26 November, 1862
TODAY IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Mariano Dacanay, a famous Ilokano priest who titled Dr. Jose Rizal’s farewell poem as “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell), was born in Bacnotan, La Union.
Dacanay, also a noted translator of religious works, had received the poem of Rizal while he was in jail in September 1896 for suspicion of Masonic leanings and cooperation with the Katipunan.
As Rizal did not inscribe a title to his poem, his friend and fellow reformist, Mariano Ponce, in 1897, titled it “Mi Último Pensamiento” in the copies he distributed, but this did not catch much attention. Hence, Fr. Mariano Dacanay, who also had a copy of the poem while a prisoner in Bilibid (jail), published it in the first issue of La Independencia on September 25, 1898 with the title “Ultimo Adios.”
Thus Rizal’s untitled, undated and unsigned last poem became popularly known as “Ultimo Adios,” or “Mi Ultimo Adios.”
(Ref: Philippine News Agency; Photo from bit.ly/2fVW7wo)
