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
“Francisco” after his father and buried him in
Dapitan.
8. CONCEPCION (1862-1865)
 Her pet name was Concha; she died of sickness at
the age of 3; her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in
life.
9. JOSEFA (1865-1945)
 Her pet name was Panggoy; she died an old maid
at the age of 80.
10. TRINIDAD (1868-1951)
 Trining was her pet name; she died also an old
maid in 1951 aged 83.
11. SOLEDAD (1870-1929)
 Youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name was
Choleng; she married Pantaleon Quintero of
Calamba.
The Rizal Children
• Sibling relationship among the Rizal children was
affectionately cordial.
• Years later when Jose grew to manhood, he always
called them Doña or Señora (if married) and
Señorita (if single).
Rizal’s Ancestry
• As a typical Filipino, Rizal was a product of the
mixture of races. In his veins flowed the blood of
both East and West – Negrito, Indonesian, Malay,
Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Predomonantly,
he was a Malayan and was a magnificent
specimen of Asian manhood.
1. FRANCISCO MERCADO
 Son of Domingo Mercado and Ines de la Rosa
 He resided in Biñan, married a Chinese-Filipino
mestiza, Cirila Bernacha, and was elected
gobernadorcillo (municipal mayor) of the town.
2. JUAN MERCADO
 Rizal’s grandfather (son of Francico Mercado and
Cirila Bernacha), married Cirila Alejandro, a
Chinese-Filipino mestiza.
 Like his father, he was elected governadorcillo of
Biñan.
 Capitan Juan and Capitana Cirila had thirteen
children, the youngest being Francisco Mercado,
Rizal’s father.
 It is said that Doña Teodora’s family descended
from Lakan-Dula, the last native King of Tondo.
3. EUGENIO URSUA
 Rizal’s maternal great-great-grandfather of
Japanese ancestry, who married a Filipina named
Benigna.
• The daughter of Eugenio and Benigna was Regina,
married Manuel de Quintos, a Fillipino-Chinese
lawyer from Pangasinan.
• One of the daughters of Attorney Quintos and
Regina was Brigada, who married Lorenzo Alberto
Alonso, a prominent Spanish-Filipino mestizo of
Biñan.
• Brigada and Lorenzo’s children were Narcisa,
TEODORA (Rizal’s mother), Gregorio, Manuel, and
Jose.
The Surname Rizal
• The real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado,
which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lamco.
• Rizal’s family acquired a second name – RIZAL –
which was given by a Spanish alcalde mayor
(provincial governor) of Laguna, who was a family
friend.
• Rizal in Spanish means “a field where wheat, cut
while still green, sprouts again.”
The Rizal Home
• The house of the Rizal family, where the hero was
born, was one of the distinguished stone houses in
Calamba during Spanish times. It was a two-storey
building, rectangular in shape, built of adobe
stones and hard-woods, and roofed with red tiles.
• Such a wholesome home, naturally, bred a
wholesome family. And such family was the Rizal
family.
A Good and Middle Class Family
• The rizal family belonged to the principalia, a town
aristocracy in Spanish Philippines. It is one of the
distinguished families in Calamba. By dint of
honest and hard work and frugal living, 4Rizal’s
parents were able to live well.
Home Life of the Rizals
• The Rizal family had a simple, contented, and
happy life. In consonance with Filipino custom,
family ties among the Rizals were intimately close.
Don Francisco and Doña Teodora loved their
children, but they never spoiled them. They were
strict parents and they trained their children to
love God, to behave well, to be obedient, and to
respect people, especially to old folks.
CHAPTER 2: CHILDHOod YEARS IN CALAMBA
 • Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories of
childhood in his native town. He grew up in a
happy home, ruled by good parents, bubbling with
joy, and sanctified by God’s blessings. The
happiest period of Rizal’s life was spent in this
lakeshore town, a worthy prelude to his Hamlet-
like tragic manhood.
• CALAMBA, the Hero’s town. Calamba was an
hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican
Order, which also owned all the lands around it. A
few kilometers to the south looms the legendary
Mount Makiling in somnolent grandeur, and
beyond this mountain is the province of Batangas.
East of the town is the Laguna de Bay and in the
middle of the lake towers the storied island of
Talim, and beyond it towards the north is the
distant Antipolo, famous mountain shrine of the
miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
• Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In
1876, when he was 15 years old and was a student
in the Ateneo de Manila, he remembered his
beloved town. Accordingly, he wrote a poem Un
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
• The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his
happy days in the family garden when he was 3
years old. Because he was a frail, sickly, and
undersized child, he was given the tenderest care
by his parents. His father built a little nipa cottage
for him to play in the daytime. An aya (nurse
maid) was employed to look after his comfort.
• Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus
prayer. By nightfall, Rizal related, his mother
gathered all the children at the house to pray the
Angelus
• He also remembered the happy moonlit nights at
the azotea after the nightly Rosary.
• Another memory of his infancy was the nocturnal
walk in the town, especially when there is a moon.
The aya took him for a walk in the moonlight by
the river, where the trees cast grotesque shadows
on the bank. Recounting this childhood experience
in his student memoirs, Rizal wrote: “Thus my
heart fed on sombre and melancholic thoughts so
that even while still a child, I already wandered on
wings of fantasy in the high regions of the
unknown.”
THE HERO’S FIRST SORROW
• The Rizal children were bound together by ties of
love and companionship. They were well-bred, for
their parents taught them to love and help one
another.
• Of his sisters, Jose loved most the little Concha
(Concepcion). He was a year older than Concha.
He played with her and from her he learned the
sweetness of sisterly love.
• Unfortunately, Concha died of sickness in 1865
when she was only 3 years old. Jose, who was very
fond of her, cried bitterly at losing her said, “I lost
my little sister Concha, and then for the first time I
shed tears caused by love and grief.” Her death
brought him his first sorrow.
DEVOTED SON OF THE CHURCH
• A scion ofa Catholic clan, born and bred in a
wholesome atmosphere of Catholicism, and
possessed of an inborn pious spirit, Rizal grew up
a good Catholic.
• He loved to go to church, to pray, to take part in
novenas, and to join the religious processions.
• The scholarly Father Leoncio Lopez, the town
priest, was one of the men he esteemed and
respected in Calamba during his boyhood. He used
to visit this learned Filipino priest and listen to his
stimulating opinions on current events and sound
philosophy of life.
PILGRIMAGE TO ANTIPOLO
• On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left Calamba
to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to fulfill
his mother’s vow which was made when he was
born. Doña Teodora could not accompany them
because she had given birth to Trinidad.
THE STORY OF THE MOTH
• Of the stories told by Doña Teodora to her favorite
son, Jose, that of the young moth made the
profoundest impression on him.
• The tragic fate of the young moth, which “died a
martyr to his illusions,” left a deep impression on
Rizal’s mind. He justified such noble deaty,
asserting that “to sacrifice one’s life for it,”
meaning for an ideal, is “worthwhile.” And, like
that young moth, he was fated to die as a martyr
for a noble ideal.
ARTISTIC TALENTS
• At the age of five, he began to make sketches with
his pencil and to mould in clay and wax objects
which attracted his fancy.
• It is said that one day, when Jose was a mere boy
in Calamba, a religious banner which was always
used during the fiesta was spoiled. Upon the
rewuest of the town mayor, he painted in oil
colors a new banner that delighted the town folks
because it was better than the original.
• Jose had the soul of a genuine artist because he
found great joy looking at the blooming flowers,
the ripening fruits, the dancing waves of the lake,
and listening to the songs of the birds.
Chapter 3 Early Education in Calamba and Biñan
The Hero’s First Teacher
 The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was
a remarkable woman of good character and fine
culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three
the alphabet and the prayers.
 As a tutor, Doña Teodora was patient,
conscientious, and understanding. It was she who
first discovered that her son had a talent for
poetry. Accordingly, she encouraged him to write
poems. To lighten the monotony of memorizing
the ABCs and to stimulate her son’s imagination,
she related many stories.
As Jose grew older, his parents employed private
tutors to give him lessons at home. He first was Maestro
Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas Padua. Later, an
old man named Leon Monroy, a former classmate of
Rizal’s father, became the boy’s tutor. This old teacher lived
at the Rizal home and instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin.
Jose Goes to Biñan
One Sunday afternoon in June 1869, Jose, after
kissing the hands of his parents and a tearful parting from
his sisters, left Calamba for Biñan.
He was accompanied by Paciano, who acted as his
second father. The two brothers rode in a carromata,
reaching their destination after one and a half hours. They
proceeded to their aunt’s house, where Jose was to lodge.
It was almost night when they arrived, and the moon was
about to rise.
That same night, Jose together with his cousin
Leandro, went sightseeing in the town. Instead of enjoying
the sights, Jose became depressed because of
homesickness.
First Day in Biñan School
 The next morning, Paciano brought his younger
brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano
Aquino Cruz.
 The school was in the house of the teacher, which
was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the
home of Jose’s aunt.
Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the
class. The teacher asked him:
“Do you know Spanish?”
“A little, sir,” replied the Calamba lad.
“Do you know Latin?”
“A little, sir.”
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the
teacher’s son, laughed at Jose’s answers.
The teacher sharply stopped all the noise and
began the lessons of the day.
First School Brawl
In the afternoon of his first day in school, when
the teacher was having his siesta, Jose met the bully,
Pedro. He was angry at this bully for making fun of him
during his conversation with the teacher in the morning.
Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily
accepted, thinking that he could easily beat the Calamba
boy who was smaller and younger.
The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom,
much to the glee of their classmates. Jose, having learned
the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio Manuel, defeated
the bigger boy.
After the class in the afternoon, a classmate
named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-
wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house and
wrestled with their arms.
In succeeding days he had other fights with the
boys of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome by nature, but he
never ran away from a fight.
Painting Lessons in Biñan
 Near the school was the house of an old painter,
called Juancho, who was the father-in-law of the
school teacher. Jose, lured by his love for painting,
spent many leisure hours at the painter’s studio.
Old Juancho freely gave him lessons in drawing
and painting.
 Jose and his classmate. Jose Guevarra, who also
loved painting, became the apprentices of the old
painter. They improved their art, so that indue
time they became “the favorite painters of the
class”.
Daily Life in Biñan
Jose led a methodical life in Biñan, almost Spartan
in simplicity. Such life contributed much to his future
development which also strengthened his body and soul.
Best Student in School
In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He
surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other subjects.
Some of his classmates were jealous of his
intellectual superiority. They wickedly squealed to the
teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school. And
even told lies to discredit him before the teacher’s eyes.
Consequently the teacher had to punish Jose.
Thus Rizal said that “in spite of the reputation I had being a
good boy, the day was unusual when I was not on a bench
and given five or six blows.”

End of Biñan Schooling
Before the Christmas season in 1870, Jose
received a letter from his sister Saturnina, informing him of
the arrival of the steamer Talim which would take him
from Biñan to Calamba.
Upon reading the letter, he had a premonition that
he would not return to Biñan, so he became sad. He
prayed in the town church, collected pebbles in the river
for souvenirs, and regretfully bade farewell to his teacher
and classmates.
He left Biñan on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 17,
1870, after one and a half year schooling in that town. He
was thrilled to take passage on the steamer Talim, for it
was the first time he ever rode on a steamer. On board was
a Frenchman named Arturo Camps, a friend of his father,
who took care of him.
Martyrdom of GOMBURZA
 On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200
Filipino soldiers and workmen of the Cavite
arsenal under the leadership of Fernando La
Madrid, Filipino sergeant, rose in violent mutiny
because of the abolition of their usual privileges,
including exemption from tribune and polo y
servicio by the reactionary Gov. Rafael de
Izquierdo.
 Unfortunately, this Cavite Mutiny was suppressed
two days later by troop reinforcements from
Manila. The Spanish authorities, in order to
liquidate Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos,
and Jacinto Zamora, leaders of the secular
movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes,
magnified the failed mutiny into a “revolt” for
Philippine independence.
 Their supporters were also arrested including Jose
Ma. Basa, Attorneys Joaquin Pardo de Tavera and
Antonio Ma. Regidor, etc.
Accordingly, GomBurZa, despite the archbishop’s
plea for clemency because of their innocence, were
executed (using garrote) at sunrise, February 17, 1872, by
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.
Injustice to Hero’s Mother
Before June of 1872, tragedy struck in the Rizal
family. Doña Teodora was suddenly arrested on a malicious
charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to
poison the latter’s perfidious wife.
Jose Alberto, a rich Biñan illustrado, had just
returned from a business trip in Europe. During his
absence, his wife abandoned their home and children.
When he arrived in Biñan, he found her living with another
man. Infuriated by her infidelity, he planned to divorce her.
Doña Teodora, to avert family scandal, persuaded
him to forgive his wife. However, the evil wife, with the
connivance of the Spanish lieutenant of the Guardia Civil,
filed a case in court accusing her husband and Doña
Teodora of attempting to poison her.
This lieutenant happened to have an ax to grind
against the Rizal family, because at one time Don Francisco
refused to give him fodder for his horse. Taking the
opportunity to avenge himself, he arrested Doña Teodora,
with the help of Calamba’s goberadorcillo, Anton Vivencio
del Rosario, a menial of the friars. These two ungrateful
men had been frequent guests at the Rizal’s home.
After arresting Doña Teodora, the sadistic Spanish
lieutenant forced her to walk from Calamba to sta. Cruz
(capital of Laguna province), a distance of 50 kilometers.
Upon arrival in Santa Cruz, she was incarcerated at
the provincial prison, where she languished for two and a
half years until the Manila Royal Audiencia (Supreme
Court) acquitted her of the alleged crime.
Recounting this incidence of his mother’s
imprisonment, Rizal said in his student memoirs: “Our
mother was unjustly snatched away from us and by
whom? By some men who had been our friends and whom
we treated as honored guests. We learned later that our
mother got sick, far from us and at an advanced age. My
mother was defended by Messrs. Francisco de Marcaida
and Manuel Marzan, the most famous lawyers of Manila.
She finally succeeded to be acquitted and vindicated in the
eyes of her judges, accusers, and even her enemies, but
after how long? After two and a half years.”