Ust

• Professional education at the UST


  Rizal studied medicine at the Universidad de Santo Tomas from 1877 to 1882
• The UST was then the only higher education institution that trained physicians
• Rizal as a Thomasian


  • Won many prestigious literary awards
  • Fell in love with some pretty girls
  • Actively defended Filipino rights
• A college degree at the UST would have qualified Rizal to practice a profession - lawyer, doctor, teacher, or priest
• The prejudice of authorities at the time forced Rizal to become a college drop out
• Family opposition to higher education

  • Rizal might never have gone to college at all
  • Higher education was a privilege open to only very few rich youths
  • Only men could work as professionals in the Spanish era
• Rizal's mother Teodora opposed the idea of Jose going to the UST


  She told his father: "Don't send him to Manila again; he knows enough. If he gets to know more, the Castila will cut off his head!"
• Paciano and Rizal's father decided to send Rizal for higher education at the risk of wading into dangerous political waters
• Rizal's entry into the University of Santo Tomas

  1. Enrolled in April 1877 at age 15

  2. Took the course on Philosophy and Letters

  3. Later transferred to medicine
• Rizal's reason for choosing medicine

  To cure his mother's growing blindness
• Rizal's surveying course at Ateneo

  1. Studied to be a land surveyor (perito agrimensor)

  2. Included related topics like agriculture and geography

  3. Excelled in all subjects, obtaining gold medals in agriculture and topography

  4. Passed the final examination at age 17, but did not get the title of surveyor until the following year, November 25, 1881
• Rizal frequently visited Ateneo while studying at UST
• Rizal's reasons for visiting Ateneo

  • His surveying course
  • His loyalty to Ateneo and the beautiful memories he had there
  • Found many friends
  • The Jesuit professors were liberal and inspired him, unlike the conservative Dominicans at UST
• Rizal continued to participate actively in Ateneo's extra-curricular activities
• Rizal's roles at Ateneo


  • President of the Academy of Spanish Literature
  • Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences
  • Continued his membership in the Marian Congregation, of which he was the secretary
• Rizal experienced police brutality as a freshman medical student at the UST
• Rizal's experience of police brutality

  1. Passed by another man while walking at night in Calamba

  2. Did not salute or say "Buenas noche!" as he was supposed to

  3. The unknown stranger turned out to be a lieutenant of the Guardia Civil

  4. The officer brutally slashed Rizal's back with his sword

  5. Rizal reported the incident to the liberal Spanish Governor general but nothing came out of his complaint
• Rizal became the champion of Filipino students in their frequent fights with Spanish students at the UST
• Conflicts between Filipino and Spanish students at the UST

  • Filipinos often surpassed the white Castilas in class work
  • Spanish students insultingly called their brown classmates "Indio, songgo!" (monkey)
  • Filipino students called the Spanish students "Castila, bangus!" (pale fish)
  • Hostility regularly exploded in street brawls
• Rizal's role in the student conflicts

  1. Led the Filipino students into "combat" against the Spanish students

  2. Owing to his skills in fencing and wrestling, and his courage, he distinguished himself in these student fights

  3. In 1880 he founded a secret society of Filipino students at the UST, called Compañerismo (Comradeship)

  4. Was the chief of this secret student society, with his cousin Galicano Apacible as the secretary
• In one of the clashes between Filipino and Spanish students, Rizal was wounded on the head
• Rizal's sweetheart at the time

  Leonor Rivera, who tenderly washed and dressed his wound
• "To the Filipino Youth" (1879)

  • Rizal's prize-winning poem in a literary contest held by the Liceo Artistico-Literario of Manila
  • Inspired poem of flawless form, beseeching his generation to rise from lethargy and let their genius fly
  • Expressed the nationalistic idea that the Filipinos were "the fair hope of the fatherland"
• "The Council of the Gods" (1880)


  • Rizal's prize-winning allegorical drama in a literary contest held by the Liceo Artistico-Literario
  • Depicted the Greek gods of Mount Olympus discussing the comparative merits of three great writers - Homer, Virgil, and Cervantes
  • The Board of Judges, composed of Spaniards, praised the work for its originality, correct style, richness of details, delicacy of thought, and Greek flavor
• Aside from his two prize-winning works, Rizal produced other poems and a zarzuela
• The Council of the gods: '"The plot of the work (The Council of the gods) are of great originality, with utmost correct style, an admirable richness of details, delicacy of thought and figures, and, lastly, a Greek flavor that the reader imagines himself relishing some delicious passages of Homer."'
• The winning drama written by Rizal


  Like a classic Greek play
• The drama


  1. Greek gods of Mount Olympus meet in a council

  2. Discuss the comparative merits of three great writers - Homer, Virgil, and Cervantes

  3. Decide to give the trumpet to Homer, the lyre to Virgil, and the best laurel crown to Cervantes

  4. Allegory closes with characters of mythology - naiads, nymphs, satyrs, and other imaginary characters - dancing and gathering laurel leaves for Cervantes' crown
• Other literary works by Rizal

  • Poems
  • Zarzuela
• Zarzuela


  A light-hearted comedy medieval play usually with the christian hero getting the beautiful heroine after defeating a moro enemy
• Rizal composed a poem entitled "Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma"


  1879
• Rizal's zarzuela Junto al Pasig (Beside the Pasig) was staged


  1880
• Rizal was the President of the Academy of Spanish Literature in the Ateneo when the zarzuela was staged
• If the play had not been humorous, and done at the free-spirited school, Rizal might have been in deep trouble for this comedy</b>
• Satan (in the play): '"[My country] Now without comfort,/ Sadly groans in the power of a foreign people,/And slowly dies/ In the impious clutch of Spain."'
• Rizal wrote a sonnet entitled "A Filipinos"


  1880
• Rizal composed a poem entitled "Al M.R.P. Pablo Ramon"


  1881
• Rizal's love life


  Romantic dreamer who liked to sip the "nectar of love"
• Rizal's love interests


  • Segunda Katigbak
  • Anonymous lady from Calamba, Miss L
  • Leonor Valenzuela of Pagsanjan, Laguna
  • Leonor Rivera of Tarlac
• Rizal's romance with Miss L

  Rizal courted her in his hometown of Calamba, but suddenly stopped wooing her due to the sweet memory of Segunda Katigbak and his father's disapproval of her family