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philippine studies
Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines
Rizal’s Unfading Glory

by Jesús Ma. Cavanna y Manso, C.M.
Review Author: José M. Hernández
Philippine Studies vol. 1, no. 1 (1953): 98–100
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98 PHILIPPINE STUDIES
published material on the Kalinga, I do not wonder that Barton

and his editor included these "scraps torn from a field notebook."
Aside from their orientational function in the book, the disputed
pages have a less contingent significance. EvansdPritchard recently
put it this way: what the anthropologist does not publish "may be,
and often is, lost for ever. The anthropologist is not only the
collator and interpreter of sources. He is the creator of them"
(Social Anthropology [Glenme, Ill.: The Free Press, 19511, p. 88).
This is a readable study of a Philippine people. I recommend it
to all Filipinos interested in their fellow-nationals. Certainly govern-
ment officials and missionaries dealing directly or indirectly with
Mountain Province peoples Should study it with care.
RIZAL'SUNFADING GLORY.By JesGs Ma. Cavanna y Manso, C.M.

Mandaluyong, Rizal. 1952. pp. 345. 42 illustrations and 32
autograph documents. Cloth, X.00; paper, P5.00.
This book deals satisfactorily and systematically with all abjections

and doubts raised during the last half-century regarding the re-
turn of the Hero of Bagumbayan to the Faith. It is conclusive.
Written in very simple and readable language, Rizal's Unfading
Glory presents indisputable documentary evidence for the conversion.
No one with an unbiassed mind can fail to admit the conclusions
drawn by Father Cavanna in his book. Even those who have hitherto
withstood all arguments for the retraction and who have clung to
the conviction that the document was a forgery, that the Jesuits
who participated in the final drama of Rizal's life were deceivers,
and that Rizal was never buried canonically, should now at last
be satisfied with the evidence presented in the book we have under
study.
Rizcrl's Unfading Glory begins with a translation of the testimony
presented in Piiiana's very famous volume Mun'd El Doctor Rizal
Christiunamente? Although the English translation is somewhat in-
adequate in certain instances, because it is too literal and therefore
unidiomatic, still one can see that the work has been very thorough,
analytical and painstaking. No stone has been left unturned. Every
possible angle, every possible detail, and every possible statement
has be& meticulously checked and rechecked before its inclusion in
the book, in order that the testimony may be truly definitive and
convincing.
The first part of the book deals with an analysis of the evidence
presented by eye-witnessess of the conversion. Then follow details
BOOK REVIEWS 99
regarding the acts of faith, hope and charity recited and signed
by Dr. Jose Rizal and attested to by conclusive witnesses-just before
the supreme sacrifiice at Bagum,bayan.
The book then proceeds to record the sacraments of Confession
and Communion received by the Hero at Fort Santiago just before
his execution. The fact of Rizal's Catholic marriage to Josephine
Bracken, and the acts of piety performed by the great Calambeiio
during his last Rours, his Christian bunial in the Catholic cemetery,
and @hepublic celebration of Catholic rituals for the repose of
Rizal's soul, are then presented vividly and clearly. The first part,
therefore, forms the positive evidence in support of Rizal's Catholic
death and bu~ial.
The second part consists of a refutation of all the arguments
so far presented against the retraction of Dr. Rizal. All the authors
who have cast doubt upon the retraction, or have imputed fraud,
are successfuHy answered. A catalog of all the documents mentioned
as having been found by Rev. Manuel A. Gracia, C.M.,in the archives
of the Manila Archdiocese is presented, and this appendix is very
comprehensive.
Chapter XI1 of the book is the most significant in the volume
because it states beyond shadow of doubt what so many detractors
of the Jesuits and of those who believe in the conversion, have faiIed
to see all along during the last half century. Chapter XI1 states
and explains the secret of Rizal's conversion
Men have asked repeatedly: "How could Rizal with all his
determination, after writing such explosive novels as Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo, after exposing the immoral practices and ques-
tionable lives of some priests of the Philippines, after declaring himself
a free-thinker, how could he have turned about in the last twenty-
four hours of his life and become a Catholic?'
People have asked without ceasing, how Rizal could have
"weakened" at the last moments of his life. Would not the re-
traction serve as a testimony of weakness and in effect neutralize all the
transcendental and significant propaganda and patriotic work that
he had done for the Philippines in the short span of his crowned life?
And they continue to ask: "Why should he sign a retraction of
his religious errors, knowing that the next morning he would die, as
he had anticipated all along, in Bagumbayan field--on the same
field where Gomez, Burgos and Zamora had ignominiously perished
by the garrote?"
Father Cavanna answers these questions by advancing three major
reasons for Rizal's conversion : ( 1) The power of prayer, (2) Devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and(3) The sincere piety and deep religion
imbibed in an early and solid Catholic education at home and in the
school.
There are many who will scoff at these reasons, but this is be-
cause they reject the supernatural premises upon which they are based.
100 PHILIPPINE STUDIES
If the scoffer will take the pains to examine these premises dispas-
sionately, he will find them entirely reasonable and plausible, and will
also find no difficuty in admitting that Rizal in the last moments
of his lite once again felt their force and acted upon them.
With quiet sincerity Father Cavanna says:
For those who are devoted to Him, the Sacred Heart of Jesus has
made these promises: "I will be their secure refuge during life, and
above all in death .. .Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and
infinite ocean of mercy ...Those who shall promote this devotion sha?!
have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out . . ..
This then is the answer to all the enemies of the Church and to all
those that would deny the return of the Hero of Bagumbayan to
the faith in which he was born and bred. He did return, and that
is the fact, and this is the explanation. And no act of his life was
performed for loftier motives and with clearer light. This is his
unfading glory, here and hereafter.

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philippine studies

Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines

Rizal’s Unfading Glory

Review Author: José M. Hernández

Philippine Studies vol. 1, no. 1 (1953): 98–100

Copyright © Ateneo de Manila University

Philippine Studies is published by the Ateneo de Manila

Please contact the publisher for any further use of this

published material on the Kalinga, I do not wonder that Barton

RIZAL'SUNFADING GLORY.By JesGs Ma. Cavanna y Manso, C.M.

This book deals satisfactorily and systematically with all abjections

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