Jose Rizal and Ferdinand Blumentritt: A Chronology of a Friendship

January 01, 2014

By:
Josefina D. Hofileña, Ph.D.,
Department of History, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila

It is one of the fortunate accidents in life that a single letter to someone known
only by reputation can turn into a lifelong friendship. It is not often that a casual
inquiry about a person’s research grows into brotherly affection.

But such was the case between our national hero Jose Rizal and Ferdinand
Blumentritt, the Austrian scholar and schoolteacher to whom Rizal first wrote in
July 1886. Journalist John Nery traces the evolution of this friendship by noting
the gradual changes in the salutations that each used to address the other in the
over 200 existing letters that they exchanged during their ten-year
correspondence. Nery notes that in their earliest letters, they addressed each other
as “Esteemed Sir.” Five months into the correspondence, they began their letters
with “Esteemed Friend.” After Rizal’s visit with Blumentritt in May 1887, they
addressed each other with the more personal “Dear Friend,” and by late 1889 until
their correspondence ended with Rizal’s death in December 1896, they
affectionately addressed each other as “Dear Brother” (Nery 2011, 238-9).

The Friendship Begins

Born to a well-to-do family in Calamba, Laguna on 19 June 1861, Rizal began his
early schooling in the town of Biñan. In 1872, his older brother Paciano
accompanied him to enroll in the Jesuit-run Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he
would complete the degree of Bachelor of Arts with the highest honors in 1877.
Rizal began his medical studies at the University of Santo Tomas while
simultaneously enrolling in courses in topography and agriculture at the Ateneo
Municipal (Ateneo de Manila University [1977]). Without the permission of his
parents, Rizal sailed to Spain in 1882 to continue his medical studies and to
“search for the good which we all desire….for the good you are doing your
countrymen” (Vicente Gella to Jose Rizal, 30 June 1882, quoted in Guerrero 2008,
83).

Born in Prague (then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on 10

September 1853, Blumentritt studied History at Prague University. When his
correspondence with Rizal began, he was a master teacher at Leitmeritz (today
known as Litomerice in the Czech Republic) and had already published scholarly
writings on Philippine languages and ethnography. The 33-year old Blumentritt
was married to Rosa Muller and had three children: two sons – Friedrich and
Konrad – and a daughter named Dolores, whom Blumentritt sometimes
affectionately addressed with the Tagalog nickname, “Loleng” (Tomas 2008, 15;
Guerrero 2008, 157).

While continuing his medical studies in Germany, the 25-year old Rizal
heard of an Austrian scholar in Leitmeritz whose historical and ethnographic
publications on the Philippines betrayed his abiding interest in a people and a
country he had never even seen with his own eyes. Upon learning that Blumentritt
was studying the Tagalog language, “[t]he lonely Rizal, so fiercely proud of his
race, [and] touched by this foreigner’s interest in his native culture,” (Guerrero
2008, 158), initiated what was to become a lifelong correspondence. In his letter,
Rizal said, "Esteemed Sir: Having heard that Your Lordship is studying our
language and that you have already published some works on the subject, I take
the liberty of sending you a valuable book written in that language by a
countryman of mine" (Rizal to Blumentritt, 31 July 1886, in National Historical
Institute 1992, 1: 7).

Blumentritt soon reciprocated with a gift of two books (Rizal to

Blumentritt, 16 August 1886, summarized in Ocampo 2011, 38). The two then
continued to exchange letters about their scholarly endeavors. Books,
manuscripts, maps were gifted as well, one to the other. Oftentimes Rizal would
write about his search for Filipiniana and his efforts at translating German works
on the Philippines. Blumentritt would respond by sending his own ethnographic
studies and also provided Rizal with letters of introduction to a number of German
scholars (See for example, Rizal’s letter to Blumentritt dated 24 May 1887,
summarized in Ocampo 2011, 53). Here was a budding friendship born of an
intimate love for all things Philippine (Guerrero 2008, 161).

In his biography of Rizal, Leon Ma. Guerrero remarks, "It is a charming

and, in its own way, fascinating correspondence...the letters they exchanged also
illustrate something that is very rare, the evolution of a purely intellectual
friendship....Clearly Blumentritt the Austrian schoolmaster, is Rizal’s mentor; he
has a greater command of the authorities, a better knowledge of the world; but the
young Malay can also teach the erudite Czech what cannot be found in maps and
ethnographical treatises; political realities, the feeling of a people" (Guerrero
2008, 162-3).

Four months into the correspondence, Rizal mustered the courage to

suggest that they exchange photographs. Blumentritt readily obliged, while Rizal
sent a self-portrait done in crayon (Guerrero 2008, 163). It was also to Blumentritt
that Rizal sent one of the earliest available copies of his Noli Me Tangere
(Guerrero 2008, 148; see also Rizal to Blumentritt, 21 March 1887 summarized in
Ocampo 2011, 49).
The Meeting

After five years in Europe, Rizal longed for home. On this way back, however,
Rizal took an extended tour of Europe, visiting such places as Prague and Vienna,
Stuttgart and Munich, Geneva and Basel, Rome and Marseilles before heading to
the Philippines. The tour made it possible for him to spend a few days in
Leitmeritz to finally meet his Austrian friend. This visit lasted a mere four days.

Accompanied by Maximo Viola – who had helped Rizal publish the Noli
Me Tangere – Rizal arrived in Leitmeritz on 14 May 1887. Accompanied by his
wife and children, Blumentritt met the two travelers at the train station and helped
them check in at the Hotel Krebs. Blumentritt would meet up with his Filipino
guests after breakfast and take them around the city. On one of these walks, they
had occasion to meet the mayor of Leitmeritz and the two Filipino travelers
signed the city’s guest book. Each day would end with dinner at the Blumentritt
home. Before finally leaving Leitmeritz, Rizal left a pencil sketch of Blumentritt,
as a memento of their all too brief but memorable encounter (Guerrero 2008,
166).

Of this encounter, Guerrero remarks, “A friendship by correspondence

does not always improve upon personal acquaintance; happily enough, Rizal and
Blumentritt got on remarkably well” (2008, 165). That such is the case is evident
in an emotional letter Rizal wrote to Blumentritt two days after leaving
Leitmeritz, "…my heart was full, and I asked myself: What have I done to deserve
the friendship and sympathy of such kind souls....I will also bear in mind my good
friends in Leitmeritz and I will say... ‘You are not alone, Rizal; there in a little
corner of Bohemia, there are good, noble souls and friends who appreciate you;
think of them; consider them as if they were with you, as if they were seeing you;
they will gladden at your joys and they will weep for your sorrows (Rizal to
Blumentritt, 19 May 1887, in National Historical Institute 1992, 1: 80).

The Deepening Friendship

After what was the first and only face-to-face encounter between the two scholars,
the “friendship by correspondence” continued. Arriving back in the Philippines in
August 1887, Rizal kept his Austrian friend informed of events and conditions in
the Philippines. He wrote about his medical practice, which he engaged in so as
not to be a burden to his family. He spoke also of the fear of his family and
friends, of how he would avoid calling on friends so as not to put them in any
danger, and of how everyone wanted him to leave the country. (Rizal to
Blumentritt, 19 October 1887 and 3 December 1887, summarized in Ocampo
2011, 62).

Under pressure from Spanish colonial authorities and the religious orders,
Rizal left the Philippines for Hong Kong in February 1888 (Nery 2011, 34). By
June he was in London where he spent much of the year copying by hand Antonio
de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas and then annotating this 17th century
chronicle of the Philippine Islands to prove that the Filipinos possessed a high
level of civilization even before the Spaniards arrived (Guerrero 2008, 208).

All this time, the Rizal-Blumentritt correspondence continued. Their

interest in Philippine history and culture led to collaborative efforts such as
translating each other’s works and sharing their discoveries about the existence of
Filipiniana titles in various libraries. Such collaboration can also be seen in
Blumentritt’s agreeing to write the Prologue to Rizal’s annotations of Morga’s
Sucesos.

Rizal shared news about the Philippines. Many times, the news was not
good – such as the deportation of his brother-in-law, Manuel Hidalgo, to Bohol
(Rizal to Blumentritt, 13 October 1888, summarized in Ocampo 2010, 73), the
death of another brother-in-law, Mariano Herbosa, due to cholera (Rizal to
Blumentritt, 15 July 1889, summarized in Ocampo 2010, 90), and the continued
persecution of his family (Rizal to Blumentritt, 28 June 1890, summarized in
Ocampo 2011, 101).

Rizal would also bemoan how Spanish authorities back home and Spanish
writers in the peninsula looked down on Filipinos (Rizal to Blumentritt, 1
November 1888, summarized in Ocampo 2010, 73). He lamented that, without
freedom, Filipinos were worse off under Spain (Rizal to Blumentritt, 13 October
1888, summarized in Ocampo 2011, 73).

Blumentritt was a staunch advocate of Philippine freedom and was not

afraid to make his sentiments known in the Filipino newspaper La Solidaridad and
other publications. For this, as well as for his defense of the Noli, Blumentritt
earned the ire of some Spaniards who openly attacked him in Spanish periodicals
(Rizal to Blumentritt, 20 January 1890, summarized in Ocampo 2011, 98).

By late March 1891, Rizal reported to Blumentritt that he had finished

writing his second novel, El Filibusterismo (Rizal to Blumentritt, 29 March 1891,
summarized in Ocampo 2011, 104).

Later that year, against the advice of his family and friends – including
Blumentritt – Rizal left Europe for good. “The field of battle is in the
Philippines,” Rizal declared, “there is where we should be found….There we will
help each other, there we will suffer united, and perhaps even triumph” (quoted in
Schumacher 1991, 100).

Rizal, however, opted first to stay in Hong Kong, where he was joined by
his parents and siblings (Rizal to Blumentritt, 10 December 1891, summarized in
Ocampo 2011, 110). Reunited with his family, Rizal could write Blumentritt that,
“we all live together, my parents, sisters, and brother – in peace, far from the
persecutions they suffered in the Philippines” (Rizal to Blumentritt, 31 January
1892, in National Historical Institute 1992, 2: 433).

By June 1892, however, Rizal was back in the Philippines and on 15 July
he was deported to Dapitan in northern Zamboanga. While in far-away Dapitan,
Rizal dabbled in business, opened a school for young boys, and continued his
medical practice (Rizal to Blumentritt, 31 July 1894, summarized in Ocampo
2011, 140). By April 1896, Rizal expressed sadness over his separation from
friends and his wish to leave Dapitan (Rizal to Blumentritt, 5 April 1896,
summarized in Ocampo 2011, 147). Blumentritt suggested that he offer his
services as a volunteer doctor to Cuba (Nery 2011, 49) and it was while he was
making his way there via Spain that Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan rose in
revolt against Spain. Upon reaching Barcelona in October 1896, Rizal was
arrested, detained, and sent back to Manila where he was immediately imprisoned
at Fort Santiago. On 26 December, the Spanish court-martial found Rizal guilty of
rebellion and three days later, he was informed that he had been sentenced to die
by execution.

The Final Letter

As he prepared to meet his death, Rizal wrote his final goodbyes to members of
his family. From them he asked for forgiveness for the suffering that he had
caused (Rizal to his family, December 1896, summarized in Ocampo 2011, 153).
Among his last letters was one to his Austrian friend: "My dear brother: When
you receive this letter, I shall be dead by then. Tomorrow at seven, I shall be shot;
but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil
conscience. Adieu, my best, my dearest friend, and never think ill of me! (Rizal to
Blumentritt, 29 December 1896, in National Historical Institute 1992, 2: 539)

The death of his “best and dearest friend” did not end Blumentritt’s
relationship with the Philippines. The Austrian scholar continued his ethnographic
and historical studies on the Philippines and remained a loyal advocate of
Philippine independence. He corresponded with a number of Filipino nationalists
during the years of the Revolution and the first decade of the twentieth century
(Ocampo 2000, 39-40; Tomas 2008, 46-9).

Blumentritt passed away in Leitmeritz on 13 September 1913. At the time

of his death, only seventeen years after 1896, Rizal was already a revered hero in
the eyes of the Filipinos. During his final moments, it was said that Blumentritt
“spoke only the Spanish dialect used in the Philippines” (Tomas 2008, 50). A year
later, the Philippine Assembly published Vida y Obras de Ferdinand Blumentritt, a
bibliography of Blumentritt’s works on the Philippines to honor Rizal’s “alma
gemela, su hermano espiritual mas querido” (Asamblea Filipina, 1914, 14).
References

Asamblea Filipina. 1914. Vida y obras de Ferdinand Blumentritt. Manila: Bureau

of Printing.

Guerrero, Leon Ma. 2008. The first Filipino: A biography of Jose Rizal. Manila:
National Historical Institute.

Ateneo de Manila University. [1977?]. Jose Rizal: Bachiller en artes, 1877. Issued
by the Ateneo de Manila University on the occasion of its 118th
commencement exercises in commemoration of the centenary of Jose
Rizal’s graduation from the Ateneo, 1877-1987.

Locsin, Ma. Soledad L., trans. 1997. Jose Rizal: El filibusterismo: Subversion: A
sequel to Noli me tangere. Makati City: Bookmark, Inc.

Montemayor, Teofilo H. 2004. Rizal Pictorial Calendar. Manila: National

Historical Institute.

Nery, John. 2011. Revolutionary spirit: Jose Rizal in Southeast Asia. Quezon City:
Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 2000. Blumentritt’s role in the propaganda war. In Rizal

without the overcoat, 39-40. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing, Inc.

__________. 2011. A calendar of Rizaliana. Manila: UST Publishing House.

National Historical Institute. 1992. The Rizal and Blumentritt correspondence. 2

vols. Manila: National Historical Institute.

Schumacher, John N., S.J. 1991. The making of a nation: Essays on nineteenth-
century Filipino nationalism. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
Press.

__________. 1997. The Propaganda movement: 1880-1895. Rev. ed. Quezon

City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Tomas, Jindrich. Jose Rizal, Ferdinand Blumentritt and the Philippines in the new
age. The City of Litomerice, 2008.

Sumber:

http://ateneo.edu/soss/history/news/jose-rizal-and-ferdinand-blumentritt-
chronology-friendship