RIZAL’S SECOND SOJOURN IN PARIS AND THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION IN 1889

-In March, 1889, it was extremely difficult for a visitor to find living quarters in Paris
· Valentin Ventura- a friend of Rizal where he lived—No. 45 Rue Maubeuge, where he polished his
annotated edition of Morga’s book
· Rizal used most of his time in the reading room of the Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library) checking up his historical annotations on Morga’s book
· Rizal was a good friend of the three Pardo de Taveras—Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, a physician by vocation and philologist by avocation, Dr. Felix Pardo de Tavera, also physician by vocation and an artist and sculptor by avocation, and Paz Pardo de Tavera, wife of Juan Luna
· June 24, 1889- a baby girl was born to Juan Luna and Paz Pardo de Tavera, she was their second child
· Her baptismal godfather was Rizal, who chose her name “Maria de la Paz, Blanca, Laureana,
Hermenegilda Juana Luna y Pardo de Tavera”
· May 6, 1889- opening of Universal Exposition of Paris
· The greatest attraction of this exposition was the Eiffel Tower, 984 feet high, which was built by Alexander Eiffel, celebrated French engineer

KIDLAT CLUB
· March 19, 1889-the same day when he arrived in Paris from London, Rizal organized his paisanos
(compatriots) into a society called Kidlat Club
· Kidlat Club-purely a social society of a temporary nature
-founded by Rizal simply to bring together young Filipinos in the French capital so that they could enjoy their sojourn in the city during the duration of the Universal Exposition

INDIOS BRAVOS
· Rizal was enchanted by the dignified and proud bearing of the American Indians in a Buffalo Bull show
· Indios Bravos (Brave Indians)- replaced the ephemeral Kidlat Club
-its members pledged to excel in intellectual and physical prowess in order to win the admiration of the foreigners
-practised with great enthusiasm the use of the sword and pistol and Rizal taught them judo, an Asian art of selfdefense, that he learned in Japan

R.D.L.M SOCIETY
· Sociedad R.D.L.M. (R.D.L.M Society)- a mysterious society founded by Rizal in Paris during the
Universal Exposition of 1889
-its existence and role in the crusade reforms are really enigmatic
-Of numerous letters written by Rizal and his fellow propagandists, only two mentioned this secret society, as follows (1) Rizal’s Letter to Jose Maria Basa, Paris, September 21, 1889 (2) Rizal’s Letter to Marcelo H. del Pilar, Paris, November 4, 1889
· According to Dr. Leoncio Lopez-Rizal, grandnephew of the hero, the society has a symbol or countersign represented by a circle divided into three parts by two semi-circles having in the center the intwerlocked letters I and B meaning Indios Bravos and the letter R.D.L.M. placed outside an upper, lower, left and right sides of the circle
· The letters R.D.L.M. are believed to be the initials of the society’s secret name Redencion de los Malayos (Redemption of the Malays)—Redemption of the Malay Race
· It was patterned after Freemasonry. It had various degrees of membership, “with the members not
knowing each other.”
· The aim of the secret society, as stated by Rizal, was “the propagation of all useful knowledge—scientific, artistic, and literary, etc.—in the Philippines. Evidently, there was another aim that is, the redemption of the Malay race
· It must be noted that Rizal was inspired by a famous book entitled Max Havelaar (1860) written by
Multatuli (pseudonym of E.D. Dekker, Dutch author)