Noli Me Tangere Chapter Summaries 11-15

There are a few good bits of side-splitting hilarity here and a delicious dab of sarcasm, but all this mirth can’t soften the blow of the 15^th chapter, and later, the 17^th. I must say, none of saddest pieces of classic literature I’ve read from Wharton to Dostoevsky has grieved me as much as these two chapters, because… well… Crispin. :’(  

Chapter 11: Rulers

Two figures run the town of San Diego. One of them is the curate, Fray Bernardo Salvi, the young Franciscan who replaced Padre Damaso. Although sickly, he is diligent in fulfilling his religious duties. Padre Salvi’s rival in power is the alferez,^[1] a man unhappily married to the termagant Dona Consolacion with whom he has scandalous public altercations.

When face to face, Salvi and the alferez are openly pleasant to each other. Behind each other’s backs, they devise ways to get on each other’s nerves, with the alferez  slandering the curate, and the curate taking revenge by preaching extremely long sermons while the alferez is in attendance.

Chapter 12: All Saints

At the cemetery in San Diego, two men dig an old grave to prepare for a new internment.^[2] The more squeamish of the two complains. The other, the official gravedigger, scolds him for being sensitive, and narrates how he had once been ordered by the fat curate to dig a twenty-day old corpse. He was then told to rebury the corpse in the Chinese cemetery,^[3] but the coffin was heavy, and the Chinese cemetery was far away…

The gravedigger’s story trails off as his companion leaves in distress after having cut a skull in two.

Chapter 13: Signs of Storm

Ibarra and his servant alight at the cemetery, but are unable to locate Don Rafael’s grave. The servant asks the gravedigger about it, and he relays his story about the fat curate ordering him to dig up Don Rafael’s body. Since it was raining heavily, he threw the body into the lake instead of moving it to the Chinese cemetery.

Ibarra leaves the cemetery in anger, sees Padre Salvi and aggressively confronts him, mistaking Salvi for the curate that had ordered his father’s exhumation. Salvi reveals it was not he, but his predecessor, Padre Damaso.

Chapter 14: Lunatic or Sage

Despite the darkening clouds, Tasio, called Don Anastacio or Tasio the Sage by the cultured, or Tasio the Lunatic by the ignorant, is out on the streets. He first encounters the gobernadorcillo^[4] whom he reproaches for purchasing a church bell which could attract lightning and therefore be dangerous in a storm.

In church, he sees two sacristans he is acquainted with. He lets them know their mother prepared dinner. But the boys aren’t allowed to leave until eight.

Later he drops by the house of his acquaintances, Don Filipo Lino and Dona Teodora Vina. They chat briefly about Ibarra with whom Teodora commiserates with. But the topic quickly shifts to purgatory. Tasio informs the couple that purgatory existed before the birth of Christ. Tasio then questions the idea that only Catholics can be saved, as that would mean God, who must be good, has condemned hundreds to misery. At the thought, Tasio runs out into the intensifying rain.

Chapter 15: The Sacristans

As the rain rages outside, seven year old Crispin and his brother, ten year old Basilio ring the church bells. Crispin bemoans having been unjustly accused of stealing two gold coins from the church, for which he is being starved and whipped. He begs his brother to pay, but Basilio explains to him that it is impossible to pay for it with his meager wages.

While Crispin fantasizes about what two gold coins could have bought, the senior sacristan appears and announces that Crispin is not allowed to leave owing to the still missing coins, while Basilio is to stay until ten, an hour past curfew. He then proceeds to drag Crispin out of the bell tower, despite Basilio’s pleading. Basilio hears his brother’s anguished cries in the distance.

Basilio uses the bell ropes to scale down the bell tower. Shortly after, two shots are heard in the night.

Notes and References:

1. The alferez is the head of the local Guardia Civil (Civil Guard).

2. The practice of exhuming corpses still happens in present day public cemeteries in the Philippines, although I am uncertain if they happen for the same reasons they used to. Today, bodies are exhumed if the dead person’s family is unable to pay the plot lease or if the departed has entirely been forgotten.

3. During this period in the country’s history, the Chinese occupied the lowest social class along with non-Christian natives. Ambeth R. Ocampo, Bones of Contention: The Bonifacio Lectures (New Edition), (Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2014), 103. So it was considered damnable to be buried with the Chinese, a belief emphasized by the gravedigger in this chapter when he tells Ibarra it is better to be drowned than buried with the Chinese.

4. According to Derbyshire’s notes, the gobernadorcillo was a petty governor or chief municipal official. Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere, Critical Edition by Isaac Donoso Jimenez, (Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, 2011), 721. Also known as the town mayor, the highest position open to a Filipino. Luis H. Francia, A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos, (New York: The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., 2010), 339.

Back to index of chapter summaries