his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign Karlstraße boarding house then moved
ed to Ludwigsplatz.
Early life
José Rizal's baptismal register
Francisco Mercado Rizal (1818–1897)
José Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Rizal Mercado y
Alejandro and Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos in the
town of Calamba in Laguna province. He had nine sisters
and one brother. His parents were leaseholders of
a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by
the Dominicans. Both their families had adopted the
additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in 1849, after
Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the
adoption of Spanish surnames among the Filipinos for
census purposes (though they already had Spanish names).
Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of
mixed origin. José's patrilineal lineage could be traced back
to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-Co, a
Chinese merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in the
late 17th century.[11][12][note 1][13] Lam-Co traveled to Manila
from Amoy, China, possibly to avoid the famine or plague in
his home district, and more probably to escape
the Manchuinvasion during the Transition from Ming to Qing.
He finally decided to stay in the islands as a farmer. In 1697,
to escape the bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in
the Philippines, he converted to Catholicism, changed his
name to Domingo Mercado and married the daughter of
Chinese friend Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side,
Rizal's ancestry included Chinese, Japanese
and Tagalog blood. His mother's lineage can be traced to the
affluent Florentina family of Chinese mestizo families
originating in Baliuag, Bulacan.[14] José Rizal also had
Spanish ancestry. His grandfather was a half Spaniard
engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.[15]
From an early age, José showed a precocious intellect. He
learned the alphabet from his mother at 3, and could read
and write at age 5.[12] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal
de Manila, he dropped the last three names that made up his
full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano and the
Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio
Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much
attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use
it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate
child!"[16] This was to enable him to travel freely and
disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety
with his earlier links to Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora(popularly known as Gomburza)
who had been accused and executed for treason.
Rizal's house in Calamba, Laguna.
Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal" soon
distinguished himself in poetry writing contests, impressing
languages, and later, in writing essays that were critical of
the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine
societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El
Filibusterismo, this second surname had become so well
known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now
carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name
Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and
be worthy of this family name..."[16]
Education
Rizal, 11 years old, a student at the Ateneo Municipal de
Manila
Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan,
Laguna, before he was sent to Manila.[17] As to his father's
request, he took the entrance examination in Colegio de San
Juan de Letran but he then enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal
de Manila and graduated as one of the nine students in his
class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued
his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a
land surveyor and assessor's degree, and at the same time
at the University of Santo Tomas where he did take up
a preparatory course in law.[18] Upon learning that his mother
was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine at
the medical school of Santo Tomas specializing later
in ophthalmology.
Rizal as a student at the University of Santo Tomas
Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly
supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled alone
to Madrid, Spain in May 1882 and studied medicine at
the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the
degree, Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended medical
lectures at the University of Paris and the University of
Heidelberg. In Berlin, he was inducted as a member of the
Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological
Society under the patronage of the
famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow. Following custom, he
delivered an address in German in April 1887 before the
Anthropological Society on the orthography and structure of
the Tagalog language. He left Heidelberg a poem, "A las
flores del Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and a
prayer for the welfare of his native land and the unification of
common values between East and West.
At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his
eye specialization under the renowned professor, Otto
Becker. There he used the newly
invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von
Helmholtz) to later operate on his own mother's eye. From
Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I spend half of the day
in the study of German and the other half, in the diseases of
the eye. Twice a week, I go to the bierbrauerie, or beerhall,
to speak German with my student friends." He lived in a
There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with them
in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of Noli
Me Tángere.
Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science and the arts.
He painted, sketched, and made sculptures and
woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist
whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli Me
Tángere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.[note 2] These social
commentaries during the Spanish colonization of the country
formed the nucleus of literature that inspired peaceful
reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was also
a polyglot, conversant in twenty-two languages.[note 3][note
4][19][20]
Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German
friend, Dr. Adolf Bernhard Meyer, as "stupendous."[note
5]
Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the
ability to master various skills and subjects.[19][21][21][22] He was
an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer,
historian, playwright and journalist. Besides poetry and
creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of
expertise, in architecture, cartography,
economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics,
martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He was also
a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in
Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884.
Personal life, relationships and ventures
Rednaxela Terrace, where Rizal lived during his self-
imposed exile in Hong Kong (photo taken in 2011).
José Rizal's life is one of the most documented of 19th
century Filipinos due to the vast and extensive records
written by and about him.[23]Almost everything in his short life
is recorded somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and
prolific letter writer, much of the material having survived. His
biographers, however, have faced difficulty in translating his
writings because of Rizal's habit of switching from one
language to another.
They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of
a young Asian encountering the West for the first time. They
included his later trips, home and back again to Europe
through Japan and the United States,[24] and, finally, through
his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong.
Shortly after he graduated from the Ateneo Municipal de
Manila (now Ateneo de Manila University), Rizal (who was
then 16 years old) and a friend, Mariano Katigbak, came to
visit Rizal's maternal grandmother in Tondo, Manila. Mariano
brought along his sister, Segunda Katigbak, a 14-year-old
Batangueña from Lipa, Batangas. It was the first time they
met and Rizal described Segunda as "rather short, with eyes
that were eloquent and ardent at times and languid at others,
rosy–cheeked, with an enchanting and provocative smile
that revealed very beautiful teeth, and the air of a sylph; her
entire self diffused a mysterious charm." His grandmother's
guests were mostly college students and they knew that
Rizal had skills in painting. They suggested that Rizal should
make a portrait of Segunda. He complied reluctantly and
made a pencil sketch of her. Unfortunately for him, Katigbak
was engaged to Manuel Luz.[25]
Business card shows Dr. José Rizal is an Ophthalmologist in
Hong Kong
From December 1891 to June 1892, Rizal lived with his
family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace, Mid-levels, Hong
Kong Island. Rizal used 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central
district, Hong Kong Island, as his ophthalmologist clinic from
2 pm to 6 pm. This period of his life included his recorded
affections of which nine were identified. They were Gertrude
Beckett of Chalcot Crescent, Primrose
Hill, Camden, London, wealthy and high-minded Nelly
Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last
descendant of a noble Japanese family Seiko Usui
(affectionately called O-Sei-san), his earlier friendship with
Segunda Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, and eight-year
romantic relationship with a distant cousin, Leonor
Rivera (popularly thought to be the inspiration for the
character of María Clara in Noli me tangere).
Affair
In one recorded fall from grace he succumbed to the
temptation of a 'lady of the camellias'. The writer, Maximo
Viola, a friend of Rizal's, was alluding to Dumas's 1848
novel, La dame aux camelias, about a man who fell in love
with a courtesan. While the affair was on record, there was
no account in Viola's letter whether it was more than one-
night and if it was more a business transaction than an
amorous affair.[26][27][note 6]
Association with Leonor Rivera
See also: Leonor Rivera
A crayon portrait of Leonor Rivera by José Rizal
Leonor Rivera is thought to be the inspiration for the
character of María Clara in Noli Me Tángere and El
Filibusterismo.[28] Rivera and Rizal first met in Manila when
Rivera was only 14 years old. When Rizal left for Europe on
May 3, 1882, Rivera was 16 years of age. Their
correspondence began when Rizal left a poem for Rivera
saying farewell.[29]
The correspondence between Rivera and Rizal kept him
focused on his studies in Europe. They employed codes in
their letters because Rivera's mother did not favor Rizal. A
letter from Mariano Katigbak dated June 27, 1884, referred
to Rivera as Rizal's "betrothed". Katigbak described Rivera
as having been greatly affected by Rizal's departure,
frequently sick because of insomnia.
When Rizal returned to the Philippines on August 5, 1887,
Rivera and her family had moved back to Dagupan,
Pangasinan. Rizal was forbidden by his father Francisco
Mercado to see Rivera in order to avoid putting the Rivera
family in danger because at the time Rizal was already
labeled by the criollo elite as
a filibustero or subversive[29] because of his novel Noli Me
Tángere. Rizal wanted to marry Rivera while he was still in
the Philippines because of Rivera's uncomplaining fidelity.
Rizal asked permission from his father one more time before
his second departure from the Philippines. The meeting
never happened. In 1888, Rizal stopped receiving letters
from Rivera for a year, although Rizal kept sending letters to
Rivera. The reason for Rivera's year of silence was the
connivance between Rivera's mother and the Englishman
named Henry Kipping, a railway engineer who fell in love
with Rivera and was favored by Rivera's mother.[29][30] The
news of Leonor Rivera's marriage to Kipping devastated
Rizal.
His European friends kept almost everything he gave them,
including doodlings on pieces of paper. In the home of a
Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Pérez, he left an impression
that was to be remembered by his daughter, Consuelo. In
her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent there and regaled
them with his wit, social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In
London, during his research on Antonio de Morga's writings,
he became a regular guest in the home of Reinhold Rost of
the British Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a
man."[23][note 7] The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor
of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved even
buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes. They
were ultimately bequeathed to the Rizal family to form a
treasure trove of memorabilia.
Josephine Bracken was Rizal's common-law wife whom he
reportedly married shortly before his execution
Relationship with Josephine Bracken
Further information: Josephine Bracken
In February 1895, Rizal, 33, met Josephine Bracken, an Irish
woman from Hong Kong, when she accompanied her blind
adoptive father, George Taufer, to have his eyes checked by
Rizal.[31] After frequent visits, Rizal and Bracken fell in love
with each other. They applied to marry but, because of
Rizal's reputation from his writings and political stance, the
local priest Father Obach would only hold the ceremony if
Rizal could get permission from the Bishop of Cebu. He was
unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage because he
would not return to Catholicism.[6]
After accompanying her father to Manila on her return to
Hong Kong, and before heading back to Dapitan to live with
Rizal, Josephine introduced herself to members of Rizal's
family in Manila. His mother suggested a civil marriage,
which she believed to be a lesser sacrament but less sinful
to Rizal's conscience than making any sort of political
retraction in order to gain permission from the
Bishop.[32] Rizal and Josephine lived as husband and wife in
a common-law marriage in Talisay in Dapitan. The couple
had a son who lived only for a few hours after Josephine
suffered a miscarriage; Rizal named him after his father
Francisco.[33]
In Brussels and Spain (1890–92)
In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he was
preparing for the publication of his annotations of Antonio de
Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609). He lived in the
boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters, Catherina and
Suzanna, who had a niece Suzanna ("Thil"), age 16.
Historian Gregorio F. Zaide states that Rizal had "his
romance with Suzanne Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his
landladies." Belgian Pros Slachmuylders, however, believed
that Rizal had a romance with the 17-year-old niece,
Suzanna Thil, as his other liaisons were all with young
women.[34] He found records clarifying their names and ages.
Rizal's Brussels stay was short-lived; he moved to Madrid,
giving the young Suzanna a box of chocolates. She wrote to
him in French: "After your departure, I did not take the
chocolate. The box is still intact as on the day of your
parting. Don’t delay too long writing us because I wear out
the soles of my shoes for running to the mailbox to see if
there is a letter from you. There will never be any home in
which you are so loved as in that in Brussels, so, you little
bad boy, hurry up and come back…"[34] In 2007,
Slachmuylders' group arranged for an historical marker
honoring Rizal to be placed at the house.[34]
The content of Rizal's writings changed considerably in his
two most famous novels, Noli Me Tángere, published in
Berlin in 1887, and El Filibusterismo, published in Ghent in
1891. For the latter, he used funds borrowed from his
friends. These writings angered both the Spanish colonial
elite and many educated Filipinos due to their symbolism.
They are critical of Spanish friars and the power of the
Church. Rizal's friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austria-
Hungary-born professor and historian, wrote that the novel's
characters were drawn from real life and that every episode
can be repeated on any day in the Philippines.[35]
Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer
at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a
staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not dissuade
him from writing the preface of El filibusterismo after he had
translated Noli Me Tángere into German. As Blumentritt had
warned, these books resulted in Rizal's being prosecuted as
the inciter of revolution. He was eventually tried by the
military, convicted and executed. Teaching the natives
where they stood brought about an adverse reaction, as
the Philippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently
thereafter.

Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: Left to right:
Rizal, del Pilar, and Ponce (c. 1890).
As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in
Spain, Rizal contributed essays, allegories, poems,
and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in
Barcelona (in this case Rizal used a pen name,
"Dimasalang", "Laong Laan" and "May Pagasa"). The core of
his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of
individual rights and freedom; specifically, rights for the
Filipino people. He shared the same sentiments with
members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in
Rizal's own words, "a double-faced Goliath"—corrupt friars
and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the
following agenda:[note 8]
 That the Philippines be made a province of Spain (The
Philippines was a province of New Spain – now
Mexico, administered from Mexico city from 1565 to
1821. From 1821 to 1898 it was administered directly
from Spain.)
 Representation in the Cortes
 Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars
– Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans – in
parishes and remote sitios
 Freedom of assembly and speech
 Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and
Spanish plaintiffs)
The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these
reforms. Such Spanish intellectuals as
Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others did endorse
them.
Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had
slighted Rizal by writing an insulting article in La Epoca, a
newspaper in Madrid. He implied that the family and friends
of Rizal were evicted from their lands in Calamba for not
having paid their due rents. The incident (when Rizal was
ten) stemmed from an accusation that Rizal's mother,
Teodora, tried to poison the wife of a cousin, but she said
she was trying to help. With the approval of the Church
prelates, and without a hearing, she was ordered to prison
in Santa Cruz in 1871. She was made to walk the ten miles
(16 km) from Calamba. She was released after two-and-a-
half years of appeals to the highest court.[22] In 1887, Rizal
wrote a petition on behalf of the tenants of Calamba, and
later that year led them to speak out against the friars'
attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which
resulted in the Dominicans' evicting them from their homes,
including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the
buildings on the farm torn down.
Upon reading the article, Rizal sent a representative to
challenge Retana to a duel. Retana published a public
apology and later became one of Rizal's biggest admirers,
writing Rizal's most important biography, Vida y Escritos del
José Rizal.[36][note 9]
Return to Philippines (1892–96)
Exile in Dapitan
Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic
movement called La Liga Filipina. The league advocated
these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was
disbanded by the governor. At that time, he had already
been declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish
authorities because of the publication of his novel.
Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion
and in July 1892, was deported to Dapitan in the province
of Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.[37] There he built a
school, a hospital and a water supply system, and taught
and engaged in farming and horticulture.[citation needed] Abaca,
then the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and
his students planted in the thousands, was a memorial.[citation
needed]
The boys' school, which taught in Spanish, and included
English as a foreign language (considered a prescient if
unusual option then) was conceived by Rizal and
antedated Gordonstoun with its aims of inculcating
resourcefulness and self-sufficiency in young men.[citation
needed]
They would later enjoy successful lives as farmers and
honest government officials.[citation needed] One, a Muslim,
became a datu, and another, José Aseniero, who was with
Rizal throughout the life of the school, became Governor
of Zamboanga.[38][citation needed]
In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his
return to the fold led by Fray Francisco de Paula Sánchez,
his former professor, who failed in his mission. The task was
resumed by Fray Pastells, a prominent member of the Order.
In a letter to Pastells, Rizal sails close to the deism familiar
to us today.[39][40][41]
We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God.
How can I doubt His when I am convinced of mine. Who so
recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt God is
to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence, it
would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for? Now
then, my faith in God, if the result of a ratiocination may be
called faith, is blind, blind in the sense of knowing nothing. I
neither believe nor disbelieve the qualities which many
attribute to Him; before theologians' and philosophers'
definitions and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable
being I find myself smiling. Faced with the conviction of
seeing myself confronting the supreme Problem, which
confused voices seek to explain to me, I cannot but reply: ‘It
could be’; but the God that I foreknow is far more grand, far
more good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in
revelation or revelations which each religion or religions
claim to possess. Examining them impartially, comparing
them and scrutinizing them, one cannot avoid discerning the
human 'fingernail' and the stamp of the time in which they
were written... No, let us not make God in our image, poor
inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite
space. However, brilliant and sublime our intelligence may
be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and
in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea
of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean of light. I believe
in revelation, but in that living revelation which surrounds us
on every side, in that voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing,
incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from
whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and
penetrates us from the moment we are born until we die.
What books can better reveal to us the goodness of God,
His love, His providence, His eternity, His glory, His wisdom?
‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork.[42]
His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in
touch with European friends and fellow-scientists who wrote
a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French, German
and English and which baffled the censors, delaying their
transmittal. Those four years of his exile coincided with the
development of the Philippine Revolution from inception and
to its final breakout, which, from the viewpoint of the court
which was to try him, suggested his complicity in it. [23] He
condemned the uprising, although all the members of
the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and
had used his name as a cry for war, unity, and liberty.[43]
He is known to making the resolution of bearing personal
sacrifice instead of the incoming revolution, believing that a
peaceful stand is the best way to avoid further suffering in
the country and loss of Filipino lives. In Rizal's own words, "I
consider myself happy for being able to suffer a little for a
cause which I believe to be sacred [...]. I believe further that
in any undertaking, the more one suffers for it, the surer its
success. If this be fanaticism may God pardon me, but my
poor judgment does not see it as such."[44]
In Dapitan, Rizal wrote "Haec Est Sibylla Cumana", a parlor-
game for his students, with questions and answers for which
a wooden top was used. In 2004, Jean Paul Verstraeten
traced this book and the wooden top, as well as Rizal's
personal watch, spoon and salter.
Arrest and trial
By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant
secret society, had become a full-blown revolution, proving
to be a nationwide uprising.[citation needed] Rizal had earlier
volunteered his services as a doctor in Cuba and was given
leave by Governor-General Ramón Blanco to serve in Cuba
to minister to victims of yellow fever. Rizal and Josephine left
Dapitan on August 1, 1896, with letter of recommendation
from Blanco.
Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba via Spain and was
imprisoned in Barcelona on October 6, 1896. He was sent
back the same day to Manila to stand trial as he was
implicated in the revolution through his association with
members of the Katipunan. During the entire passage, he
was unchained, no Spaniard laid a hand on him, and had
many opportunities to escape but refused to do so.
While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued
a manifesto disavowing the current revolution in its present
state and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their
achievement of a national identity were prerequisites to
freedom.
Rizal was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition,
and conspiracy, was convicted on all three charges, and
sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal,
had been forced out of office. The friars, led by then
Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, had
'intercalated' Camilo de Polavieja in his stead, as the new
Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines after
pressuring Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus
sealing Rizal's fate.
Execution
Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896, by a
squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army, a backup
force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot
the executioners should they fail to obey orders.[45] The
Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse:
it was normal. Aware of this the sergeant commanding the
backup force hushed his men to silence when they began
raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular
and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus
Christ: "consummatum est", – it is finished.[19][46][note 10]
He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no
identification on his grave. His sister Narcisa toured all
possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the
cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this
could be the most likely spot, there never having been any
ground burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the
site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.
His undated poem Mi último adiós, believed to have been
written a few days before his execution, was hidden in an
alcohol stove, which was later handed to his family with his
few remaining possessions, including the final letters and his
last bequests.[47]:91 During their visit, Rizal reminded his
sisters in English, "There is something inside it", referring to
the alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was
to be returned after his execution, thereby emphasizing the
importance of the poem. This instruction was followed by
another, "Look in my shoes", in which another item was
secreted. Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under
American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined, his burial
not on sanctified ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and
whatever was in his shoes had disintegrated. And now he is
buried in Rizal Monument in Manila.[22]
In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as
you would wish to be treated...Love them greatly in memory
of me...December 30, 1896."[23] He gave his family
instructions for his burial: "Bury me in the ground. Place a
stone and a cross over it. My name, the date of my birth and
of my death. Nothing more. If later you wish to surround my
grave with a fence, you can do it. No anniversaries."[48]
In his final letter, to Blumentritt – Tomorrow at 7, I shall be
shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going
to die with a tranquil conscience.[23] Rizal is believed to be
the first Filipino revolutionary whose death is attributed
entirely to his work as a writer; and through dissent and civil
disobedience enabled him to successfully destroy Spain's
moral primacy to rule. He also bequeathed a book personally
bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.'
When Blumentritt received it in his
hometown Litoměřice (Leitmeritz) he broke down and wept.
MAITUTURING na nagmula sa may kayang pamilya ang
ating pambansang bayaning si Dr. Jose Rizal. Ang kanyang
amang si Don Jose ay isang magsasaka ng tubo, at katiwala
ng malawak na lupain. Samantalang ang kanyang inang si
Donya Teodora ay may mataas na pinag-aralan na bihira sa
kababaihan noong panahong iyon.
Ang pamilya Rizal ay nakatira sa kongkretong bahay na may
malawak na hardin, pribadong aklatan, kung saan
matatagpuan ang daan-daang kolek-siyon ng aklat.
Bagaman at maraming kapatid na babae si Jose o Pepe na
maaaring mag-alaga sa kanya, kumuha pa ang kanyang
ama ng yaya na siyang nag-alaga sa kanya.
Si Donya Teodora naman ang sumubaybay sa panimulang
edukasyon ng batang Rizal. Tinuruan niya itong magbasa,
magdasal, at magrosaryo. Kalaunan ay kumuha rin ng
pribadong tagapagturo ang kanyang mga magulang para
magturo sa pagbabasa, pagsulat, gayundin sa pag-aaral ng
Latin.
Dahil sa pagkakaroon ng maraming aklat sa bahay at
paghikayat ng kanyang mga magulang kung kaya't labis na
nagkahilig ang batang si Pepe sa higit pang pag-aaral at
pagkatuto hanggang sa mga huling bahagi ng kanyang
buhay. Siyam na taong gulang si Jose nang dalhin siya ng
kanyang ama sa Binan, Laguna, upang ipagpatuloy ang
kanyang pormal na pag-aaral.
Hindi maganda ang karanasan ni Rizal sa paaralang iyon,
anupa't naisulat niya sa kanyang tala-arawan ang
pagkakatanggap ng palo mula sa kanyang guro na may
istriktong pamamaraan ng pagtuturo. Sa kabila ng kanyang
pagiging mabuting bata, bihira ang araw na hindi napapalo
ang kanyang mga palad.
Ayaw ni Rizal sa gayong paraan ng pagtuturo, at ito ay
nabanggit niya sa kanyang nobelang Noli Me Tangere, na
tumutukoy sa hindi magandang epekto ng ganoong paraan
sa asal at isipan ng mga bata. Aniya, imposible ang
makapag-isip nang maayos sa harap ng patpat na pamalo at
latigo, at matatakot maging ang isang batang matalino.
Noong 1872, nagpatala si Rizal sa Ateneo Municipal para sa
digri sa Batselor sa Sining. Ang kakaibang espiritu ng
kumpetisyon at personal na disiplina ay nagpaibayo sa
panibagong interes para siya ay lalong pang matuto.
Ang kanilang klase ay hinati sa dalawang grupo. Ang unang
grupo ay tinawag na Romano samantalang ang ikalawa ay
tinawag na Carthaginian. Ang mga miyembro ng grupo ay
inihahanay sa kanilang tagumpay sa kanilang
pang-araw-araw na leksiyon.
Nagsimula si Rizal sa grupong Carthaginian na nasa hulihan
ng talaan, pero makaraan ang isang buwan, siya ay
tinanghal na emperador at ginawaran ng estampita.
Nagtamo rin siya ng mga medalya at pagkilala dahil sa
kanyang termino at nananatiling tumatanggap ng markang
pinakamahusay sa halos lahat ng kanyang mga aralin.
Nang lumaon ay nag-aral siya ng medisina sa Unibersidad
ng Santo Tomas kasabay ng pag-aaral niya ng surveying sa
pagtuturo ng mga Heswita. Nang siya ay 17 taong gulang ay
nagtungo siya sa Espanya upang mag-aral sa Universidad
Central de Madrid. Noong 1885 ay pareho niyang natapos
ang kursong medisina at pilosopiya.
Dahil sa espiritu ng liberalismo sa Europa kaya't mas
lumawak ang kanyang interes. Nag-aral siya ng iba't ibang
lengguwahe, naglakbay sa maraming bansa, kasabay ng
kanyang aktibong kampanya para sa reporma sa Pilipinas.
Isinulat niya ang isa pang nobela, ang El Filibusterismo at
nagsalin ng Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, kung saan
kanyang itinuwid ang mga pagkakamali sa nakatalang
kasaysayan ng Pilipinas. Nagbigay din siya ng
mga kontribusyon sa La Solidaridad, ang pahayagan ng mga
repormistang Pilipino sa Espanya.
Nang siya ay magbalik sa Pilipinas noong 1892, ipinatapon
siya sa Dapitan ng pamahalaang Espanyol, dahil sa umano'y
pag-iingat ng mga subersibong papeles. Papunta siya sa
Cuba upang magsilbi bilang boluntaryong doctor nang
sumiklab ang rebolusyon sa Pilipinas. Hinuli siya at
kinasuhan ng rebelyon at sedisyon.
Noong Disyembre 3, 1896, binaril siya sa Luneta. Ayaw ni
Rizal na barilin siya nang nakatalikod kagaya ng isang
traydor, pero hindi pinayagan ang kanyang hiling na barilin
na nakaharap sa firing squad. Sa oras ng eksekyusyon,
nang marinig ni Rizal ang mga putok, ay ipinihit niya ang
kanyang katawan. Bumagsak siyang patihaya, paharap sa
sumisikat na araw sa umagang iyon ng Disyembre - kagaya
ng isang kagalang-galang na tao na dapat na pagkilala sa
kanya.