''Makamisa'' ( English: After Mass) is an unfinished novel by Filipino patriot and writer

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

. The original manuscript was found by historian Ambeth Ocampo in 1987 while going through a 245-page collection of papers. This draft is written in pure,

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

Lagueño Tagalog and has no written direct signature or date of inscription. The novel has only one chapter. It runs only ten pages and is hand-written in the old orthographic ancillary glyphs. Although written in a different language, its style, characterization, and setting mirror those of Rizal's two previous works, '' Noli Me Tángere'' and '' El filibusterismo,'' which he wrote in Spanish. The chapter ends with a short, unfinished sentence: which in English is equivalent to: which satisfies the theory of it being unfinished. The novel explores the mysterious ill-temperament of the town curate, ''Padre'' Agaton. Rizal later restarted work on ''Makamisa'', using Spanish. However, the novel remained unfinished. The draft in Spanish was later translated to Filipino (under the name ''Etikang Tagalog: Ang Ikatlong Nobela ni Rizal'') by Nilo S. Ocampo of the

University of the Philippines Diliman The University of the Philippines Diliman (also called UPD; ), also referred to as UP Diliman, is a State university and college (Philippines), public, coeducational, Research university, research university located in Diliman, Quezon City, Ph ...

College of Arts and Letters.

Characters

Seven characters are mentioned in this 10-page unfinished novel: * ''Padre'' Agaton (Father Agaton) - the parochial

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

of the fictitious

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Tulig, described as a cheerful, approachable and powerful man who loves the town and is not known for his bad temper. In the story, he has a sudden, unexpected display of anger, the reason for which is yet to be revealed. * ''Kapitan'' Lucas (Town captain Lucas) - the ''

gobernadorcillo The (, literally "little governor") was a municipal judge or governor in the Captaincy General of the Philippines, Philippines during the History of the Philippines (1565–1898), Spanish colonial period, who carried out in a town the combined ...

'' of Tulig and is in danger of losing his government position if he does not please ''Padre'' Agaton on the upcoming

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

fiesta. * ''Aleng'' Anday (Miss Anday) - a female friend of ''Padre'' Agaton and the only person whom the curate loves. She is an extremely disciplined woman whom everybody admires for her generosity. * Marcela - the

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

-raised daughter of ''Kapitan'' Lucas, who returned to Tulig for her aunt's funeral. * ''Tenyente'' Tato (Lieutenant Tato) - the lieutenant-general of the guardia civil. * Don Segundo - the ''Juez de paz'' or peace officer of the town. * ''Kapitan'' Tibo - next-in-line to the ''gobernadorcillo'' office.

References

{{Jose Rizal Unfinished novels Works by José Rizal