ST.

PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE

6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

Pre – Final
Requirement
In
Soc.Sci 106
(Life, Works & Writings of
Rizal)

Submitted to: Mr. Camilo

Pangan Jr.
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

Submitted by: Karlstein F.

Diao
Date of Submission  10/3/18

I. INTRODUCTION
 Jose Rizal is known to be as the national hero of the Philippines due to his patritiotic
ideals and martyrdom for the filipino motherland. Also, several perspectives by filipinos
regarding Rizal’s recognition as suitable in being a saint was as well issued. Since he was
a martyr who died for the filipinos, some call him the “Tagalog Christ” or “Kristong
Tagalog”. It is confounding to know whether he must be treated as a hero or a saint.
Hence, the main query is formulated: “What is your opinion in making Rizal as a
saint? Do you agree or disagree? Why?”
 In order to acquire opinionated information about the query, an interview was conducted
to generate a significant conclusion. With a sample of eleven (11) respondents, there
were meaningful responses that have supported their viewpoints. Moreover, the
significance of conducting this interview is to boost one’s perspective on Jose Rizal
among the interviewees, to gather information from the responses which create a
concluding statement, and lastly, to become a “conscious filipino” about the opinion in
making Rizal as a saint through the generated conclusion from the responses of the
interviewees.
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

 The medium of interview is through the social messaging application “Facebook

Messenger”. Eleven people responded on the interview question. Furthermore, in order to
generate a conclusion, there must be analysis of responses, and the ‘analysis’ must be
aided with graphical representations to breakdown the idea of the responses specifically
and generally. In this data gathering, analyzing data is through the medium of statistical
graph: ”pie chart relationships”. Lastly, “making Rizal as a saint” was surely decisive for
the respondents, and these interview responses is surely a great significance!
II. SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW RESPONSES

A. Presentation of Interview Responses

 “I think I’m not in favor with that movement given the fact that in his writings which tells
about his life has no miracles happened and, nobody is testifying that he performed
extraordinary miracles. Though of course, what he did was martyrdom-like, however it
was not directed to faith but for the deserved freedom to his fellow Filipinos.”
– Mr. Alcantara

 “Jose Rizal must not be made as a saint and we should not directly promote a person
easily, such as on what happened to Pedro Calungsod.”
– Ms. Real

 “Rizal indeed, during his lifetime, excelled in almost everything and even imparted great
contributions and sacrifices just for us to gain the freedom that our beloved country
longed for, for a long time. We are truly grateful for that. That is the reason why, we
recognize him as our National Hero but making him a saint is another story. For one will
become a saint if he/she performed countless miracles through God, during his/her
lifetime. In Rizal's case, yes, he indeed, is faithful enough to God but for me, being a
National hero is enough for him and there's no need for him to be a saint because in the
first place, even if he sacrificed a lot of things, even his life for all of us, he haven't
performed any miracle during his time.”
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

– Ms. Mangante

 “I'd rather have him as a hero, considering that being a saint is a religious form of
commitment. Hero is the best term considering that he fights for a nation and that in
being a saint requires full commitment to God.”

– Mr. Cual

 “We should consider that before you become a saint you have done things that in
accordance to the Catholic Teachings or base on the Church teachings. But I did not say
that Rizal did not do for the country. He did everything for us to be able to claim freedom
but not as a saint that he have done for us Filipinos. It is enough for him to be our
national hero, being a saint is far from it.”

– Ms. Pialago

 “I don’t agree since there is no enough evidence in his spiritual works and life which can
make him qualified to be a saint.”

– Mr. Aquino

 “For me Rizal cannot be qualified to become saint because of the certain requirements
need to pass for Rizal's to become or called saint. Its say Canonization is the act by
which a Christian church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which
declaration the person is included in the "canon", or list, of recognized saints.
Originally, a person was recognized as a saint without any formal process. Later,
different processes were developed, such as those used today in the Catholic Church, the
Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion.”

– Mr. Hernando
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

 “No! Because Rizal did die as martyr but not as martyr of faith so if ever there's a cause
for his beatification/canonization it would be of heroic virtues and not martyrdom.”

– Ms. Desor

 “He cannot be a saint because every saint has a true mark of what he has done to the
people and especially, in relationship with God.”

– Ms. Binag

 “Rizal did great things for our country and all but is it enough to become a saint? I'm not
against Rizal but I’m just questioning his credentials if he really is fit to be a saint. We,
Filipinos, are very thankful for Jose Rizal because he is the one who started the idea of
nationalism, he is the one who led the reforms against Hispanic colonization and his
death has led many Filipinos to fight for our independence. In fact, we all consider him
as our national hero. But I think that's just it. According to the dictionary, the meaning of
saint is someone who is chosen by God preeminent with holiness, and when we based it
on Rizal's past, he had lots of women in every country he visited. I'm not being
judgmental here but just stating facts and it just happens that these facts are also my
opinion.”

– Ms. Anquillano

 As for me, he did not die for the love of God. He died for his great love of our country.
Although his noble cause is somewhat similar to some martyrs, but it all boils down to
the reason of his cause. So i would say no!
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

– Mr. Ternate

B. Graphical Synopsis

What is your opinion in making Rizal as a saint?

AGREE
DISAGREE

100%
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

 The interviewees gave several responses with some commonalities and have stated
definite reasons. Although preponderance of them acknowledged the patriotism and
heroism of Jose Rizal, all disagreed on the conviction of making Rizal as a saint.
 The “Pie Chart” depicts the percentage of responses from the interviewees in either
choices: “Agree” or “Disagree” statement. The legend labels on the right are
representation colors of blue (agree) and red (disagree). Based on the chart, the blue color
is not shown since all of the responses are disagreements and not even one person
responded ‘agree’. For this reason, the pie chart is represented with a percentage of 100
and with a red color due to the reason that all of them do not agree in making Rizal as a
saint!
 Thereby with the pie chart, the interviewees’ general response is depicted.

What is your opinion in

making Rizal as a saint? AGREE

5% DISAGREE
9%
Evidence of Spiritual Works and
Extraordinary Miracles
9% Full Commitment to God and
Holy acts & service to the people

Martyrdom of Faith
14% Requirements of the Catholic
Church in Canonization

Direct Declaration of becoming a

14% Saint

III. ANALYSIS
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

 Deductively, the opposition of the respondents on making our national hero a saint are
caused by five (5) definite reasons. These reasons, namely: “Evidence of Spiritual Works
and Extraordinary Miracles”, “Full Commitment to God and Holy Acts & Service to the
People”, “Martyrdom of Faith”, “Requirements of the Catholic Church in Canonization”,
and “Direct Declaration of Becoming a Saint” refute on the spiritual aspects of Rizal in
his life, which negates the opinion in making him a saint.

 Evidence of Spiritual Works and Extraordinary Miracles 

Three interviewees, with a percentage of 27, responded that Jose Rizal didn’t
have sufficient proof of his holiness. Although he has great faith to God, but
there is no evidence of his sacrificial devotion to the divine being. There was
even no celestial and miraculous occurrence or appearances that had happened.
He has not even performed extraordinary miracles and his life was not really
focused on the service to God.
 Full Commitment to God and Holy Acts & Service to the People 
Three interviewees, with a percentage of 27, responded that Jose Rizal’s life was not
in total commitment to God. There were instances that in his voyage to certain places,
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

he has gotten the heart of many women and even encountered fights during his
adolescence years. He is a pious Christian, but has not reached the qualification of a
saint although he has served the people through his nationalism.
 Martyrdom of Faith  Two interviewees, with a percentage of 18, responded that
Jose Rizal hasn’t manifested the sacrifice due to the belief in God. He is a martyr for
the love of the country and fellowmen, but not in martyrdom of faith. For the
respondents, he is a hero and not a martyr of faith.
 Requirements of the Catholic Church in Canonization  Two
interviewees, with a percentage of 18, responded that Jose Rizal hasn’t met the
qualifications of being a saint. As mentioned above, those are some examples of
canonization requirements. There must be complete evidence for recognizing a
person as a saint.
 Direct Declaration of Becoming a Saint
 One interviewee, with a percentage of 10, responded that Jose Rizal must not be
made as a saint easily like other saints due to the reason that it takes a long process
and time due to the qualifications. Declaring a person a saint directly without formal
proofs is unacceptable.
IV. CONCLUDING STATEMENT
 With a thorough examination of the summary and analysis of the interview

responses, it was really worthwhile. It is been asserted that “Jose Rizal” is truly

recognized by the Filipinos as a hero and not to be made as a saint. In spite of the

fact that he has not reached the canonization requirements, he is still the “Kristong

Tagalog” of his fellowmen because he has saved the country for the rise of
 ST. PAUL UNIVERSITY DUMAGUETE
6200 Dumaguete City
Philippines
COLLEGE OF ARTS & EDUCATION

independence through his heroic death. He is indeed a martyr of his motherland in

the hands of the Spaniards while defending the Filipino rights. Hence, he is not

suitable to be a saint for the eyes of the Filipinos but a hero with humble

beginnings, multiple professions, novels that awakened nationalism, a good heart

and a legacy that lives on forever.

 The almighty God have not destined him to become a holy person but destined
him with great purpose  a purpose for the awakening of nationalism.
 This analysis paper was surely a simple and great experience! Accordingly, I end
this with a known quote:

“Many are called, but few are chosen”