Rizal's Family Values and Relationship With His Siblings

Of all the persons who had the greatest influence on Rizal’s development as a person was his mother

Teodora Alonso. It was she who opened his eyes and heart to the world around him—with all its soul
and poetry, as well as its bigotry and injustice.

A FEW VALUES TEODORA ALONZO TAUGHT JOSE RIZAL:

1. His mother was his first teacher, and from her he learned to read, and consequently to value
reading as a means for learning and spending one’s time meaningfully. It did not take long
before he learnt to value time as life’s most precious gift, for she taught him never to waste a
single second of it. Thus as a student in Spain he became the most assiduous of students, never
missing a class despite his activities as Propaganda leader, or an examination, despite having to
take it on an empty stomach.
2. By taking the lead in running the family’s businesses- farms, flour and sugar milling, tending a
store, even making fruit preserves, aside from running a household, Teodora imbibed in him the
value of working with one’s hands, of self-reliance and entrepreneurship. And by sharing with
others she taught him generosity and helping to make the world a better place for those who
had less in the material life. All these lessons he applied himself during his exile in Dapitan, as
he improved its community by building a dam; encouraging the locals to grow fruit trees,
establishing a school, even documenting the local flora and fauna.
3. His mother also taught him to value hard-earned money and better yet, the importance of
thrift and of denying oneself, and saving part of one’s earnings as insurance against the
vagaries of life. Thus he learned to scrimp and save despite growing up in comfort and wealth.
JOSE RIZAL’S SIBLINGS AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM:
Santurnina Rizal (1850-1913)
- Eldest child of Don Francisco and Teodora Alonso.

- Nicknamed Neneng
- Saturnina had always been a loving ‘Ate’ Neneng to Jose. When their mother was imprisoned,
Saturnina brought the young Jose to Tanauan during the summer vacation of 1873 just to cheer
up the sad little brother.
Paciano Mercado Rizal (1851-1930)
- Older brother and confident of Jose Rizal

- Was a second father to Rizal
- Immortalized him in Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere as the wise Pilosopo Tasio
- Rizal regarded him as the “most noble of the Filipinos”
Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939)
- Narcisa Rizal or simply ‘Sisa’ was the third child

- She would help in financing Jose Rizal’s studies in Europe, even pawning her jewelry and
peddling her clothes if needed.
Olympia Rizal (1855-1887)
- Olympia Rizal is the fourth child in the Rizal family.

- Jose loved to tease her, sometimes good-humoredly describing her as his stout sister. Jose’s
first love, Segunda Katigbak, was Olympia’s schoolmate at the La Concordia College.
- She willingly served as the mediator between Jose and Segunda
Lucia Rizal Herbosa (1857-1919)
- Lucia Rizal is the fifth child in the family.

- Lucia’s husband died during the cholera epidemic in May 1889 and was refused a Catholic
burial for not going to confession since his marriage to Lucia.
- In Jose Rizal’s article in La Solidaridad entitled Una profanacion (A Profanation), he scornfully
attacked the friars for declining to bury in ‘sacred ground’ a ‘good Christian’ simply because he
was the “brother-in-law of Rizal”.
Maria Rizal Cruz (1859-1945)
- Maria Rizal is the sixth child in the family.

- It was to her whom Jose talked about wanting to marry Josephine Bracken when the majority
of the Rizal family was apparently not amenable to the idea.
Concepcion Rizal (1862-1865)
- Also called ‘Concha’ by her siblings, Concepcion Rizal (1862-1865) was the eight child of the
Rizal family. She died at the age of three.
- Of his sisters, it was said that the young Pepe loved most little Concha who was a year
younger than him. Jose played games and shared children stories with her, and from her he felt
the beauty of sisterly love at young age.
Josefa Rizal (1865-1945)
- Josefa Rizal’s nickname is Panggoy. She’s the ninth child in the family.
- Panggoy died a spinster.
- After Jose’s martyrdom, the epileptic Josefa joined the Katipunan and was even said to have
been elected the president of its women section. She was one of the original 29 women
admitted to the Katipunan along with Gregoria de Jesus, wife of Andres Bonifacio.
Trinidad Rizal (1868-1951)
- Trinidad Rizal or ‘Trining’ was the tenth child.

- Historically, she became the custodian of Rizal’s last and greatest poem.
- Right before Jose’s execution, Trinidad and their mother visited him in the Fort Santiago prison
cell. As they were leaving, Jose handed over to Trining an alcohol cooking stove, a gift from the
Pardo de Taveras, whispering to her in a language which the guards could not understand,
“There is something in it.” That ‘something’ was Rizal’s elegy now known as “Mi Ultimo Adios.”
- Like Josefa, Paciano, and two nieces, Trinidad joined the Katipunan after Jose’s death.
Soledad Rizal
- Also called ‘Choleng,’ Soledad Rizal was the youngest child of the Rizal family. Being a teacher,
she was arguably the best educated among Rizal’s sisters.
- In his long and meaty letter to Choleng dated June 6, 1890, Jose Rizal told her sister that he was
proud of her for becoming a teacher. He thus counseled her to be a model of virtues and good
qualities “for the one who should teach should be better than the persons who need her
learning.” Rizal nonetheless used the topic as leverage in somewhat rebuking her sister for
getting married to Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba without their parents’ consent. “Because of
you,” he wrote, “the peace of our family has been disturbed.” Choleng’s union with Pantaleon,
nonetheless resulted in Rizal family’s becoming connected by affinity to Miguel Malvar, the hero
who could have been listed as the second Philippine President for taking over the revolutionary
government after Emilio Aguinaldo’s arrest in 1901.

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Of all the persons who had the greatest influence on Rizal’s development as a person was his mother

A FEW VALUES TEODORA ALONZO TAUGHT JOSE RIZAL:

JOSE RIZAL’S SIBLINGS AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM:

Santurnina Rizal (1850-1913)

- Eldest child of Don Francisco and Teodora Alonso.

Paciano Mercado Rizal (1851-1930)

- Older brother and confident of Jose Rizal

Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939)

- Narcisa Rizal or simply ‘Sisa’ was the third child

- Olympia Rizal is the fourth child in the Rizal family.

Lucia Rizal Herbosa (1857-1919)

- Lucia Rizal is the fifth child in the family.

Maria Rizal Cruz (1859-1945)

- Maria Rizal is the sixth child in the family.

Concepcion Rizal (1862-1865)

Josefa Rizal (1865-1945)

Trinidad Rizal (1868-1951)

- Trinidad Rizal or ‘Trining’ was the tenth child.

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