Pastor Karl Ullmer's vicarage, Wilhelmsfeld, Germany This is the house where Dr. Jose Rizal finally wrote FINIS to his novel Noli me tángere, Wilhelmsfeld, near Heidelberg, Germany, |
This is the historical marker on Wilhemsfeld Park where Rizal's statue stands. |
Pastor Karl Ullmer, with whose family Rizal lodged, had a friend, Father Heinrich Bardorf, the Catholic priest of the neighboring town of Schriesheimer. He was a regular visitor and over the best German beer at Schriesheimer Hof, the three would discuss, in very friendly and rational manner, issues of differing theological beliefs between Protestants and Catholics.
Dr. José Rizal corrected his Noli manuscript in Germany, making many revisions and shortening it considerably. However, because of his discussions with Father Bardorf and Pastor Ullmer, he tempered his Noli outbursts and toned down his language.
We get some insights into the result of those discussions. While exiled in Dapitan, Rizal's former professor at Ateneo de Manila and Superior of the Jesuits in Manila, wrote and reproached him for leaving the Catholic faith and attributed this fact to bad Protestant influences he received in Germany. He replied to Father Pablo Pastells:
"Distance (at Wilhelmsfeld) provided me a wider perspective, and my imagination cooled off in the atmosphere of calm peculiar to the country."
Rizal adds to his letter to Father Pastells: "Your reverence should have listened to my discussions with a Protestant pastor in the long twilights of summer in the solitude of Odenwald. There conversing slowly and calmly, with freedom to speak, we exchanged views concerning the moral values of peoples and the influence of their respective faiths on their lives. "
3 comments:
Hello Ma'am Flores!Thank you so much for this article.I've always wanted to learn about Rizal's sojourn in Germany and more specifically his stay at Pastor Ullmer's house. May I ask about the reference for the Jesuit's comment as well as Rizal's reply? I wish to discuss that in my own blog.
Thank you so much.
More power!
Kaye
http://kayelangit-luistro.blogspot.com/
Hello Kaye: Thanks for you kind words.
Next month, will be traveling to Suez Canal to retrace Rizal's journey through the Red Sea, the canal passage, his stop at Ismailya City, and his Port Said on the Mediterranean sea, and on to Europe.
I'll share it to my followers in my new blog especially of this trip:
pen-lopevflores/blogspot.com/
Thank you for your interest.
Wow!Can't wait to read your blog post Ma'am!I will surely share this with my readers. Your blog is a gem. Thanks Ma'am for sharing this with us.
Warmest regards,
Kaye
Post a Comment