GEd 103 – Life and Works of Rizal

Lesson 2: Jose Rizal’s Genealogy and Early Education

Introduction/Overview

This lesson is about the biography of Jose Rizal. The discussion focuses on the family background of
Jose Rizal and his life and experiences as a young boy and as a student. The personal background of Jose Rizal
reflects the social, educational and cultural milieu of his time. In order to humanize him, it is significant to have
a glimpse of his life and experiences at home and at school which had shaped his development as person as well
as his ideals and principles in life. This lesson will be guided different activities that the students need to
accomplish at the end of the lesson.

The Ancestry Clan

The Martyr-national hero of the Philippines, Jose Rizal “known to a child of a good family” was born on
June 19, 1861 between eleven o’clock and twelve o’clock at night in Calamba, Laguna. The Rizal family was a
large one. Austin Craig accounted that Rizal’s father’s family began in the Philippines with a Chinaman —
Domingo Lam-Co; the family’s paternal ascendant was full-blooded Chinese who migrated to the Philippines
from Amoy, China in the late 17th Century. There were also traces of Japanese, Spanish, Malay and some Negro
ancestry in the grandmother, Domingo Lam-Co’s wife, Ines de la Rosa.

Francisco Mercado was born in Biňan, Laguna and lived to be eighty years old, the youngest in the
family of thirteen siblings. The parents of these thirteen siblings were Captain Juan Mercado, who had been the
Gobernadorcillo or Mayor of Biňan, and Cirila Alejandra, daughter of Maria Guiňo. Juan Mercado was the order
of the two brothers- Juan and Clemente- sons of Francisco Mercado and Bernarda Monicha. The hero’s father
was named Francisco in memory of his grandfather.

Jose Rizal’s father was a well-educated farmer with studies in Latin and philosophy at the Colegio de San
Jose in Manila. Early in his adult life he moved to Calamba and became a tenant farmer. He attained a degree of
wealth, established a fine library and cultivated friends among the friars and Spanish government officials. The
name Francisco was a name held in high honor in Laguna for it had belonged to a famous sea captain who had
been given the Enconmienda of Bay for his services and had won the regard of those who paid tribute to him
because of his fairness and interest in their welfare.

Mrs. Teodora Alonso, mother of Jose Rizal, was a second among the children of Mrs. Brigida de
Quintos, daughter of Mr. Manuel De Quintos of a well-known family in Pangasinan and Regina of the Ursua
family. Regina Ursua was the daughter of Mr. Eugenio Ursua and Benigna. Teodora Alonso was one of the
highly educated women in the Philippines at that time. She was born on November 9, 1827, and died on August
16, 1911 at the advanced age of 84. As a student of Colegio de Santa Rosa, she had a business and literary sense
far ahead of her time. She was a gifted woman with insights into literature, art, music, and other forms of
Filipino culture. She was also a poet and wrote in the Tagalog language. She urged her son to read and write in
Tagalog and impressed upon him the importance of Philippine culture and history. Jose’s earliest poems were
written with the help of his mother and his career as a novelist was due to her literary influences. Teodora had
one of the most masterful commands of Spanish in the Philippines.

The Childhood of Jose Rizal

The childhood of Jose Rizal can be characterized by his desire to learn, even frequenting the church
nearby his home to watch and observe people but not to be religiously inclined.

Jose Rizal was not a physically blessed or strong. However, he had a strong will guided and taught by his
mother, his first teacher. He learned almost without the use of books. His mother was the one who laid the
foundation of his great knowledge achieved in such a short time. His brilliance was also the character of the
young Jose Rizal.

Jose Rizal learned his letters at the age of three, after insisting that he be taught to read and share the
lessons learned by his elder sister. Rizal even tried to spell out the words of his sister’s story book with the use of
a syllabary in such a way that one does when using a dictionary in a foreign language. He also spent much of
this time in a church nearby his house just watching or observing the people coming in and out.

Three uncles who were brothers of his mother also had much influence on the early childhood of Jose
Rizal. The youngest uncle named Jose, took care of teaching regular lessons to Rizal. His huge uncle Manuel
developed his physique until he had a body of silk and steel and no longer a skinny and sickly boy. The last
uncle, Gregorio instilled in the mind of Rizal that it was not easy to obtain something until you put effort into it.

There was also a time when Rizal was able to draw a bird flying nearby without lifting the pencil, he was
using from the paper till the picture he drew was finished. He can also draw a running horse and a chasing dog.
Clay and wax were the favorite play materials of Rizal. He used these materials in forming modeled birds and
butterflies. This animal molding activity also started his study of nature.

Jose Rizal also owned a pony and used it to have long rides into the surrounding country which was rich
in scenery. He also took long walks together with his big black dog named Usman. He also loved to play with
the doves in his neighborhood. He learned about the myths and legends in Laguna after sleeping through the nut
in a little straw hut used by Laguna farmers during the harvest season. Rizal was also good in hand tricks which
he perfected to amaze the simple folk and performed magic lantern exhibitions.

Even in his childhood, Rizal already knew how to respect the rights of others and requested his elders to
reason with him rather than get mad at him for small offenses. He became a welcome companion for adults even
at his young age since he respected their moods and was never a hindrance to their activities.

The Name (Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda)

▪ Jose - was chosen by his mother who was a devotee of the Christian saint San Jose (St. Joseph).

▪ Protacio - was taken from St. Protacio, who were very properly was a martyr. That a Filipino priest
baptized him and a secular Archbishop confirmed him seem fitting.

▪ Rizal - was obtained by Francisco Mercado as suggested to him by a provincial governor after the
Governor General of the Philippines, Narciso Claveria, issued a decree in 1849 by which native Filipino
and immigrant families were to adopt Spanish surnames from a list of Spanish family names. His family
never actually recognized their Rizal surname, but Jose Rizal was forced to use it so that he can travel
freely and disassociate himself from his brother Paciano, who was notorious because of his links with
native priests who were executed after they were found to be subversives.
▪ Alonso - old surname of his mother.

▪ Realonda - it was used by Doña Teodora from the surname of her godmother based on the culture by that
time.

▪ Mercado - adopted in 1731 by Domigo Lamco (the paternal great-great grandfather of Jose Rizal) which
the Spanish term mercado means ‘market’ in English.

The Parents

▪ Francisco Mercado (1818-1898) Jose Rizal’s father, Francisco was the youngest of 13 children of Juan
and Cirila Mercado. He was born in Binan, Laguna, studied in San Jose College of Manila and died in
Manila.

▪ Teodora Alonso (1827-1913) Teodora, the mother of Jose Rizal, was a business-minded, religious and
hardworking individual who was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on November 14, 1827. She was the second
child of Brijida de Quintos and Lorenzo Alonso. She studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. Teodora died
in Manila in 1913.

The parents of Jose Rizal were both farmers who were granted by the Dominicans with the lease
of a hacienda together with a rice farm.

The Siblings

▪ Saturnina (1850-1913) - was the eldest child of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda. She
was married to Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas.

▪ Paciano (1851-1930) - the only brother of Jose Rizal was the second child. Paciano studied at the San Jose
College in Manila and worked as a farmer and later as a general of the Philippine Revolution.
 ▪ Narcisa (1852-1939) - the third child and was married to Antonio Lopez, a teacher and musician from
Morong, Rizal. Like a doting sister, Narcisa was very close to Rizal and could recite all of Rizal’s poems
from memory.
▪ Olympia (1855-1887) - was married to Silvestre Ubaldo, who was a telegraph operator from Manila.
Olympia unfortunately died in 1887 from childbirth.

▪ Lucia (1857-1919) - was the fifth child and was married to Matriano Herbosa. One important fact to know
is that Lucia’s daughter, Delfina, was the first wife of Gen. Salvador Natividad who helped Marcela
Agoncillo to make the first Philippine flag in Hong Kong.

▪ Maria (1859-1945) - was the sixth child in the family. She married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan,
Laguna.

▪ Concepcion (1862-1865) - nicknamed “Concha” did not live long to see Rizal’s martyrdom. She died
early at the age of three.

▪ Josefa (1865-1945) - was nicknamed “Panggoy” in the family. Despite suffering from epilepsy, she joined
and was an active member of the Katipunan. She died a spinster.

▪ Trinidad (1868-1951) - Josefa and Trinidad were together living. Like Josefa, Trinidad also became a
member of the Katipunan and died a spinster, as well. Rizal’s elegy, Mi Ultimo Adios, was in the
safekeeping of Trinidad.

▪ Soledad (1870-1929) - the youngest child in the family, was married to Pantaleon Quintero. She was a
teacher and was considered as the best educated among the sisters of Rizal.

Early Education

Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan, Laguna. It was a typical schooling that a son of an
ilustrado family received during his time, characterized by the four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and
religion. Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils by means of the
tedious memory method aided by the teacher’s whip. Despite the defects of the Spanish system of elementary
education, Rizal was able to acquire the necessary instruction preparatory for college work in Manila. It may be
said that Rizal, who was born a physical weakling, rose to become an intellectual giant not because of, but
rather in spite of, the outmoded and backward system of instruction obtaining in the Philippines during the last
decades of Spanish regime.

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. “My mother,” wrote Rizal in his
student memoirs, “taught me how to read and to say haltingly the humble prayers which I raised fervently to
God.” As 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 ABC’s 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. The 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. Unfortunately, he did not live long. He died five months later. After a Monroy’s death, the
hero’s parents decided to send their gifted son to a private school in Biñan, Laguna.

The Early Religious Formation

Young Rizal was a religious boy. A scion of a Catholic clan, born and bred in a wholesome atmosphere
of Catholicism, and possessed of an inborn spirit, Rizal grew up a good Catholic. At the age of 3, he began to
take part in the family prayers. When he was five years old, he was able to read haltingly the family bible. He
loved to go to church to pray, to take part in novenas, and to join the religious processions. It is said that he was
so seriously devout that he was laughingly called Manong Jose by the Hermanos and Hermanas. One of the men
he esteemed and respected in Calamba during his boyhood was the scholarly Father Leoncio Lopez, the town
priest.
On June 6, 1868, Jose and his father left for Calamba to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo, in order to fulfill
his mother’s vow which was made when Rizal was born. It was the first trip of Jose across Laguna de Bay and
his pilgrimage to Antipolo. He was thrilled, as a typical boy should, by his first lake voyage. He did not sleep the
whole night as the casco sailed towards the Pasig River because he was awed by “the magnificence of the watery
expanse and the silence of the night.” After praying at the shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo, Jose and his father
went to Manila.

The Early Religious Writings and Experiences

Rizal’s devotion to the “Mother and Son” were further manifested when he wrote during his Ateneo days
two separate religious poems. One was titled “Al Niňo Jesus” (To the Child Jesus), and the other was “A La
Virgen Maria” (To the Virgin Mary).

The other religious poem addressed to the Virgin Mary appears to be a sonnet. Its last three lines remind
one of the hymns, “Mother of Christ” in the Baclaran church novena. Again, while in Ateneo, he composed a
poem entitled “Alianza intima la religion y la educacion” (An Intimate Alliance of Religion and Education) in
which Rizal expressed the importance of religion in education and to him, education without God is not true
education.

The Inspiration of the Parable of the Moth

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. Throughout his brief life, Rizal proved to be his mother’s son, a chip off the
old block, as he constantly strove to keep faith the lessons, she taught him.

Doňa Teodora scolded Jose and told him that if he will not adhere to the advice of his parents or old
people for that matter, he will be like the moth that burned itself in the fire.

The parable told that the young moth was attracted to the flame, and thought that it could conquer it, it
pushed itself to the burning flame and got burned. The moth died a martyr in its own illusion, he truly thought he
conquered the burning flame, but it was not.

At the young age, Rizal gained inspiration from the parable, that it is not impossible to conquer
insurmountable odds and be martyr in reality but never in illusion. This was what he did as he grew in age and in
wisdom.