diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

On 25 October, the first Sunday after they left Europe, Rizal'sobservations are entered in the following manner:The bishop plans to celebrate mass on board at 11:00 O'clock. They have broughtup the piano and set up some sort of an altar. Above on the left side, between twobands of white and red the Italian seal forms the background.Mass was celebrated under the American flag in front of the Italian, the French,and the Portuguese on one side, the English on the other. There were manypeople, all Catholic, and some Russians. The friars remained on their knees allthe time.°The seal of the new Italy, the national flags displayed during the mass henoted briefly. Did he perhaps nourish a wish to see one day the two flags ofthe Philippines and Spain fraternally united before the altar of sacrifice? Notunusually patriotic and religious sentiments go hand in hand, and it ispossible Rizal thought of religion as an element of patriotic fervor, or of areligious patriotism such as the Spanish friars in the Philippines exemplified.He also noted the presence of orthodox Russians at the mass, or the fact thatthe friars knelt throughout. When compared to similar attitudes today, theygive more than enough food for thought. But there was still a more urgentproblem that deeply preoccupied Rizal, the problem as always of theconvenience and incompatibility of various religious beliefs. Hence his penchanged from an objective narrative tone to a lyric and heartfelt intimacywhen he added:At night I had with the bishop a long discussion on religion. Deep faith, deepfaith, as a true missionary. But intolerance, always intolerance. He even remindsme of the Boustead family.21Riz ' al, too, has deep religious faith, like Volonteri, even like theBousteads of bitter memory. But his faith is much more in consonance withtoday's society than that of his own. The episode that had occurred before heleft Europe involving that wealthy family clearly proves it. Rizal, who hadjust finished his second novel vilifying the Spanish friars in the Philippines,centered his affections on Nelly Boustead after his former sweetheart hadmarried. But the former imposed as a condition that he abjure his Catholicismand embrace reformed Christianity as she understood it.22 The national herorejected the happiness within reach and refused to give up his Catholic faith,23a living faith conscious of a mission such that, were it not for the injusticeperpetrated after the Cavite mutiny, Rizal would have become a Jesuit, andone of the more modem ones in my opinion. The only difference between the4