Life and Works of

Jose Rizal
Topics:
• Rizal’s Life: Family, Childhood and
Early Education

• Rizal’s Life: Higher Education and Life

Abroad
Rizal’s Life: Family, Childhood and Early Education

∙ The Rizal family was known to be well-off family in Calamba, Laguna and they
were considered as one of the biggest families in those times.
∙ They lived a life of comfort and prosperity, then considered that his family
belonged to the principalia class or the ruling elite of their town.
∙ Jose Rizal came from a 13-member family, consisted of his father Don Francisco
Mercado II and his mother Teodora Alonso Realonda.
∙ Jose Rizal had nine sisters and one brother.
∙ Saturnina Rizal was the eldest child among the siblings, followed by Paciano,
Narcisa, Olympia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepcion, Josefa and the youngest was
Soledad.
Rizal’s Life: Family, Childhood and Early Education

∙ Rizal came from a mixture of races, his paternal ascendant was Domingo Lamco, a full-blooded
Chinese. He married a wealthy Chinese mestiza, Ines de la Rosa. Domingo Lamco adopted the
surname Mercado, which means “market” in keeping the gubernatorial decree of Narciso
Claveria on the use of Spanish surnames. From the Parian in Manila, the coupled moved to
Biñan, Laguna and became tenants in the Dominican hacienda.
∙ Rizal’s father is one of the 14 children of Juan Mercado, paternal grandfather and his
grandmother was Cirila Alejandrino, a Chinese-Filipino mestiza.
∙ Juan Mercado became a gobernadorcillo of Biñan Laguna.
∙ Rizal’s maternal great grandfather was Manuel de Quintos, a Chinese mestizo from Lingayen,
Pangasinan.
∙ Manuel married Regina Ursua, with a Japanese ancestry to whom they bore the grandmother of
Rizal, Brigida who married Lorenzo Alberto Alonso.
RIZAL’S FAMILY TREE
JOSE RIZAL’S SISTERS
JOSE RIZAL’S SISTERS
DOMINGO LAMCO
• -ninuno ni rizal

• -pure Chinese

• -to prevent hostility and conflict with Spaniards--- change lamco to mercado
DON FRANCISCO RIZAL MERCADO (1818-1898)
∙ Rizal’s father was born on May 11, 1818 and was the
youngest of his 13 siblings.
∙ Mercado was a well-respected man in their home town of
Calamba in which citizens made him the their "cabeza de
barangay" (head of town.)
∙ He was of part Chinese descent, having been related to a
Chinese entrepreneur by the name of Domingo Lamco.
∙ Mercado die shortly after Rizal in the home of his daughter,
Narcisa Rizal in Binondo, Manila on January 5, 1898.
∙ one of the richest family in calamba
∙ finished studies in latin and Spanish
∙ Inquilino
∙ died at the age of 80
TEODORA ALONSO (1827-1913)
∙ Doña Teodora Alonso was born on November 14, 1827 in Santa
Cruz Manila.
∙ Her parents were Lorenzo Alonso, a municipal captain and Brijida de
Quintos, an educated housewife and had four other siblings.
∙ It is said that her great grandfather, Eugenio Ursua was of Japanese
ancestry making her of Japanese descent.
∙ When Teodora was 20 years old, she married Francisco Mercado, a
native from Binan, Laguna.
∙ Together they prospered in Calamba after involving themselves in
business and agriculture.
∙ She was known to be a hardworking, intelligent, business minded
woman.
∙ FINISHED IN COLEGIO DE STA ROSA IN MANILA
∙ she knows literature and speaks Spanish according to Rizal
∙ died at the age of 85.
SATURNINA RIZAL (1850-1913)

∙ Saturnina Mercado Rizal

Hidalgo was born in 1850 and
was the eldest sister of Jose
Rizal.
∙ She had five children together
with husband Manuel T. Hidalgo
and died the same year as her
mother in 1913.
∙ disciplinarian
PACIANO RIZAL (1851-1930)
∙ General Paciano Mercado Rizal aka "Lolo Ciano" was
the only brother of Jose Rizal.
∙ He was born in 1851 and studied in Biñan later attending
school at the Colegio de San Jose in Manila.
∙ After the execution of his brother, he joined in the
Philippine Revolution where he rose up to the ranks of a
General.
∙ He later married Severina Decena of Los Banos and had
two children of which one died at an early age.
∙ Paciano passed away in 1930.
∙ Inspiration to the character of Pilosopo tasyo in Noli Me
Tangere
∙ He would constantly send money to Rizal
∙ Gives update to the abuses in the Philippines.
NARCISA RIZAL (1852-1939)
∙ Narcisa Rizal Lopez was born in 1852
and was the one who found the
unmarked grave of her brother, Jose in
the abandoned Old Paco Cemetery.
∙ Narcisa married Antonio Lopez who
was a teacher and musician from
Morong, Rizal.
∙ She died in 1938.
∙ Strict as to the women Jose had eyes
on.
OLYMPIA RIZAL (1855-1887)
∙ Olympia Rizal Ubaldo was
born in 1855.
∙ Ipya- nickname
∙ She married Silvestre Ubaldo
and together they had three
children.
∙ She died in 1887 from
childbirth when she was only
32 years old.
LUCIA
• her husband was denied by the Christian burial
(Mariano herbosa) because he was Rizal’s brother-in-
law.
MARIA
• married to Daniel Faustino Cruz
JOSE PROTACIO RIZAL MERCADO Y ALONSO REALONDA
• Pepe- nickname
• 7th child of the 11 sibling (just remember 7/11)
• Jose- given by her mother

• Protacio- from catholic calendar Rizal- luntiang bukirin

• Mercado- Domingo lamco (market) bilang merchants

• y- and

• Alonso- maiden surnameTeodora Alonso

• Realonda- surname of godmother of Dona Teodora Alonso

• June 19, 1861- between 11:00pm-12:00mn

• Father Rufino Collantes- nagbinyag

• Father Pedro Casanas- godfather; close friend of rizal’s family

CONCEPCION
• died at the age of 3
• First heartbreak of Rizal
JOSEFA
• Panggoy-nickname
• epileptic

• member of Katipunan

• Like Saturnina and Narcisa, very protective of Jose against the many
girls who were objects of Rizal affection.
TRINIDAD
• Trining- nickname
• She died with no husband
Soledad
• Youngest sibling of Rizal
• Married to Pantaleon Quintero
THE RIZAL FAMILY
• principalia; middle class

• they had large 2-storey house

• private library with 1,000 books

• had carriage

• all are educated in manila

• can hire private tutor

JOSE RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
• He had a nursemaid who told him stories of aswang, nuno, tikbalang,
and fairies.
• They used to have daily prayer; Angelus
• He used to walk at night
• when he was 15 years old he composed a poem dedicated to his
beloved calamba laguna; UN CUERDO A MI PUEBLO (IN MEMORY OF
MY TOWN)
• He was involved in novena with his family.
• He can read the Spanish Bible at the age of 5
• He had a dog named “Braganza Usman”
• Story of moth by his mother
• He made his own monument
• He knew sketching, drawing, clay molding,
sculpting.
• Sa Aking Mga Kabata, his first poem at the age
of 8
SA AKING MGA KABATA
CONTROVERSY OF RIZAL’S “SA AKING MGA KABATA”
• National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario clarifies in his book “Rizal: Makata”,
that the poem was not by Rizal. Almario provides pieces of evidence to prove
his point, and one of these is a letter Rizal wrote his brother Paciano in 1886.
• In the letter, Rizal admitted to finding it difficult to translate into Filipino the
German word freiheit, or the Spanish word libertad (freedom or liberty in
English), which Rizal found in the story of William Tell.
• It was in Marcelo H. Del Pilar’s translation of Rizal’s article, El Amor Patrio (Ang
Pag-Ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa), that Rizal saw the word “malaya” or “kalayaan”
as the Tagalog equivalent of the word “libertad.”
• According to Almario, since Rizal only discovered the Tagalog word kalayaan
when del Pilar translated El Amor Patrio in 1882, it was unlikely that Rizal
wrote Sa Aking mga Kabata, which uses the word kalayaan, in 1869.
• The poem was published in 1906.
POSSIBLE POETS
• HERMINIGILDO CRUZ
a Filipino writer and trade union organizer. He was a founding
member of Union Obrera Democratica Filipina and a member of the
Philippine Assembly.
• GABRIEL BEATO FRANCISCO
a Filipino novelist born in Sampaloc, Manila. He is also the
author of “Ang Katipunan”.
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD AND EARLY
EDUCATION
∙ Jose Rizal (Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realonda) was born on June 19,
1861 at Calamba, Laguna.
∙ Three days after his birth, Rizal was baptized
on June 22 of the said year with the name
Jose Rizal Mercado at the Catholic church of
Calamba by the parish priest Rev. Rufino
Collantes.
∙ He was the seventh child of Francisco
Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonso y
Quintos.
∙ During 1865-1867, his mother taught him
how to read and write.
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION

∙ At the age of three, Rizal mastered and learned the alphabet taught
by his mother.
∙ One of them was Leon Monroy, a classmate of his father who taught
him the rudiments of Latin.
∙ At about this time, his mother’s cousin, Uncle Manuel Alberto, who
frequently visited the family in Calamba, was worried about his
nephew’s physical development. He then taught Rizal to develop the
skills in swimming, fencing, wrestling and other sports, while Uncle
Jose taught him to love and admire the beauty of nature.
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION

∙ On the other hand, Uncle Gregorio, a scholar, has instilled in Rizal’s mind the love for education
and its importance, the value of hard work, to think for himself, and to observe his surroundings
carefully.
∙ When he was four years old, his sister Concepcion, the eighth child in the Rizal family, died at
the age of three.
∙ This was the first time he cried as a young boy. As sad as he was, the parish priest of Calamba,
Father Leoncio Lopez, helped Rizal understand the philosophy of life and learned the value of
scholarship and intellectual honesty.
∙ Owing to the continuous teaching of Doña Teodora, Rizal was persuaded to express his feelings
through verses. He was able to write his first poem when he was eight years old.
∙ Maestro Celestino- rizal’s first tutor
∙ Maestro Lucas padua- second tutor
∙ Then, after Rizal’s tutor Leon Monroy died, his parents decided to transfer Rizal, at the age of 8,
to a private school in Biñan, Laguna.
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION

∙ He was accompanied by his older brother Paciano, who acted as his second father during his school
days in Biñan.
∙ The school was then supervised by Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
∙ The maestro asked him if he knows how to speak Latin or Spanish, but in response, he only knew a little
of the languages.
∙ As a result, one of his classmates named Pedro, the son of the maestro, laughed at him.
∙ Pedro was always bullying him that eventually resulted to a brawl.
∙ But knowing Rizal’s acquired knowledge and skill in the art of wrestling from his Tio Manuel, he defeated
Pedro. After the said incident, Rizal became popular in his class. Here, Rizal was able to show his
intellectual superiority.
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION

∙ He excelled in his class in Latin, Spanish and other subjects in the curriculum for elementary pupils.
∙ Because of this, many of the students became jealous to him and do everything to destroy Rizal’s name
to Maestro Cruz. While Rizal’s interest in painting was nurtured early on by an old painter named Juancho
of Biñan.
∙ During this time, knowledge was taught in the minds of the students by doing tedious memorization
method.
∙ Despite some lack of the elementary education in Spanish system, Rizal was able to have the needed
instruction preparatory for college work in Manila.
RETURN TO CALAMBA
• He received a letter from Saturnina for him to come back to
Calamba.
• On his last day to Binan, he went to the chapel of Virgin of Peace of
Antipolo; bid goodbyes to his classmates and teachers.
• When he came back home; he felt how much he missed his family,
especially his mother.
Rizal’s Life: Higher Education and Life Abroad
Rizal entered in 1872
• Under Jesuit System of Education
• Ateneo Municipal- a college under the supervision of the Spanish
Jesuits
• Escuela Pia (Charity School) - formerly name of Ateneo, a school for
poor boys in Manila which was established by the city government in
1817
• June 10, 1872- Rizal accompanied by Paciano went to Manila
• Father Magin Ferrando- was the college registrar, refused to admit
Rizal in Ateneo for two reasons
Scholastic Triumphs at Ateneo de Manila (1872-1877)

∙ Manuel Xerez Burgos-because of his intercession, nephew of Father

Burgos, Rizal was reluctantly admitted at the Ateneo
∙ Jose was the first of his family to adopt the surname “Rizal”. He
registered under this name at Ateneo because their family name
“Mercado” had come under the suspicion of the Spanish authorities
∙ Rizal was first boarded in a house outside Intramuros, on Caraballo
Street. This was owned by a spinster named Titay who owed the
Rizal family the amount of 300 pesos
∙ To improve his Spanish Rizal took private lessons in Santa Isabel
College
Rizal's First Year in Ateneo (1872-1873)
∙ June 1872, his first day of class in the Ateneo
∙ Rizal's first heard a mass at the college chapel
∙ Fr. Jose Bech, Rizal's first professor in the Ateneo

Second Year in Ateneo (1873-1874)

∙ Rizal repented having neglected his studies the previous year
simply
∙ To regain his lost class leadership, Rizal studied harder
∙ He became "emperor"
∙ At the end of the school year, Rizal received excellent grades in
all subjects and a gold medal.
THIRD YEAR IN ATENEO (1874-1875)
Rizal did not make an excellent showing in his studies as in the previous year
His grades remained excellent in all subjects, but he won only one medal, in Latin
He failed to win the medal in Spanish

Fourth Year in Ateneo (1875-1876)

∙ On June 16, 1875, Rizal became an interno in the Ateneo
∙ Fr. Francisco de Paula Sanchez, one of his professor this time and a great
educator and scholar. He inspired the young Rizal to study harder and to write
poetry
∙ On his part, Rizal had the highest affection and respect for Father Sanchez,
whom he considered his best professor in the Ateneo
∙ Rizal was topped of all his classmates in all subjects and won in the Ateneo five
medals at the end of the school term.
LAST YEAR IN ATENEO (1876-1877)
• His studies continued to fare well. As a matter-of-fact, he excelled in
all subjects
• Rizal was the most brilliant Atenean of his time, he was truly "the pride
of the Jesuits". Rizal finished his last year at the Ateneo in a blaze of
glory.
∙ He obtained the highest grades in all subjects - philosophy, physics,
biology, chemistry, languages, mineralogy, etc.
∙ Rizal graduated with Highest Honor
∙ He graduated on March 23, 1877(16 years old)
Medical Studies at the University of Santo Tomas (1877-1882)
∙ After finishing the first year of a course in Philosophy and Letters
(1877-1878), Rizal transferred to the medical course
∙ “Don’t send him to Manila again; he knows enough. If he gets to
know more, the Spaniards will cut off his head.”
∙ Doña Teodora, vigorously opposed the idea that Rizal pursue
higher learning in the university
∙ April 1877- Rizal who was then nearly 16 years old, matriculated in
the University of Santo Tomas, taking the course on Philosophy and
Letters
∙ During his first term in 1877-1878 in UST, he studied Cosmology,
Metaphysics , Theodicy and History of Philosophy.
RIZAL’S LIFE ABROAD

Barcelona
• Rizal did not continue his studies in the Philippines, instead, he went to Europe to widen his
learning and to acquire knowledge about a cure for his mother’s worsening eye condition.
• He left Calamba on May 1, 1882 and was able to reach Manila in ten hours. He left Manila on
May 3, 1882, with his brother Paciano and Uncle Antonio Rivera’s blessing.
• He decided to go abroad after completing his fourth year in the medical course. But he did not
seek his parents’ permission because clearly, they will not approve of Rizal’s plan. Bringing with
him his disappointments during his days as a student, he left the Philippines for Europe.
• Initially, he was going to finish his medical course in Barcelona, Spain. Then again, he wanted
to make a name for himself in the field of journalism, to observe and study the European society
and to prepare himself from being freed from the tyrants of Spain.
MADRID

• On September 1882, Rizal moved to the capital city of Spain to continue his studies. Rizal enrolled at the
Universidad Central de Madrid on November 3, 1882 he took up Philosophy and Letters in Medicine.
• While studying in the university, he also enrolled at the Academy of San Carlos taking up painting and
sculpture, and languages in French, German and English.
• He also took up shooting and fencing at the Hall of Sanz and Carbonell.
• He also showed great interest in taking the examination in Roman law.
• Rizal passed the medical examination which he took from June 5 to 26.
• He was given the degree of Licentiate in Medicine for this and continued his doctorate degree in medicine.
• However, he was not able to accomplish the diploma because he failed to present the thesis required for
graduation. He was allowed to practice medicine but cannot teach medicine.
• Rizal was saddened by this decision and thought that the education system in Madrid had no difference
with that in Manila. He then finished his course in Philosophy and Letters and gained the degree
Licenciado en Filosofia y Letras.
• During this time, Rizal was halfway done with his novel, the Noli Me Tangere.
TRIP TO HONG KONG

• Rizal arrived in Hong Kong on February 8,1888.

• His fellow Filipinos namely Jose Maria Basa, Balbino Mauricio and Manuel Yriarte, who were all
exiled in 1872, met Rizal.
• In Hong Kong, he was able to study the Chinese language, Chinese drama and theater,
Chinese cultures and Chinese values.
• Rizal even became friends with some Spaniards that were based in Hong Kong.
• He met Barranda, Terrero’s secretary, together with other Spaniards and went to visit Macao, a
Portuguese colony near Hong Kong.
• Rizal and his friends visited the botanical garden, theatre, casino, cathedral and churches,
pagodas and bazaars.
• They lived in the house of Juan Lecaroz and on February 20, 1888, he went back to Hong
Kong.
• Two days after, he left for Japan on Board the SS Oceania on February 22, 1888.
TRIP TO JAPAN AND SHORT ROMANCE WITH O-SEI-SAN

• Rizal arrived in Yokohama, Japan and stayed at Tokyo Hotel on February 28, 1888 for a few days.
• He was then invited by Juan Perez Caballero to live at the Spanish Legation for a month. On
March 7,1887, he left the hotel and lived at the Spanish legation.
• During his stay in Japan, he studied the Japanese language or Nippongo, Japanese culture,
theatres, martial arts and visited Japanese provinces. Rizal appreciated the cleanliness,
politeness, and industry of the Japanese.
• Rizal then met O-Sei-San and their romance began when he lived at the Spanish legation. They
became friends and later on developed to become lovers.
• O-Sei-San or Seiko Usui and Rizal fell in love for each other. Because of this, Rizal thought of
staying in Japan for good.
• Nonetheless, Rizal had duties to fulfill for his country. So he decided to leave Japan and said his
goodbyes to O-Sei-San.
TRIP TO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• Aboard a steamer on April 28,1888, the entire boat was quarantined when it
stopped in San Francisco because accordingly, the ship came from a country
where cholera was epidemic. Rizal knew that this was not the fact
• he found out that the ship was halted for the Chinese and Japanese laborers who
accepted cheap labor, replacing the American laborers.
• On May 4, 1888, after a week of the quarantine, some passengers were allowed
to disembark, except for the Japanese and Chinese passengers who were
quarantined for a longer period.
• Rizal went to different cities in America like Reno, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska,
Chicago, Albany, and New York City.
End of Week 6-7 Lecture