Chapter 1: Advent of a National Hero  Hardy and independent-minded man, who talked

less and worked more, and was strong in body and

Dr. Jose rizal: valiant in spirit.
 Rizal affectionately called him “a model of
 Bibliophile Philologist Grammarian fathers.”
 Folklorist Philosopher Translator
 Inventor Magician Humorist  TEODORA ALONSO REALONDA (1826-1911)
 Satirist Polemicist Sportsman  Educated at the College of Santa Rosa
 Traveler Prophet Physician  A remarkable woman, possessing refined culture,
 Poet Dramatist Essayist literary talent, business ability, and the fortitude of
 Novelist Historian Architect Spartan Women.
 Painter Sculptor Educator  Rizal lovingly said of her: “My mother is a woman
 Linguist Musician Naturalist of more than ordinary culture; she knows
 Ethnologist Surveyor Engineer literature and speaks Spanish better than I. She
 Farmer Businessman Economist corrected my poems and gave me good advice
 Geographer Cartographer when I was studying rhetoric. She is a
mathematician and has read many books.”
The Birth of a Hero
• Moonlit night of Wednesday The Rizal Children
• June 19, 1861 1. SATURNINA (1850-1913)
• Lakeshore town of Calamba, Laguna Province,  Oldest of Rizal Children (“Neneng”)
Philippines  She married Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanauan,
• Baptized in Catholic church (June 22, 1861) Batangas
• By Father Rufino Collantes
• Named “Jose” (San Jose / St. Joseph) 2. PACIANO (1851-1930)
 Older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal
“I have always loved my poor country, and I am sure that I  He joined the Philippine Revolution and became a
shall love her untill death, if by chance men are unjust to combat general
me; and I shall enjoy the happy life, contented in the  He had two children by his mistress (Severina
thought that all that I have suffered, my past, my present Decenda) – a boy and a girl
and my future, my life, my loves, my pleasures, I have  Jose Rizal immortalized him in his first novel Noli
sacrificed all of these for love of her. Happen what may, I Me Tangere as the wise Pilosopo Tasio
shall die blessing her and desiring the dawn of her
redemption.” 3. NARCISA (1852-1939)
- Jose Rizal  Her pet name was Sisa and she married Antonio
“Not only is Rizal the most famous man of his own people, Lopez (school teacher of Morong)
but the greatest man the Malayan race has produced.”
-Ferdinand Blumentritt 4. OLIMPIA (1855-1887)
 Ypia was her pet name; she married Silvestre
MISCONCEPTION Ubaldo, a telegraph operator from Manila.
• Adolf Hitler was really the illegitimate son of Rizal,
because he had an affair with a hotel 5. LUCIA (1857-1919)
chambermaid while in Austria.  She married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba.
• Bonifacio and Aguinaldo should be the National Herbosa died of cholera in 1889 and was denied
Hero, because they fought in the Revolution, while Christian burial because he was a brother-in-law
Rizal had cautioned against it. of Dr. Rizal.
• Rizal was somehow an “American-made hero,”
who was used by the colonialists to miseducate us 6. MARIA (1859-1945)
and suppress our national sentiments by giving us  Biang was her nickname; she married Daniel
a hero who was a model of cooperating with a Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna.
colonial power rather than fighting against it.
Rizal’s Parents : 7. JOSE (1861-1896)
 FRANCISCO MERCADO RIZAL (1818-1898)  The greatest Filipino hero and fearless genius; his
 Studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San nickname was Pepe; during his exile in Dapitan he
Jose in Manila. lived with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from
 Tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned hacienda Hongkong; he had a son by her, but this baby-boy
died a few hours after birth; Rizal named him 3. EUGENIO URSUA
“Francisco” after his father and buried him in  Rizal’s maternal great-great-grandfather of
Dapitan. Japanese ancestry, who married a Filipina named
Benigna.
8. CONCEPCION (1862-1865)
 Her pet name was Concha; she died of sickness at • The daughter of Eugenio and Benigna was Regina,
the age of 3; her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in married Manuel de Quintos, a Fillipino-Chinese
life. lawyer from Pangasinan.
• One of the daughters of Attorney Quintos and
9. JOSEFA (1865-1945) Regina was Brigada, who married Lorenzo Alberto
 Her pet name was Panggoy; she died an old maid Alonso, a prominent Spanish-Filipino mestizo of
at the age of 80. Biñan.
• Brigada and Lorenzo’s children were Narcisa,
10. TRINIDAD (1868-1951) TEODORA (Rizal’s mother), Gregorio, Manuel, and
 Trining was her pet name; she died also an old Jose.
maid in 1951 aged 83.
The Surname Rizal
11. SOLEDAD (1870-1929) • The real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado,
 Youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name was which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lamco.
Choleng; she married Pantaleon Quintero of • Rizal’s family acquired a second name – RIZAL –
Calamba. which was given by a Spanish alcalde mayor
(provincial governor) of Laguna, who was a family
The Rizal Children friend.
• Sibling relationship among the Rizal children was • Rizal in Spanish means “a field where wheat, cut
affectionately cordial. while still green, sprouts again.”
• Years later when Jose grew to manhood, he always
called them Doña or Señora (if married) and The Rizal Home
Señorita (if single). • The house of the Rizal family, where the hero was
born, was one of the distinguished stone houses in
Rizal’s Ancestry Calamba during Spanish times. It was a two-storey
• As a typical Filipino, Rizal was a product of the building, rectangular in shape, built of adobe
mixture of races. In his veins flowed the blood of stones and hard-woods, and roofed with red tiles.
both East and West – Negrito, Indonesian, Malay, • Such a wholesome home, naturally, bred a
Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Predomonantly, wholesome family. And such family was the Rizal
he was a Malayan and was a magnificent family.
specimen of Asian manhood.
A Good and Middle Class Family
1. FRANCISCO MERCADO • The rizal family belonged to the principalia, a town
 Son of Domingo Mercado and Ines de la Rosa aristocracy in Spanish Philippines. It is one of the
 He resided in Biñan, married a Chinese-Filipino distinguished families in Calamba. By dint of
mestiza, Cirila Bernacha, and was elected honest and hard work and frugal living, 4Rizal’s
gobernadorcillo (municipal mayor) of the town. parents were able to live well.

Home Life of the Rizals

2. JUAN MERCADO • The Rizal family had a simple, contented, and
 Rizal’s grandfather (son of Francico Mercado and happy life. In consonance with Filipino custom,
Cirila Bernacha), married Cirila Alejandro, a family ties among the Rizals were intimately close.
Chinese-Filipino mestiza. Don Francisco and Doña Teodora loved their
 Like his father, he was elected governadorcillo of children, but they never spoiled them. They were
Biñan. strict parents and they trained their children to
 Capitan Juan and Capitana Cirila had thirteen love God, to behave well, to be obedient, and to
children, the youngest being Francisco Mercado, respect people, especially to old folks.
Rizal’s father.
 It is said that Doña Teodora’s family descended
from Lakan-Dula, the last native King of Tondo. CHAPTER 2: CHILDHOod YEARS IN CALAMBA
• Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories of He played with her and from her he learned the
childhood in his native town. He grew up in a sweetness of sisterly love.
happy home, ruled by good parents, bubbling with • Unfortunately, Concha died of sickness in 1865
joy, and sanctified by God’s blessings. The when she was only 3 years old. Jose, who was very
happiest period of Rizal’s life was spent in this fond of her, cried bitterly at losing her said, “I lost
lakeshore town, a worthy prelude to his Hamlet- my little sister Concha, and then for the first time I
like tragic manhood. shed tears caused by love and grief.” Her death
• CALAMBA, the Hero’s town. Calamba was an brought him his first sorrow.
hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican
Order, which also owned all the lands around it. A DEVOTED SON OF THE CHURCH
few kilometers to the south looms the legendary • A scion ofa Catholic clan, born and bred in a
Mount Makiling in somnolent grandeur, and wholesome atmosphere of Catholicism, and
beyond this mountain is the province of Batangas. possessed of an inborn pious spirit, Rizal grew up
East of the town is the Laguna de Bay and in the a good Catholic.
middle of the lake towers the storied island of • He loved to go to church, to pray, to take part in
Talim, and beyond it towards the north is the novenas, and to join the religious processions.
distant Antipolo, famous mountain shrine of the • The scholarly Father Leoncio Lopez, the town
miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. priest, was one of the men he esteemed and
• Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In respected in Calamba during his boyhood. He used
1876, when he was 15 years old and was a student to visit this learned Filipino priest and listen to his
in the Ateneo de Manila, he remembered his stimulating opinions on current events and sound
beloved town. Accordingly, he wrote a poem Un philosophy of life.
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
PILGRIMAGE TO ANTIPOLO
EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES • On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left Calamba
• The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to fulfill
happy days in the family garden when he was 3 his mother’s vow which was made when he was
years old. Because he was a frail, sickly, and born. Doña Teodora could not accompany them
undersized child, he was given the tenderest care because she had given birth to Trinidad.
by his parents. His father built a little nipa cottage
for him to play in the daytime. An aya (nurse THE STORY OF THE MOTH
maid) was employed to look after his comfort. • Of the stories told by Doña Teodora to her favorite
• Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus son, Jose, that of the young moth made the
prayer. By nightfall, Rizal related, his mother profoundest impression on him.
gathered all the children at the house to pray the • The tragic fate of the young moth, which “died a
Angelus martyr to his illusions,” left a deep impression on
• He also remembered the happy moonlit nights at Rizal’s mind. He justified such noble deaty,
the azotea after the nightly Rosary. asserting that “to sacrifice one’s life for it,”
• Another memory of his infancy was the nocturnal meaning for an ideal, is “worthwhile.” And, like
walk in the town, especially when there is a moon. that young moth, he was fated to die as a martyr
The aya took him for a walk in the moonlight by for a noble ideal.
the river, where the trees cast grotesque shadows
on the bank. Recounting this childhood experience ARTISTIC TALENTS
in his student memoirs, Rizal wrote: “Thus my • At the age of five, he began to make sketches with
heart fed on sombre and melancholic thoughts so his pencil and to mould in clay and wax objects
that even while still a child, I already wandered on which attracted his fancy.
wings of fantasy in the high regions of the • It is said that one day, when Jose was a mere boy
unknown.” in Calamba, a religious banner which was always
used during the fiesta was spoiled. Upon the
THE HERO’S FIRST SORROW rewuest of the town mayor, he painted in oil
• The Rizal children were bound together by ties of colors a new banner that delighted the town folks
love and companionship. They were well-bred, for because it was better than the original.
their parents taught them to love and help one • Jose had the soul of a genuine artist because he
another. found great joy looking at the blooming flowers,
• Of his sisters, Jose loved most the little Concha the ripening fruits, the dancing waves of the lake,
(Concepcion). He was a year older than Concha. and listening to the songs of the birds.
Chapter 3 Early Education in Calamba and Biñan First School Brawl
In the afternoon of his first day in school, when
The Hero’s First Teacher the teacher was having his siesta, Jose met the bully,
 The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was Pedro. He was angry at this bully for making fun of him
a remarkable woman of good character and fine during his conversation with the teacher in the morning.
culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three
the alphabet and the prayers. Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily
 As a tutor, Doña Teodora was patient, accepted, thinking that he could easily beat the Calamba
conscientious, and understanding. It was she who boy who was smaller and younger.
first discovered that her son had a talent for
poetry. Accordingly, she encouraged him to write The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom,
poems. To lighten the monotony of memorizing much to the glee of their classmates. Jose, having learned
the ABCs and to stimulate her son’s imagination, the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, defeated
she related many stories. the bigger boy.

As Jose grew older, his parents employed private After the class in the afternoon, a classmate
tutors to give him lessons at home. He first was Maestro named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-
Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house and
old man named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of wrestled with their arms.
Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. This old teacher lived
at the Rizal home and instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. In succeeding days he had other fights with the
Jose Goes to Biñan boys of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome by nature, but he
One Sunday afternoon in June 1869, Jose, after never ran away from a fight.
kissing the hands of his parents and a tearful parting from
his sisters, left Calamba for Biñan. Painting Lessons in Biñan
He was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as his  Near the school was the house of an old painter,
second father. The two brothers rode in a carromata, called Juancho, who was the father-in-law of the
reaching their destination after one and a half hours. They school teacher. Jose, lured by his love for painting,
proceeded to their aunt’s house, where Jose was to lodge. spent many leisure hours at the painter’s studio.
It was almost night when they arrived, and the moon was Old Juancho freely gave him lessons in drawing
about to rise. and painting.

That same night, Jose together with his cousin  Jose and his classmate. Jose Guevarra, who also
Leandro, went sightseeing in the town. Instead of enjoying loved painting, became the apprentices of the old
the sights, Jose became depressed because of painter. They improved their art, so that indue
homesickness. time they became “the favorite painters of the
class”.
First Day in Biñan School
 The next morning, Paciano brought his younger Daily Life in Biñan
brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano Jose led a methodical life in Biñan, almost Spartan
Aquino Cruz. in simplicity. Such life contributed much to his future
 The school was in the house of the teacher, which development which also strengthened his body and soul.
was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the
home of Jose’s aunt. Best Student in School
In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He
Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects.
class. The teacher asked him:
“Do you know Spanish?” Some of his classmates were jealous of his
“A little, sir,” replied the Calamba lad. intellectual superiority. They wickedly squealed to the
“Do you know Latin?” teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school. And
“A little, sir.” even told lies to discredit him before the teacher’s eyes.
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the Consequently the teacher had to punish Jose.
teacher’s son, laughed at Jose’s answers. Thus Rizal said that “in spite of the reputation I had being a
The teacher sharply stopped all the noise and good boy, the day was unusual when I was not on a bench
began the lessons of the day. and given five or six blows.”
Injustice to Hero’s Mother
End of Biñan Schooling Before June of 1872, tragedy struck in the Rizal
Before the Christmas season in 1870, Jose family. Doña Teodora was suddenly arrested on a malicious
received a letter from his sister Saturnina, informing him of charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to
the arrival of the steamer Talim which would take him poison the latter’s perfidious wife.
from Biñan to Calamba.
Jose Alberto, a rich Biñan illustrado, had just
Upon reading the letter, he had a premonition that returned from a business trip in Europe. During his
he would not return to Biñan, so he became sad. He absence, his wife abandoned their home and children.
prayed in the town church, collected pebbles in the river When he arrived in Biñan, he found her living with another
for souvenirs, and regretfully bade farewell to his teacher man. Infuriated by her infidelity, he planned to divorce her.
and classmates.
Doña Teodora, to avert family scandal, persuaded
He left Biñan on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 17, him to forgive his wife. However, the evil wife, with the
1870, after one and a half year schooling in that town. He connivance of the Spanish lieutenant of the Guardia Civil,
was thrilled to take passage on the steamer Talim, for it filed a case in court accusing her husband and Doña
was the first time he ever rode on a steamer. On board was Teodora of attempting to poison her.
a Frenchman named Arturo Camps, a friend of his father,
who took care of him. This lieutenant happened to have an ax to grind
against the Rizal family, because at one time Don Francisco
Martyrdom of GOMBURZA refused to give him fodder for his horse. Taking the
 On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 opportunity to avenge himself, he arrested Doña Teodora,
Filipino soldiers and workmen of the Cavite with the help of Calamba’s goberadorcillo, Anton Vivencio
arsenal under the leadership of Fernando La del Rosario, a menial of the friars. These two ungrateful
Madrid, Filipino sergeant, rose in violent mutiny men had been frequent guests at the Rizal’s home.
because of the abolition of their usual privileges,
including exemption from tribune and polo y After arresting Doña Teodora, the sadistic Spanish
servicio by the reactionary Gov. Rafael de lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba to sta. Cruz
Izquierdo. (capital of Laguna province), a distance of 50 kilometers.

 Unfortunately, this Cavite Mutiny was suppressed Upon arrival in Santa Cruz, she was incarcerated at
two days later by troop reinforcements from the provincial prison, where she languished for two and a
Manila. The Spanish authorities, in order to half years until the Manila Royal Audiencia (Supreme
liquidate Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, Court) acquitted her of the alleged crime.
and Jacinto Zamora, leaders of the secular
movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes, Recounting this incidence of his mother’s
magnified the failed mutiny into a “revolt” for imprisonment, Rizal said in his student memoirs: “Our
Philippine independence. mother was unjustly snatched away from us and by
whom? By some men who had been our friends and whom
 Their supporters were also arrested including Jose we treated as honored guests. We learned later that our
Ma. Basa, Attorneys Joaquin Pardo de Tavera and mother got sick, far from us and at an advanced age. My
Antonio Ma. Regidor, etc. mother was defended by Messrs. Francisco de Marcaida
and Manuel Marzan, the most famous lawyers of Manila.
Accordingly, GomBurZa, despite the archbishop’s She finally succeeded to be acquitted and vindicated in the
plea for clemency because of their innocence, were eyes of her judges, accusers, and even her enemies, but
executed (using garrote) at sunrise, February 17, 1872, by after how long? After two and a half years.”
order of Gov. Gen. Izquierdo. 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.