diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

PHILIPPINE ASSIGNMENT AND FRIENDSHIP WITH RIZALOn 5 September 1875 Pastels, then 29 years old, arrived in thePhilippines' and was to stay in the Ateneo Municipal de Manila till about themiddle of the following year. In addition to his other duties, he was assignedas sub-prefect of the boarders and director of the Congregacion Mariana, orwhat was known in English as the Sodality of our Lady. Rizal, a young boy of14 from Calamba, was a member of this religious association. According toPastels, he rose to the office of prefect (or president), a position he welldeserved "by reason of his most exemplary progress in virtue and learning."'In his letter to Obach, Pastels was to 'refer to himself as "one who hadguided his (Rizal's) conscience in much more propitious times."' He wouldalso call Rizal his spiritual son, querido hijo de mi alma.' Rizal in turn was toacknowledge this role of Pastels by expressions of filial respect and byreferring to the memory of his dealings with the priest as something "sacred."He wrote: ". . I hold you in such high esteem . . . for what you have been inthe years of my adolescence (the memory of which I always cherish and holdsacred) . . .'"° A very special and profound relationship, therefore, grewbetween Pastels and Rizal: the priest became Rizal's spiritual guide anddirector, whom he approached for his problems of conscience and spiritualneeds: and very probably, in as much as sodalists were enjoined by rule to goto confession regularly, he was even Rizal's regular confessor. Hence, itwould seem that at least in the school year 1875-76 it was to the young priestFather Pastels that Rizal turned for spiritual counsel, just as it was thescholastic Sanchez that he consulted on matters literary.Even after Pastels had left the Ateneo for Mindanao, the sodalistappeared to have kept in touch with him. By Pastels' own account, Rizalsought his advice by letter on the matter of his choice of career. 1 From themission station in Caraga, Surigao, Pastels replied suggesting that he take upagriculture, but by the time Rizal got the letter (the trip from Manila to Caragaand back took six months) he had already decided on medicine. Of the manyJesuits close to him at the Ateneo, including Sanchez, Pastels was given thefirst place by Rizal himself, at least in a letter to Blumentritt in 1886. "He wasmy best friend, the most distinguished and most traveled among the Jesuitmissionaries; he is also very zealous."12While at the Ateneo, he was concurrently socius or assistant to theSuperior of the Philippine Mission.° But it seems that the principal task ofPastels in Manila was the study of Visayan in preparation for his assignmentto the mission areas of Wfuidanao." Except for occasional visits to other parts219