), whose members were called as
"Companions of Jehu," after the valiant Hebrew general who fought the Armaeans and
ruled the Kingdom of Israel for 28 years (843-816 B.C.). he was the chief of this secret
student society, with his cousin from Batangas, Galicano Apacible, as secretary. As chief,
he led the Filipino students into combat against Spanish students in various street fights.

In one of the fierce encounters between the Filipino students and their pale-skinned
detractors near the Escolta in Manila, Rizal was wounded on the head. His friend s brought
him bleeding and covered with dust to his boarding house, "Casa Tomasina". Leonor
Rivera tenderly washed and dressed his wound.

K. Unhappy Days at the UST

Rizal, Ateneo's boy wonder, found the atmosphere at the University of Santo Tomas
suffocating to his sensitive spirit. He was unhappy at this Dominican institution of higher
learning because:

1. The Dominican professors were hostile to him

2. The Filipino students were racially discriminated against by the Spaniards
3. The method of instruction was obsolete and repressive.

In his novel El Filibusterismo, he described how the Filipino students were humiliated and
insulted by their Domican professors and how backward the method of instruction was,
especially in the teaching and natural sciences. He related in Chapter XIII, "The Class in
Physics," that his science subject was taught without laboratory experiments. The
microscope and other laboratory apparatuses were kept inside the showcases to be seen by
visitors, but the students could not even touch them.
 Because of the unfriendly attitude of the professors, Rizal, the most brilliant graduate of
Ateneo, failed to win high scholastic honors. Although his grades in the first year of the
philosophy course were all "excellent," they were not impressive in the four years of his
medical course.

L. Decision to Study Abroad

After finishing the fourth year of his medical course, Rizal decided to study in Spain.
He could no longer endure the rampant bigotry, discrimination, and hostility in the
University of Santo Tomas. His older brother readily approved his going to Spain and
so did his two sisters Saturnina (Neneng) and Lucia, Uncle Antonio Rivera, the
Valenzuela family, and some friends.

For the first time, Rizal did not seek his parents' permission and blessings to go abroad,
because he knew that they, especially his mother, would disapprove it. He did not bring
his beloved Leonor into his confidence either, He had enough common sense to know
that Leonor, being a woman, young and romantic at that, could not keep a secret. Thus,
Rizal's parents, Leonor, and the Spanish authorities knew nothing about his decision to
go abroad in order to finish his medical studies in Spain, where the professors were
more liberal than those of the University of Santo Tomas.
Chapter Test:

Identification (3pts. Each)

1. Rizal founded a secret society of Filipino students in the University of Santo Tomas
called
.
2. In his novel , he described how the Filipino students were
humiliated and insulted by their Domican professors and how backward the method of
instruction was, especially in the teaching and natural sciences.
3. In Pakil, Rizal was infatuated by a pretty girl colegiala, , who
skillfully played the harp at the Regalado home.
4. Rizal, who was then eighteen years old, submitted his poem entitled
(To the Filipino Youth).
5. In 1879, at the start of his junior year at the university, he lived in "Casa Tomasina,"
at
.
6. Rizal mentioned the Turumba in Chapter VI of .
7. The vague figure turned out to be a lieutenant of the . With a snarl,
he turned upon Rizal, whipped out his sword and brutally slashed the latter on the
back.
8. He took the vocational course leading to the title of (expert
surveyor).
9. Rizal, inspired by his poetical triumph the previous year, entered the literary joust,
submitting an allegorical drama entitled .
10. In April 1877, Rizal who was then nearly 16 years old, matriculated in the University
of Santo Tomas, taking the course of .