MANILA, Philippines - As part of the national celebration of the 150th Rizal Birth Anniversary, the Paciano Rizal Family Heritage Inc. and Cruz Publishing will launch Haec est Sibylla Cumana by National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 6 p.m. at the Auditorium 1 of Ateneo Professional Schools, 20 Rockwell Drive, Rockwell Center, Makati City.
Named after an imaginary fortune-teller from Latin literature, the book is unlike any of Rizal’s other writings as it is a game book in Spanish with a three-inch wooden top and a list of questions and answers. It has been known only to a few historians and scholars like Dr. Serafin D. Quiazon.
The owners of Sybilla are Francisco Rizal Lopez and Jose Rizal Lopez, both descendants of Don Paciano Rizal, Jose Rizal’s only and older brother. The frayed book, packed in recycled papers and illustrated by its author, has been in the possession and custody of Francisco since it was entrusted to him for safekeeping by his mother Saturnina Rizal in the 1930s.
The national celebration of the National Hero’s 150th birth anniversary prompted Francisco to organize the Paciano Rizal Family Heritage Inc. and to invite two other Rizal descendants Ismael G. Cruz and Gemma Cruz Araneta of Cruz Publishing to publish the book. Carmen Guerrero Cruz Nakpil wrote the introduction. Reproductions with translation of Rizal’s game book will be available at the launch.