José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, was born on

June 19, 1861 at Calamba, Laguna, Philippines. The seventh child in a

family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls). His father, Francisco
Mercado Rizal, an industrious farmer whom Rizal came from Biñan,
Laguna, while his mother, Teodora Alonzo y Quintos, a highly cultured
and accomplished woman was born in Meisic, Sta. Cruz, Manila. Both his parents were
educated and belonged to distinguished families. Mercado family were wealthy farmers
who rented land from the Dominican religious order. Descendants of a Chinese
immigrant named Domingo Lam-co, they changed their name to Mercado (market)
under the pressure of anti-Chinese feeling among the Spanish colonizers. A patriot,
physician, and man of letters who was an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist
movement. He is known for National hero of the Philippines for his key role inspiring
and leading the Philippine Revolution against colonial Spain.

From an early age, Rizal showed a precocious intellect. He learned the alphabet
from his mother at the age of 3 and could read and write at age 5, while learning to
read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded his family
and relatives by his pencil drawings and sketches and by his moldings of clay. At the
age 8, he wrote a Tagalog poem, "Sa Aking Mga Kabata," the theme of which revolves
on the love of one’s language. In 1877, at the age of 16, he obtained his Bachelor of
Arts degree with highest honor from the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. In the same year,
he enrolled in Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, while at the
same time took courses leading to the degree of surveyor and expert assessor at the
Ateneo. He finished the latter course on March 21, 1877 and passed the Surveyor’s
examination on May 21, 1878; but because of his age, 17, he was not granted license
to practice the profession until December 30, 1881. In 1878, he enrolled in medicine at
the University of Santo Tomas but had to stop in his studies when he felt that the
Filipino students were being discriminated upon by their Dominican tutors. On May 3,
1882, he sailed for Spain where he continued his studies without informing his parents
of his intentions. He enrolled at the Universidad Central de Madrid inspired by his
mother's advancing blindness, Rizal next went to the University of Paris and then to the
University of Heidelberg to complete further study in the field of ophthalmology. At
Heidelberg, he studied under the famed professor Otto Becker. Rizal finished his second
doctorate at Heidelberg in 1887.

On June 21, 1884, at the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in
Medicine. A brilliant medical student, he soon committed himself to the reform of
Spanish rule in his home country, though he never advocated Philippine independence.
Most of his writing was done in Europe, where he resided between 1882 and 1892. On
June 19,1885, at the age of 24, he finished his course in Philosophy and Letters with a
grade of excellent.

Having traveled extensively in Europe, America and Asia, he mastered 22

languages. These include Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek,
Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish,
Tagalog, and other native dialects. A versatile genius, he was an architect, artists,
businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian,
inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist,
opthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, and
theologian.

Jose Rizal lived in Europe for 10 years. During that time, he picked up a number
of languages—he could converse in more than 10 different tongues. While in Europe,
the young Filipino impressed everyone who met him with his charm, intelligence, and
his mastery of an incredible range of different fields of study. Rizal excelled at martial
arts, fencing, sculpture, painting, teaching, anthropology, and journalism, among other
things. During his European sojourn, he also began to write novels. Rizal finished his
first book, "Noli Me Tangere," while living in Wilhemsfeld with the Reverend Karl Ullmer.

In 1887 Rizal published his first novel, Noli me tangere (The Social Cancer), a
passionate exposure of the evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines. A sequel, El
filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed), established his reputation as the leading
spokesman of the Philippine reform movement. He published an annotated edition
(1890; reprinted 1958) of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, hoping to show
that the native people of the Philippines had a long history before the coming of the
Spaniards. He became the leader of the Propaganda Movement, contributing numerous
articles to its newspaper, La Solidaridad, published in Barcelona. Rizal’s political
program included integration of the Philippines as a province of Spain, representation in
the Cortes (the Spanish parliament), the replacement of Spanish friars by Filipino
priests, freedom of assembly and expression, and equality of Filipinos and Spaniards
before the law.

Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892. He founded a nonviolent-reform

society, the Liga Filipina, in Manila, and was deported to Dapitan in northwest
Mindanao. He remained in exile for the next four years. In 1896 the Katipunan, a
Filipino nationalist secret society, revolted against Spain. Although he had no
connections with that organization and he had had no part in the insurrection, Rizal was
arrested and tried for sedition by the military. Found guilty, he was publicly executed by
a firing squad in Manila. His martyrdom convinced Filipinos that there was no
alternative to independence from Spain. On the eve of his execution, while confined in
Fort Santiago, Rizal wrote “Último adiós” (“Last Farewell”), a masterpiece of 19th-
century Spanish verse. During that same period, the people of the Philippines grew
more eager to revolt against the Spanish colonial presence. Inspired in part by Rizal's
organization La Liga, rebel leaders like Andres Bonifacio began to press for military
action against the Spanish regime.

In Dapitan, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine Bracken, who brought her
stepfather to him for a cataract operation. The couple applied for a marriage license but
were denied by the Church (which had excommunicated Rizal). The Philippine
Revolution broke out in 1896. Rizal denounced the violence and received permission to
travel to Cuba in order to tend victims of yellow fever in exchange for his freedom.
Bonifacio and two associates sneaked aboard the ship to Cuba before it left the
Philippines and tried to convince Rizal to escape with them, but Rizal refused. He was
arrested by the Spanish on the way, taken to Barcelona, and then extradited to Manila
for trial. José Rizal was tried by court-martial and charged with conspiracy, sedition, and
rebellion. Despite a lack of any evidence of his complicity in the Revolution, Rizal was
convicted on all counts and given a death sentence. He was allowed to marry Josephine
two hours before his execution by firing squad on December 30, 1896. They didn’t get a
chance to have an offspring. Jose Rizal was just 35 years old when he died. José Rizal
is remembered today throughout the Philippines for his brilliance, courage, peaceful
resistance to tyranny, and his compassion.

Here are also the interesting facts about Jose Rizal that didn’t know by others.
Did you know that Rizal was a naughty boy in the famous “Moth and Lamp” story.
Perhaps no other story sums up Rizal’s childhood so succinctly as his famous story
about the lamp and the moth. And despite what you may think, little Rizal was actually
being naughty. Instead of reading a Spanish children’s book diligently given to him by
his mother Teodora, he was instead doodling caricatures on its pages. Even after being
scolded, he did not pay much attention to the book, instead focusing his gaze on some
moths that were flying around a coconut oil lamp. The young Jose Rizal experimented
with drugs. Rizal was NEVER a drug addict. However, that did not stop him from trying
some for the sake of science. While just an 18-year-old, Rizal once used hashish he
bought from a drugstore. At the time, the drug—a hallucinogen more potent than
marijuana—could be easily bought over the counter along with cocaine, morphine and
heroin. There are three animals named after Rizal while exiled in Dapitan, he collected
three species of animals which are Apogonia Rizali (Heller), a type of small
beetle. Draco Rizali (Wandolleck), a species of flying dragon and Rachophorous
Rizali (Boetger), a species of toad. The Rizal monument in Luneta was not made by a
Filipino artist. The design was the work of Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling who won
second prize in an art competition held in 1907 to find the best scale model for the
future Rizal monument. The first prize went to Italian sculptor Carlo Nicoli of Carrara
but the contract to build the monument was given to the second-prize winner. Kissling’s
design would use unpolished granite and bronze, which is significantly cheaper than
Nicoli’s. According to Parks for a Nation, “Nicoli was reportedly not able to put up the
construction bond required to build the monument. Still others claimed his designed
was deemed too expensive as it used Carrara marble.” Rizal cured himself of
tuberculosis and was later recognized as a tuberculosis expert. He was already a terrific
sculptor even at a very young age. In fact, Rizal carved a 9-inch statuette of the Sacred
Heart out of batikuling wood when he was only 14 years old. The Jesuit fathers brought
this statuette in Fort Santiago when they visited Rizal in December 1896.

Aside from wood sculptures, Rizal also carved 40 amazing masterpieces out of plaster,
terra-cotta, wax, and clay. Jose Rizal’s “El Ermitaño.” Sculpted by Jose Rizal during his
exile in Dapitan, El Ermitaño is an 1893 terra cotta figurine given as a gift to Fr. Pablo
Pastells. It shows Rizal’s own interpretation of St. Paul the Hermit or Paul of Thebes,
known in Catholic history as the first Christian hermit. El Ermitaño contains inscriptions
in reference to the long and controversial correspondence between Rizal and his Jesuit
mentor, Fr. Pastells. The exchange of letters, which took place between September
1892 and June 1893, reveals the Jesuit priest’s attempt to win Rizal back to the Catholic
church. When he was studying in Spain, Rizal had to pawn a ring owned by his sister
Saturnina just to pay for his exams. But he didn’t want his loved ones to get worried, so
he only mentioned his victories and excellent grades in the letters addressed to his
family. “Mi Retiro”, the name of his place in Dapitan, was inspired by his favorite park in
Spain, the Parque del Buen Retiro. Jose Rizal’s anti-Chinese sentiment. Rizal reportedly
based El Filibusterismo‘s Quiroga character on Don Carlos Palanca Tan Quien-Sien, an
influential and wealthy businessman in Manila’s Chinese community. Other than
campaigning against Spanish oppression, Rizal would also end up fighting what he
perceived to be the Chinese exploitation of his countrymen. He viewed the Chinese
primarily as unscrupulous traders and businessmen who liked to take advantage of
Filipinos for profit even if it meant kowtowing to the Spanish. Rizal’s dislike for the
Chinese could be seen in his letter to his mother, in which he complained of being
embroiled in a lawsuit with a Chinese and promised never to buy any products from
him, and from his novel El Filibusterismo, where he portrayed the character of Quiroga
(who was reportedly based on a real Chinese businessman) as a shrewd and cunning
individual. Rizal is regarded by many as the “Father of Philippine Comics” because of
some humorous illustrations he made in Germany. The said drawing, entitled “The
baptism of two brothers” (see photo above), was inspired by the German cartoon “Max
and Moritz.” Rizal made it to entertain the children of his landlord, Pastor Ulmer. The
original copy is now preserved in the National Library of the Philippines. Rizal as a
psychic? In his journal entry dated January 1, 1883, he shared about a “frightful
nightmare” he had two nights before (December 30). In this dream, Rizal was imitating
a dying actor and felt his “breath was failing” and his vision became very dim.
Interestingly, Rizal would be executed 13 years later at the exact same date. Austin
Coates, Rizal’s biographer, also underscored that there were many incidents written in
both Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that eventually happened to Rizal in real life.
According to Faustino “Tinong” Alfon, Rizal’s former cook in Dapitan, our national hero’s
favorite fruits were lanzones and mangoes. His meals back then usually consisted of
three kinds of ulam. Rizal’s breakfast, on the other hand, was usually comprised of hot
chocolate, rice, and sardinas secas, commonly known now as simply tuyo. Rizal was
widely featured in cigarette wrappers. Most of these wrappers, made with Art Deco or
Art Nouveau designs, were produced in Binondo during the turn-of-the-century. An old
cigarette label, Las Delicias, even went to the extreme by featuring Rizal smoking a
cigar. Rizal was exceptional and prolific in a wide range of subjects–except music. This
is because he already realized early in life that his singing “sounded like the braying of
an ass.” Vital statistics: Rizal was about five feet three inches tall and had a waistline of
about 25″ to 26.” He also had a big head: His hats were 6 1/2″ across and the interior
measures 8″ from front to back. He didn’t look odd, though, as his broad shoulders and
developed neck compensated for it. It was rumored that both Adolf Hitler and Mao
Zedong were the illegitimate sons of Jose Rizal. Continue Reading: 8 Mind-Boggling
Myths About Jose Rizal. Rizal had a third, unfinished novel. Known among historians
as “Makamisa,” this unfinished work was started by Rizal in Hongkong in
1892. Makamisa was not actually the title of Rizal’s work, but only the title of a single
chapter of the unfinished Tagalog novel. Rizal once sent a love letter written in invisible
ink to Leonor Valenzuela, a tall girl from Pagsanjan. The message could only be
deciphered if you put the letter over a lamp or candle. Leonor Valenzuela was one of
Rizal’s first sweethearts. Unfortunately, they parted ways when Rizal had to leave for
Spain. “A la Senorita C.O. y R.,” one of Rizal’s best poems, was dedicated to Consuelo
Ortiga y Rey, a pretty lady whom Rizal fell in love with when he was in Madrid.
However, Rizal backed out of the blossoming relationship because he was good friends
with Eduardo de Lete who was also in love with Consuelo. He also wanted to remain
loyal to Leonor Rivera who would eventually marry Englishman Henry Kipping. Jose
Rizal and Leonor Rivera lovestory. A native of Camiling in Tarlac, Leonor Rivera
captured Rizal’s heart when they met during the former’s 13th birthday party. Rizal was
then a medical student who boarded at the Casa Tomasina, which at that time was
managed by the Riveras. Bumping into each other was inevitable: Leonor and Rizal’s
youngest sister, Soledad, were both boarding students at La Concordia College. Before
long, the casual encounters blossomed into a full-fledged romance.

For a decade (1880-1890), the star-crossed lovers wrote each other countless letters,
even after Rizal left for Europe to further his medical studies. They continued to keep in
touch, but they never saw each other again–no thanks to Noli Me Tangere which
already reached the Philippines and had put anyone close to Rizal under scrutiny.
Worse, Leonor’s mother, who was already aware of Rizal’s reputation as a “filibusterer,”
bribed the local postal clerk so the letters wouldn’t reach Leonor. Rizal composed a
farewell song for Leonor Rivera just before his departure for Europe.

The song, entitled “Leonor,” became very popular that many “were heard singing it in
the streets and during social gatherings. The moment they saw Leonor, the children
would sing the song.” Here is the English translation of the song:

And so it has arrived: the fatal instant,

the dismal injunction of my cruel fate;
and so it has come at last: the moment, the date,
when I must separate myself from [Link], Leonor, goodbye! I take my leave,
leaving behind with you my lover’s heart!
Goodbye, Leonor: from here I now depart.
O melancholy absence! Ah, what pain!

The Luna-Boustead-Rizal love triangle. Before he was hacked to death in Cabanatuan,

this Filipino general was already teasing death. Luna, being the sensitive guy that he
was, impulsively challenged his perceived enemies to a duel–all in the name of honor.
Surprisingly, among those who found themselves on the receiving end of that legendary
temper was Jose Rizal, who became Luna’s friend and compatriot when they’re both
studying in Europe. How such friendship almost ended up in a duel remains one of the
most intriguing “what-ifs” in Philippine history, an event that would have cost us one or
two national heroes were it not for a sudden twist of fate. Rizal played a key role in the
identification of Oncomelania cuadrasi, a Philippine snail that harbors the parasite that
causes schistosomiasis. The said snail was named after a certain Mr. Cuadrasi, a known
naturalist in Manila and to whom Rizal sent his specimens for identification. Numerous
Oncomelania quadrasi. This diminutive snail is the common host for Schistosoma
japonicum in Leyte, Philippines. While in Dapitan, Rizal wrote an extensive written
discourse on kulam.

Entitled “La curacion de los hechizados” (The treatment and cure of the bewitched), this
lesser-known work of Rizal explores the psychological treatment for kulam and even
explained that witches were not always women who are old or ugly.
He also discussed the difference between hiloanon of the Visayas, who gives poison to
her victims, and the manggagaway, the ‘traditional’ witch who uses rag doll and
pins. Jose Rizal and Pedro Paterno. You know your mind is operating on a totally
different wavelength when even the country’s national hero cannot describe your level
of insanity. Yet Pedro Paterno did just that, rendering Jose Rizal at a loss for words
courtesy of his crazy theory that the pre-Spanish Filipinos practiced a proto-Christian
religion way before the Spaniards arrived. In his book Antigua Civilizacion Tagalog,
Paterno modeled the history of pre-Spanish Philippines closely with that of the ancient
civilizations of Europe. According to him, the natives practiced a monotheistic religion
he termed Tagalismo/Bathalismo throughout Luzon and the Visayas which formed part
of the ancient state. And like something out of a Da Vinci Code-esque plot, Paterno said
the baybayin alphabet contained hidden meanings, all of which pointed to the existence
of the religion and its adherents in the archipelago. Jose Rizal’s paranormal encounter.
Apparently, even the Philippines’ foremost hero was not immune to otherworldly
hauntings. While in exile in Dapitan, Rizal wrote to a Jesuit priest about one of his
houses being haunted by a poltergeist. In this case, the poltergeist was said to be
targeting his significant other Josephine Bracken who also believed that it was the spirit
of her dead father. Rizal wrote that many of their household items had been broken by
the poltergeist. When Josephine asked the spirit what it wanted, “All her cups, tea
kettles, saucers, etc. fell down at the same time. All the boys and I saw it.” During
Rizal’s execution, a total of 8 Filipinos armed with Remingtons formed the firing
squad. There were also 8 Spanish soldiers with Mausers behind them, ready to shoot
the Filipino soldiers if they refused to execute Rizal. A descendant of one of the
executioners, Adolfo Pastor Quetcuti, revealed that the captain of the guards put only
one live bullet in one of the rifles while placing blanks in the others. He explained that
this is to ease their guilt as they already knew in the beginning that Rizal was innocent.
Not all of Rizal’s skeletal remains were buried under the monument in Luneta. A
vertebra or a piece of the backbone where Rizal was allegedly hit by the bullet was
claimed by his family and is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine, Fort Santiago. Rizal’s
backbone currently displayed in Fort Santiago. Jose Rizal’s last words. “Consummatum
Est!” (It is finished!) were Rizal’s last words during his execution by firing squad in
Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896. His words are said to have been the same ones
used by Jesus Christ shortly before he died of crucifixion. Rizal’s original execution
photo features a dog, the mascot of the firing squad. It is said that the dog ran around
the corpse whining after a soldier fired one last shot in Rizal’s head to make sure he
was dead. Rizal stuffed unknown papers in his pockets and shoes on the eve of his
execution. He did this thinking that his corpse would be turned over to his family after
the execution. But as we all know, his body was dumped by Spanish officials in an
unmarked grave in Paco cemetery. The papers had since deteriorated, the contents of
which were never identified. Rizal’s execution led to the death of a Spanish Prime
Minister. On August 8, 1897, an Italian anarchist named Michele Angine Golli shot at
point-blank range Spanish Premier Antonio Canovas del Castillo outside a spa. After
being interrogated, Golli said he killed Canovas to avenge his fellow anarchists who had
been imprisoned and executed in the castle of Montjuich, Barcelona.