José Rizal called for peaceful reform of Spain's colonial rule in the

Philippines. After his 1896 execution, he became an icon for the

nationalist movement.

Synopsis

José Rizal was born on June 19, 1861, in Calamba, Philippines. While living in
Europe, Rizal wrote about the discrimination that accompanied Spain's colonial
rule of his country. He returned to the Philippines in 1892, but was exiled due to
his desire for reform. Although he supported peaceful change, Rizal was convicted
of sedition and executed on December 30, 1896, at age 35.

Early Life

On June 19, 1861, José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born in
Calamba in the Philippines' Laguna Province. A brilliant student who became
proficient in multiple languages, José Rizal studied medicine in Manila. In 1882,
he traveled to Spain to complete his medical degree.

Writing and Reform

While in Europe, José Rizal became part of the Propaganda Movement, connecting
with other Filipinos who wanted reform. He also wrote his first novel, Noli Me
Tangere (Touch Me Not/The Social Cancer), a work that detailed the dark aspects
of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippines, with particular focus on the role of
Catholic friars. The book was banned in the Philippines, though copies were
smuggled in. Because of this novel, Rizal's return to the Philippines in 1887 was
cut short when he was targeted by police.

Rizal returned to Europe and continued to write, releasing his follow-up novel, El
Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) in 1891. He also published articles in La
Solidaridad, a paper aligned with the Propaganda Movement. The reforms Rizal
advocated for did not include independence—he called for equal treatment of
Filipinos, limiting the power of Spanish friars and representation for the
Philippines in the Spanish Cortes (Spain's parliament).
Exile in the Philippines

Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, feeling he needed to be in the country to

effect change. Although the reform society he founded, the Liga Filipino
(Philippine League), supported non-violent action, Rizal was still exiled to
Dapitan, on the island of Mindanao. During the four years Rizal was in exile, he
practiced medicine and took on students.

Execution and Legacy

In 1895, Rizal asked for permission to travel to Cuba as an army doctor.

His request was approved, but in August 1896, Katipunan, a nationalist
Filipino society founded by Andres Bonifacio, revolted. Though he had no
ties to the group, and disapproved of its violent methods, Rizal was
arrested shortly thereafter.

After a show trial, Rizal was convicted of sedition and sentenced to death
by firing squad. Rizal's public execution was carried out in Manila on
December 30, 1896, when he was 35 years old. His execution created
more opposition to Spanish rule.

Spain's control of the Philippines ended in 1898, though the country did not
gain lasting independence until after World War II. Rizal remains a
nationalist icon in the Philippines for helping the country take its first steps
toward independence.
 QUICK FACTS

NAME
José Rizal
OCCUPATION
Poet, Journalist, Doctor
BIRTH DATE
June 19, 1861
DEATH DATE
December 30, 1896
EDUCATION
University of Madrid, University of Heidelberg, University of Santo
Tomas
PLACE OF BIRTH
Calamba, Laguna Province, Philippines
PLACE OF DEATH
Manila, Philippines
AKA
José Rizal
FULL NAME
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

1. Jose Rizal was a naughty boy in the famous “Moth and Lamp” story.
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.

2. 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.
 3. There are three animals named after Rizal.
While exiled in Dapitan, he collected three species of animals: Apogonia
Rizali (Heller), a type of small beetle; Draco Rizali (Wandolleck), a species of
flying dragon; and Rachophorous Rizali (Boetger), a species of toad.

4. 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.”

5. Rizal cured himself of tuberculosis and was later recognized as a tuberculosis

expert.

6. He was already a terrific sculptor even at a very young age

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.

7. 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
 8. 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.

9. “Mi Retiro”, the name of his place in Dapitan, was inspired by his favorite park
in Spain, the Parque del Buen Retiro.
10. Jose Rizal’s anti-Chinese sentiment.
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.
11. Rizal is regarded by many as the “Father of Philippine Comics” because of some
humorous illustrations he made in Germany.
12. Jose Rizal and the Christmas tree.
Historical records suggest that it was the Germans who indeed started the
Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century. It was later introduced in the U.S.
where it was initially met with resistance and seen as a “pagan symbol.”

In the end, the Americans embraced the iconic Christmas tree and even
popularized it in the Philippines in the early 20th century. But for some historians
like Prof. Ambeth Ocampo, the idea of decorating Christmas tree first came in the
country much earlier than that.

In fact, it was Jose Rizal who first mentioned it through his 1886 drawing of a
Christmas tree, his interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Little Fir Tree.”

13. Rizal as a psychic?

In his journal entry dated January 1, 1883, he shared about a “frightful nightmare” he
had two nights before (i.e. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.”
17. 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.

18. It was rumored that both Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were the illegitimate
sons of Jose Rizal.

19. 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.

20. 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 h

21. “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.

22. Jose Rizal and Leonor Rivera.

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

23. 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 you.Goodbye, 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!

24. 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.

25. 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.
26. 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

27. 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.

28. Jose Rizal’s paranormal encounter.

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.”

29. 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.

30. 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.
31. 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.

32. 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

As one respected Filipino historian once said, “Jose Rizal is everywhere yet he is
nowhere.”

We’ve learned more about his life than any other Filipino hero who fought for our liberty.
His name is indeed everywhere–from coins and schools to streets and numerous
monuments.

Still, few Filipinos bother to look back at his life, and the principles that made him our
unofficial national hero.

So how do we inspire our countrymen, especially the millennials, to know more about
this oft taken-for-granted hero? It should all start with curiosity, and nothing can intrigue
them better than bite-sized trivia about Jose Rizal’s life, works, and death.

After all, there’s more to know about him aside from the basic stuff your history teacher
taught you

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. He left specific instructions on how he wanted to be treated after his death.

Here are some of his “last wishes”:

36. 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.

He also dedicated his act as retribution for the death of “Don Jose Rizal” and expressed
regret for his failure to kill Camilo de Polavieja, the Spanish Governor General under
whom Rizal was executed.