Translating Rebellion: European Anarchists’ Veneration of José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere

After the execution of José Rizal, the anarchists of Barcelona found a new figure to expound their struggle against the Spanish crown. They included Rizal's writings in their literature, mentioned him in their articles, and reported on him in their press, honoring him and his cause. The very first translation of Noli Me Tangere into French was done collaboratively by two leading anarchists—Henri Lucas and Ramon Sempau.

Among the Barcelona anarchists, Ramon Sempau (1868–1910) cuts a colorful figure. He was a lawyer and correspondent for some leading newspapers in Spain and part of a larger circle of intellectuals associated with the emerging anarchist movement in Spain and France. Sempau had to flee Spain after the Corpus Christi Barcelona bomb attack in June 1896, which was blamed on the anarchists. He first went to France and then to Belgium, constantly under the surveillance of local police due to his known revolutionary activities. In Brussels, it was reported that his hotel room was searched, and a copy of Rizal's Noli Me Tangere along with a manuscript of Sempau's French translation were found.

Ramon Sempau returned to Barcelona but was arrested when he attempted to assassinate Narciso Portas Ascanio, an officer in the Guardia Civil and head of Barcelona's judicial police. Sempau fired two revolver shots but only wounded the officer, who had been responsible for the torture of Barcelona anarchists detained at Montjuïc for their involvement in the Corpus Christi bombing. Sempau was tried in a court-martial and sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out due to discrepancies between the captain general and his auditor. When the liberals won the Spanish general elections of 1898, Sempau was transferred to a civil court, which declared him innocent after he served two months and one day for the lesser offense of using a false identity. A year later, at the insistence of leading anarchists in Europe, the French translation of Noli Me Tangere (Au Pays des Moines) by Henri Lucas and Ramon Sempau was finally published and circulated in anarchist literature.

Charles Malato (1857–1938), the French anarchist writer who traced his family roots to Naples, was instrumental in disseminating information about the translation in the French press. In an article dated 4 August 1899, Malato wrote:

"On December 30, 1896, a man was shot at the gates of Manila, in the plains of Bagumbayan, the Philippine Satory. His crime was to have written a book, an admirable book, the French translation of which is published today by the publisher Stock under this title: Au pays des Moines. Religious hatred does not disarm. There are people, and we know some, who consider the Tagalog natives, who fought yesterday against Spain and today against the United States, as uncivilizable savages. They want to be free; it is always a bold aspiration. But, moreover, they want to be free in their own way. Can we reasonably tolerate this excess of hubris? Freeing ourselves from the crucifix is still acceptable, but despising the dollar god—how archaic they are?"

Meanwhile, in 1897, another anarchist captured the world’s attention. Michele Angiolillo, an Italian anarchist traveling under a false identity and posing as a tourist, approached the Spanish Prime Minister at close range and shot him point-blank. Arrested immediately, Angiolillo insisted during his investigation that he had acted alone, declaring that the assassination was an act of vengeance—both for the torture and execution of the Montjuïc prisoners following the 1896 Corpus Christi bombing and for the execution of the Filipino patriot José P. Rizal. Condemned to death by garrote vil, Angiolillo was executed on 20 August 1897. Witnesses noted his remarkable composure during the execution; he showed neither fear nor remorse.

This chain of events—from Sempau’s translation to Angiolillo’s act of vengeance—demonstrates how Rizal’s ideas and his writings resonated far beyond the Philippines, inspiring radical thought and revolutionary action across Europe. Even years after his death, Rizal’s words continued to serve as a rallying point for those fighting against oppression, crossing borders, languages, and political movements. As Malato observed:

"The one executed in Bagumbayan foresaw the future. He witnessed, before his death, the initial bursts of the revolution. 'Don't you see how everything awakens?' he has the typical insurgent Elias say. The slumber endured for centuries, but one day lightning strikes, and instead of destroying, lightning calls forth life. Rizal died for having echoed the despair of his people; he died for having written such a book. But the book will not die."

                                                                Postscript 

The PV Stock Edition of Noli Me Tangere-Translated to French as 'Au Pays des Moines' by Henri Lucas and Ramon Sempau . Published in 1899. The first translation of the Noli Me tangere into any language.

The 1890s in Europe were a period of intense anarchist activity, particularly in France and Spain, where militants carried out strikes, bombings, and high-profile assassinations as part of the “propaganda by the deed” movement against entrenched authority. Amid this climate, Pierre‑Victor Stock curated the Bibliothèque Sociologique, a Parisian series compiling radical and anarchist writings by authors such as Bakunin, Kropotkin, Jean Grave, and Louise Michel. By including the 1899 French translation of José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere (Au pays des moines) as number 25 in this collection, Stock positioned Rizal’s novel alongside the foremost revolutionary literature of the era, highlighting its searing critique of colonial oppression and clerical abuses. This placement not only introduced European readers to the Filipino struggle for justice but also framed Rizal’s work within the broader currents of sociopolitical and anarchist critique circulating across the continen

Noli Me Tangere - Maucci Publishing House , Barcelona 1903. With Annotation by Ramon Sempau.

This edition was annotated by Ramon Sempau i Barril, who had been the subject of a manhunt across Europe for months due to his suspected involvement in the so-called "Corpus Christi Bombings" in Barcelona in June 1896. After spending several weeks in Belgium, where he began translating Noli Me Tangere into French, Sempau returned to Barcelona and attempted to assassinate the officer responsible for torturing the anarchist suspects in the Corpus Christi bombing. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by a military court. When the Liberals won the Spanish general elections of 1898, it was decreed that Sempau could not be tried by a military court. A civil court subsequently declared him innocent after he served a sentence of two months and one day for the lesser offense of using a false identity.

A year later (1899), at the insistence of leading European anarchists, Sempau’s French translation of the book he had begun in Belgium was finally published by Pierre-Victor Stock Publishing.