LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL – LESSON 1

ADVENT OF A NATIONAL HERO

Dr. Jose Rizal is a unique example of a many-splendored genius who became the greatest hero of
a nation. Endowed by God with versatile gifts, he truly ranked with the world’s geniuses. He was a
physician (ophthalmic surgeon), poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist, historian, architect, painter, sculptor,
educator, linguist, musician, naturalist, ethnologist, surveyor, engineer, farmer businessman, economist,
geographer, cartographer, bibliophile, philologist, grammarian, folklorist, philosopher, translator,
inventor, magician, humorist, satirist, polemicist, sportsman, traveler, and prophet. Above and beyond
all these, he was a hero and a political martyr who consecrated his life for the redemption of his
oppressed people. No wonder, he is now acclaimed as the national hero of the Philippines.

The Birth of a Hero

Jose Rizal was born on the moonlit night of Wednesday, June 19, 1861, in the lakeshore town of
Calamba, Laguna Province, Philippines. His mother almost died during the delivery because of his big
head.

He was baptized in the Catholic church of his town on June 22, aged three years old, by the
parish priest, Father Rufino Collantes, who was a Batangueño. his godfather (ninong) was Father Pedro
Casanas, native of Calamba and close friend of the Rizal Family. His name “Jose” was chosen by his
mother who was a devotee of the Christian saint San Jose (St. Joseph).

Rizal’s Parents
Jose Rizal was the seventh of the eleven children of Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora
Alonso Realonda.

Francisco Mercado Rizal (1818-1898) was born in Biñan, Laguna, on May 11, 1818. He studied
Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila. In early manhood, following his parent’s
death, he moved to Calamba and became a tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned hacienda. He died in
Manila on January 5, 1898, at the age of 80. In Rizal’s student memoirs, he affectionately called him “a
model of fathers”.

Doña Teodora (1826-1911), the hero’s mother, was born in Manila on November 8, 1826 and
was educated at the College of Sta. Rosa, a well-known college for girls in the city. She was a
remarkable woman, possessing refined culture, literary talent, business ability, and the fortitude of
Spartan women. Doña Teodora died in Manila on August 16, 1911, at the age of 85.

The Rizal Children

1. Saturnina (1850-1913) - oldest of the Rizal children, nicknamed Neneng; she married Manuel T.
Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.
2. Paciano (1851-1930) - older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal; after his younger brother’s
execution, he joined the Philippine Revolution and became a combat general; after the Revolution,
he retired to his farm in Los Baños, where he lived as a gentleman farmer and died on April 30,
1930, an old bachelor aged 79. he had two children by his mistress (Severina Decena) - a boy and a
girl.
3. Narcisa (1852-1939) - her pet name was Sisa and she married Antonio Lopez (nephew of Father
Leoncio Lopez), a school teacher of Morong.
4. Olimpia (1855-1887) - Ypia was her pet name; she married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph operator
from Manila.
5. Lucia (1857-1919) - She married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who was a nephew of Father
Casanas. Herbosa died of cholera in 1889 and was denied Christian burial because he was a brother-
in-law of Dr. Rizal.
6. Maria (1859-1945) - Biang was her nickname; she married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan Laguna.
7. JOSE (1861-1896) - the greatest Filipino hero and peerless genius; his nickname was Pepe; during
his exile in Dapitan he lived with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from Hong Kong; he had a son by
her, but this baby-boy died a few hours from birth; Rizal named him “Francisco” after his father and
buried him in Dapitan.
8. Concepcion (1862-1865) - her pat name was Concha; she died of sickness at the age of 3; her death
was Rizal’s first sorrow in life.
9. Josefa (1865-1945) - her pet name was Panggoy; she died an old maid at the age of 80.
10. Trinidad (1868-1951) - Trining was her pet name; she died also an old maid in 1951 aged 83.
11. Soledad (1870-1929) - youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name was Choleng; she married
Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba.

Rizal’s Ancestry
Rizal was a product of the mixture of races. In his veins flowed the blood of both East and West
- Negrito, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, a Spanish.

Rizal’s great-great grandfather on his father’s side was Domingo Lameo, a Chinese immigrant
from the Fukien city of Changchow, who arrived in Manila about 1690. He became a Christian, married
a well-to-do Chinese Christian girl of Manila named Ines de la Rosa, and assumed in 1731 the surname
Mercado which was appropriate for him because he was a merchant. The Spanish term mercado means
“market” in English. Domingo Mercado and Ines de la Rosa had a son, Francisco Mercado, who resided
in Biñan, married a Chinese-Filipino mestiza, Cirila Bernacha, and was elected gobernadorcillo
(municipal mayor) of the town. One of their sons, Juan Mercado (Rizal’s grandfather), married Cirila
 Alejandro, a Chinese-Filipino mestiza. Like his father, he was elected gobernadorcillo of Biñan. Capitan
Juan and Capitana Cirila had thirteen children, the youngest being Francsco Mercado, Rizal’s father.

Francisco Mercado studied Latin and Philosophy in the College of San Jose in Manila. While
studying in Manila, he met and fell in love with Teodora Alonso Realonda, a student in the College of
Santa Rosa. They were married on June 28, 1848, after which they settled down in Calamba, where they
engaged in farming and business and reared a big family.

It is said that Doña Teodora’s family descended from Lakan-Dula, the last native king of Tondo.
Her great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua (of Japanese ancestry), who married a Filipina named
Benigna. Their daughter, Regina, married Manuel de Quintos, a Filipino-Chinese lawyer from
Pangasinan. One of the daughters of Attorney Quintos and Regina was Brigida, who married Lorenzo
Alberto Alonso, a prominent Spanish-Filipino mestizo of Biñan. Their children were Narcisa, Teodora
(Rizal’s mother), Gregorio, Manuel, and Jose.

The Surname Rizal

The real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado, which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo
Lamco, who was a full-blooded Chinese. Rizal’s family acquired a second surname - Rizal - which was
given by a Spanish alcalde mayor of Laguna, who was a family friend.

SCHOOL DAYS IN BIÑAN

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. It was a typical schooling that a son of an
Ilustrado family received during his time, characterized by the four R’s - reading, writing, arithmetic
and religion.

The Hero’s First Teacher

The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a remarkable woman of good character and
fine culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three the alphabet and the prayers. As a tutor, Doña
Teodora was patient, conscientious, and understanding. It was she who first discovered that her son had
a talent for poetry.

As Jose grew older, his parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at home. The first
was Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a
former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. Leon Monroy lived at the Rizal home and
instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, he did not live long. He died five months later.

After Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to a private school in
Biñan.

Jose Goes to Biñan

 One Sunday afternoon in June, 1869, Jose left Calamba for Biñan. He was accompanied by
Paciano, who acted as his second father. The two brothers rode in carromata and proceeded to their
aunt’s house where Jose was to lodge.

First Day in Biñan School

The next morning, Paciano brought his younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano
Aquino Cruz who was the first official teacher of Jose rizal.

The school was in the house of the teacher, which was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the
home of Jose’s aunt.

First School Brawl

In the afternoon of his first day in school, when the teacher was having his siesta, Jose met the
bully, Pedro who was the teacher’s son. Jose was angry at this bully for making fun of him because he
only knew little about Spanish and Latin.

Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily accepted, thinking that he could easily beat
the Calamba boy who was smaller and younger.

The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom, much to the glee of their classmates. Jose,
having learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, defeated the bigger boy. For this feat,
he became popular among his classmates.

After the class in the afternoon, a classmate named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an
arm-wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house and wrestled with their arms. Jose, having the
weaker arm, lost and nearly cracked his head on the sidewalk.

In succeeding days, he had other fights with the boys of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome by
nature, but he never ran away from a fight.

Painting Lessons in Biñan

Near the school was the house of an old painter, called Juancho, who was the father-in-law of the
school teacher. Jose, lured by his love for painting, spent many leisure hours at the painter’s studio. Old
Juancho freely gave him lessons in drawing and painting. He was impressed by the artistic talents of the
Calamba lad.

Jose and his classmate, Jose Guevarra, who also loved painting, became apprentices of the old
painter. They improved their art, so that in due time they became “the favorite painters of the class”.

Best Student in School

In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other
subjects.
 Some of his older classmates were jealous of his intellectual superiority. They wickedly squealed
to the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school, and even told lies to discredit him before the
teacher’s eyes. Consequently, the teacher had to punish Jose. Thus, Rizal said that “in spite of the
reputation I had of being a good boy, the day was unusual when I was not laid out on a bench and given
five or six blows”.

End of Biñan Schooling

Before the Christmas season in 1870, Jose received a letter from his sister Saturnina, informing
him of the arrival of the steamer Talim which would take him from Biñan to Calamba.

He left Biñan on Saturday afternoon, December 17, 1870, after one year and a half of schooling
in that town. He was thrilled to take passage on the steamer Talim, for it was the first time he ever rode
on a steamer. On board was a Frenchman named Arturo Camps, a friend of his father, who took care of
him.

Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za
Gom-Bur-Za were executed at sunrise, February 17, 1872, by order of Governor General
Izquierdo after being falsely accused as perpetrators of the failed Cavite Mutiny. Their martyrdom was
deeply mourned by the Rizal family and many other patriotic families in the Philippines.

Paciano, enraged by the execution of Burgos, his beloved friend, teacher, and housemate, quit his
studies at the College of San Jose and returned to Calamba, where he told the heroic story of Burgos to
his younger brother Jose, who was then nearly eleven years old.

The martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za in 1872 truly inspired Rizal to fight the evils of Spanish tyranny
and redeem his oppressed people. And later in 1891, he dedicated his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to
Gom-Bur-Za.

Injustice to Hero’s Mother

Before June of 1872, tragedy struck the Rizal family. Doña Teodora was suddenly arrested on a
malicious charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to poison the latter’s perfidious wife.

During Jose Alberto’s absence due to a business trip in Europe, his wife abandoned their home
and children. When he returned to Biñan, he found her living with another man. Infuriated by her
infidelity, he planned to divorce her. Doña Teodora, to avert family scandal, persuaded him to forgive
his wife. The family trouble was amicably settled, and Jose Alberto lived with his wife again. However,
the evil wife, with the connivance of the Spanish lieutenant of the Guardia Civil, filed a case in court
accusing her husband and Doña Teodora of attempting to poison her.

This lieutenant happened to have an ax to grind against the Rizal family, because at one time
Don Francisco (Rizal’s father) refused to give him fodder for his horse. Taking the opportunity to
avenge himself, he arrested Doña Teodora, with the help of Calamba’s gobernadorcillo, Antonio
Vivencio del Rosario, a menial of the friars. These two ungrateful men had been frequent guests at the
Rizal home.

After arresting Doña Teodora, the sadistic Spanish lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba
to Santa Cruz (capital of Laguna Province), a distance of 50 kilometers. Upon arrival in Santa Cruz, she
was imprisoned at the provincial prison, where she languished for two years and a half until the Manila
Royal Audiencia (Supreme Court) acquitted her of the alleged crime.