Chapter 2

JOSE RIZAL: HIS FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD "A NAME DESTINED TO BE A LEGEND"

On June 28, 1848, were married Mr. Francisco Mercado, age 30 years, 2 months, and Miss Teodora
Alonzo, age 20 years, 7 months

The Genesis

The martyr-national hero of the Philippines, Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso Mercado Rizal, known to
be "a child of a good family" was born on June 19, 1861, between eleven o'clock and twelve o' clock
at night, a few days before the full moon' in Calamba, on the southwest shore of the picturesque
Laguna de Bay some forty miles south of Manila.

The Rizal family was a large one. Austin Craig accounted that Rizal's father's family began in the
Philippines with a Chinaman, Domingo Lam-Co; the Family's paternal ascendant was full-blooded
Chinese who migrated to the Philippines from Amoy, China in the late 17th Century. There were also
traces of Japanese, Spanish, Malay, and some Negro ancestry in the grandmother, Domingo Lam-Co's
wife, Ines de la Rosa

Rizal was the son of a prosperous landowner, sugar and rice planter, of Chinese-Filipino descent-
Francisco Mercado Y Chinco, who apparently owed his surname to the Chinese custom of looking for
the appropriate meaning. Sangley, the name throughout all the Philippines for Chinamen, signifies
"traveling traders," Mercado was used for trader. Francisco Mercado was born in Biñan and lived to
be eighty years old, the youngest in a family of thirteen siblings: seven men and six women,
alternating in the following order: Petrona, Gabino, Potenciana, Leoncio, Tomasa, Casimiro, Basilisa,
Gabriel, Fausta, Julian, Cornelio, Gregorio, and Francisco.

The parents of these thirteen siblings were Captain Juan Mercado, who had been the
Gobernadorcillo or Mayor of Biñan, and Cirila Alejandra, daughter of Maria Guiño. Juan Mercado

14. Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero

was the older of the two brothers-Juan and Clemente sons of Francisco Mercado and Bernarda
Monicha. The hero's father was named Francisco in memory of his grandfather.
Jose Rizal's father was a well educated farmer with studies in Latin and philosophy at the Colegio de
San Jose in Manila. Early in his adult life he moved to Calamba and became a tenant farmer. He
attained a degree of wealth, established a fine library and cultivated friends among the friars and
Spanish government officials.

The name Francisco was a name held in high honor in Laguna for it had belonged to a famous sea
captain who had been given the ENCOMIENDA OF BAY for his services and had won the regard of
those who paid tribute to him because of his fairness and interest in their welfare.

Mrs. Teodora Alonso, mother of Jose Rizal, was second among the children (Narcisa, Teodora,
Gregorio, Manuel, and Jose) of Mrs. Brigida De Quintos, daughter of Mr. Manuel De Quintos of a well
known family in Pangasinan and Regina Ursua of the Ursua family."

The siblings of Brigida De Quintos were Joaquina, Jose Soler, and Maria Victoria. Regina Ursua was
the daughter of Mr. Eugenio Ursua and Benigna. Her brothers were Father Alejandro, Jose Ursua,
Benito Ursua, and Pio Ursua.

Teodora Alonso was one of the most highly educated women in the Philippines at that time. She was
born on November 9, 1827, and died on August 16, 1911 at the advanced age of 84. As a student of
Colegio de Santa Rosa, she had a business and literary sense far ahead of her time. She was a gifted
woman with insights into literature, art, music, and other forms of Filipino culture. She was also a
poet and wrote in the Tagalog language. She urged her son to read and write in Tagalog and
impressed upon him the importance of Philippine culture and history. Jose's earliest poems were
written with the help of his mother and his career as a novelist was due to her literary influences.
She was also a fine mathematician and Jose inherited some of his science ability from his mother. As
a gourmet cook, interior decorator, and collector of fine books, she was not only Rizal's mother but a
national treasure.

Rizal's mother was of Ilocano-Tagalog-Chinese-Spanish descent, possibly having even a little Japanese
blood. The Alonso family was a distinguished one. An uncle, Jose Florentino, was elected to the
Spanish Cortes. He sat in the parliament and distinguished himself through government service. It is
said to have been a youthful ambition of Jose Rizal to fill

Jose Rizal: His Family and Childhood A Name Destined to be a Legend. 15

someday the same position. Jose Alberto (Alonso from Alonso clan) was awarded the KNIGHT OF THE
GRAND ORDER BY QUEEN ISABELLA. Teodora had one of the most masterful commands of Spanish in
the Philippines.
The Name

Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso Rizal Mercado, such a juxtaposition of names, deserves an
explanation, for it is not an ordinary name but a legendary one.

History seldom accounts for the origin of the name Jose. For one reason or another, there was no
confirmation as to where it originated other than mere speculations. Although, some would say Jose
was named after St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, in keeping with the Catholic tradition of
naming a child after a saint.19

From Jose Rizal's maternal side, there were members of the clan named Jose; one of the brothers of
Teodora was Jose, while one of the brothers of Brigida Quintos (mother of Teodora
Alonso/grandmother of Jose Rizal) was named Jose Soler. Still, one of the brothers of Regina Ursua
(Teodora Alonso's grandmother/Jose Rizal's great grandmother) was named Jose Ursua.

Seemingly, Jose could be named after either of them. Most likely, he also be named after his uncle
Jose Florentino who was elected to the Spanish Cortes!

Protacio was taken from St. Protacio, who very properly was a martyr. That a Filipino priest baptized
him and a secular Archbishop confirmed him seem fitting.20

A new family name was adapted in 1850 by authority of the Royal Decree of 1849, upon the order of
Governor Narciso Claveria, which sought to remedy the confusion resulting from many unrelated
Filipinos, having the same family names and a still greater number having no last name at all.

It seems, however, that the name Rizal, was taken not from the list provided by the government, but
was chosen because of its appropriateness. Rizal, a shortened form of the Spanish word for "second
crop," seemed suited to a family of farmers who were making a second start in a new home."

Francisco Rizal soon found that in spite of his legal authority, new name was making confusion in
business affairs, so he compromised on "Rizal Mercado." His mother-in-law, who lived in the
neighborhood, at the same time, adopted the name
16. Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero

"Realonda," and her children (including Teodora) followed her example. So it was when Jose Protacio
Rizal was baptized by Fr. Rufino Collantes the record showed his parents as Francisco Rizal Mercado
and Teodora Realonda Alonso, 22

The Siblings

Jose was the seventh of eleven children; the younger of two boys. Don Francisco and his wife were a
prolific pair, 24

1. Saturnina (1850-1913) was the oldest of the Rizal children, married to Manuel Hidalgo from
Tanawan, Batangas.

2. Paciano (1851-1930) lived to be 79 years old and was the oldest boy in the family. Paciano was ten
years older than Jose and more of a second father than an elder brother, especially when Don
Francisco, for all effects and purposes, left the management of the family lands in his hands. 25

3. Narcisa (1852-1939) married Antonio Lopez, a teacher.

4. Olympia (1855-1887) married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph operator from Manila.

5. Lucia (1857-1919) married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba.

6. Maria (1859-1954) married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Binan, Laguna.

7. Jose (1861-1896) is the national hero.

8. Concepcion (1862-1865) lived to only three years of age.

9. Josefa (1865-1945) did not marry.

11. Soledad (1870-1929) was the youngest of the Rizal children. She married Pantaleon Quintero of
Calamba.

Rizal's Childhood

As a local family with enormous business skills, Rizal's parents blended education, culture,
and a strong family life and a feeling for local politics into a new sense of Philippine nationalism. In
1863, the introduction of general primary education in the Philippines, contributed to the rise of an
even larger class of educated Filipinos. Young Jose Rizal immediately became a top flight student. As
a young boy, Jose was called “UTE” by his brother and sisters. The town people of Calamba called
him “PEPE” or “PEPITO”. Early in his life, tragedy struck when his favorite sister Concha died. In 1868,
at the age of seven, he wrote a comedy for the local fiesta which highlighted his literary talent.

In his early life, Rizal was a voracious reader. Legend has it that he was able to read at age three. His
mother was a strong influence upon his education and helped developed his early interest in poetry,
music, and European literature. Readings in Tagalog poetry and daily assignments in Philippine
history by his mother inculcated a sense of Filipino culture.

18. Jose Rizal: The Man and the Hero

The Early Religious Formation

Rizal’s religiosity can be traced back to his nascency, considering the fact that his mother almost lost
her life while giving birth to him. From then on Teodora made a vow to go on pilgrimage to the Virgin
of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo should she and the child turn out doing fine.

Young Rizal was a religious boy. A scion of a Catholic clan, born and bred in a wholesome atmosphere
of Catholicism, and possessed of an inborn pious spirit, he grew up a good Catholic.

Under the tutelage of his mother, who was a devout Catholic and a graduate of Colegio de Santa
Rosa, imbibed Christian doctrine, a requisite in Catholic schools. Rizal learned the common Catholic
prayers at an early age. At five years old, he was able to read, although not fluently, the Spanish
family bible, which was then commonly called historia sagrada. Jose recounted from his childhood
memory that his mother gathered all her children to pray the angelus in the house, as customary to
lowland Filipino Christian families in the days of yore. Further, the angelus was followed by the
nightly praying of the holy rosary.

As a young boy, Rizal loved to pray in the church, taking part in novenas and joining religious
processions. While studying in Biñan, he often heard the early morning mass:

I heard the four o’clock mass in the morning, if there was one; or I studied my lessons at the
 same hour and heard mass afterward.

As a student in the Ateneo, Rizal started the day with a prayer and ended the day with a prayer. In
Ateneo then, students heard mass in the morning before the start of the daily classes. As a practice
in catholic schools, classes opened and closed with a prayer.

While excelling in his academics, Rizal was also very active in extra curricular activities, among which
was his membership in the solidarity of the Virgin Mary. Rizal's devotion to our lady was secondary to
his devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus. His devotion to Jesus and Mary was expressed in his
carvings of the images of the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Mother sculpted in "Batikulung"
(Philippine hardwood) with the use of his knife.

It may be said that Rizal's early religiosity must have been enhanced during his studies at the Ateneo
under the tutelage of the Jesuit fathers who are noted for their Ignatian spiritual exercise.

The Early Religious Writings and Experiences

Rizal's devotion to the Mother and Son were further manifested when he wrote during his Ateneo
days two separate religious poems. One was titled "Al Niño Jesus" (To the Child Jesus), and the other
was "A La Virgen Maria" (To the Virgin Mary)..

The first poem, an Ode to Jesus, which was written in 1875; was short and considered of eight verse
only, which based on Spanish poetry standard must have influenced Rizal, may be classified as octava
real. Translated by the late Hon. Leon Ma.

Guerrero, the poem is as follows:

To the child Jesus

How, God-child, hast Thou come To earth in cave forlorn? Does fortune now deride Thee When Thou
art scarcely born? Ah, woe! Celestial king Who mortal form doesn't keep, Woulds't rather than be
Sovereign, Be shepherd of Thy Sheep?

The other religious poem addressed to the Virgin Mary appears to be a sonnet. Its last three lines
remind one of the hymn, "Mother of Christ" in the Baclaran church novena. The last three lines are
as follows:
Jose Rizal: His Family and Childhood A Name Destined to be a Legend. 19

If deprivation comes to buffet me, And if grim death in agony draws near O, succor me, from anguish
set me free.

Again, while in Ateneo, he composed a poem entitled "Alianza intima la religion y la educacion" (An
Intimate Alliance between Religion and Education) in which Rizal expressed the importance of in
education and to him, education without God is not true education.

The Inspiration fom the Parable of the Moth

One late night, while Rizal's mother Doña Teodora was narrating the parable of the moth, the young
Jose was inattentive to the story, his attention instead was focused on the moth encircling the tongue
of the flame of the oil lamp. Doña Teodora scolded Jose and him that if he will not adhere to the
advice of his parents or old people for that matter, he will be like the moth that burned itself in the
fire.

The parable told that the young moth was attracted to the flame, and thought that it could conquer
it, it pushed itself to the burning flame and got burned. The moth died a martyr in its own illusion, he
truly thought he conquered the burning flame, but it was not.

At a young age, Rizal gained inspiration from the parable, that it is not impossible to conquer
insurmountable odds and be a martyr in reality but never in illusion. This was what he did as he grew
in age and in wisdom.