Padre Florentino

Padre Florentino was the parish priest of the town of Tiani and the adoptive uncle of Isagani. He eventually came to shelter both Don Tiburcio and Simoun from their respective threats.

Early Life
Born to a wealthy socialite family from Manila, Florentino was eventually forced to become a priest by his religious mother. Unwilling, he resisted her by entering multiple love affairs and arguing with her. However, he eventually relented and became a Jesuit priest at twenty-five. As part of this, he was assigned parish priest of Tiani. At some point, his mother died and left him a great fortune.

Later on, he discovered that his former sweetheart married a random man, despairing over the fact. He thus dedicated himself to his parishioners; after the 1872 Cavite mutiny and the subsequent Gomburza execution, Padre Florentino resigned as parish priest, fearing his parish's substantive income would draw attention to him and itself. He then retired to his ancestral home in Tiani. While there, he adopted a nephew, Isagani, who was rumored to be his son by a cousin or the son of his widowed former sweetheart.

Trials of Fate
When Don Tiburcio began hiding from his wife, Florentino sheltered him at his house. On Christmas Eve of 1894, Florentino accompanied Isagani as they visited Tiani, boarding the steamship Tabo. Around this time, Florentino also invited Juanito Pelaez to spend the holidays in Tiani, presumably entertaining them there.

The following year, Florentino was surprised to find Simoun at his doorstep, fleeing from the guardia civil. As Don Tiburcio fled the house soon after, Padre Florentino listened to Simoun's confession about his past as Crisostomo Ibarra. Simoun then revealed that he had taken poison to kill himself; Florentino then tossed Simoun's jewel chest into the ocean, doing away with it in the hopes that such wealth wouldn't cause anyone any more trouble. Later on, Florentino was assigned as assistant parish priest of the town of Pili. He then moved there along with Isagani, and served the townspeople alongside Padre Agaton.

Trivia

 * In a letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt, Rizal explains that Padre Florentino was based on his relative, the Filipino priest Fr. Leoncio Lopez, whom he described to be a "musician, poet and naturalist" who remained uninvolved in politics.