“THE LIFE OF

DR. JOSE PROTACIO RIZAL MERCADO y ALONZO REALONDA”

Dr. José Rizal (1861-1896)

“The Philippine’s National Hero”
Is one of the most revered figures in Philippine history. He was
a multifaceted intellectual and a political activist, best known for his
political writings that inspired the Philippine revolution and ultimately
led to his execution by the Spanish colonizers.

Rizal’s Birth
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born on
June 19, 1861 to Francisco Mercado Rizal y Alejandro and Teodora Alonzo y Quintos. He was
born a small child, a physical stature for which he was known his entire life. His sisters would say:
“Jose was a very small child.” The house he grew up in was well situated in Calamba; right next to
the church at the edge of the plaza. His family’s prosperity was based in agriculture; from the
Dominican hacienda they would lease land. Rizal was of mixed descent. His Chinese immigrant
ancestor added the name Mercado, with the name “Rizal” was of a then more recent vintage. In
1849 Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered that all Filipinos select a surname from a list.
Don Francisco chose the name, “Rizal”. The original form was Ricial, which means “green fields”
and referred to new growth in the fields. However, they still used Mercado.

Rizal’s Parents

Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro
(1818–1898)
Was an independent-minded, taciturn but dynamic gentleman from whom Jose inherited his
‘free soul.’ Don Francisco became ‘tiniente gobernadorcillo’ (lieutenant
governor) in Calamba and was thus
nicknamed ‘Tiniente Kiko’.

 Teodora Alonso
Realonda de Quintos
(1827 – 1911)
Fondly called Lolay in the Rizal family.
The homemaker of the first massive stone house, or ‘bahay na bato’,
in Calamba, which is the very birthplace of the national hero. Was a
wealthy woman in the Spanish colonial Philippines.

His parents, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Alonso Realonda
de Quintos were prosperous farmers who were granted lease of a hacienda and an accompanying
rice farm by the Dominicans. José Rizal also had Spanish and Japanese ancestors. His
grandfather and father of Teodora was a half Spaniard engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.
His maternal great-great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua, a descendant of Japanese settlers.

Rizal’s Education
 Doña Teodora was the first teacher of Jose Rizal—teaching him Spanish, correcting his
composed poems, and coaching him in rhetoric. On her lap, Rizal learned the alphabet and
Catholic prayers at the age of three, and had learned to read and write
at age 5. But Jose Rizal’s sister Saturnina and three maternal uncles
also mentored him, aside from his mother. His uncle Jose
Alberto taught him painting, sketching, and sculpture.
Uncle Gregorio influenced him to further love reading. Rizal’s
uncle Manuel, for his part, developed Rizal’s physical skills in martial
arts like wrestling. Later, private tutors were also hired to give Rizal
lessons at home in Calamba, to further
enhance what He had learned. A
certain Maestro Celestino tutored him
and Maestro Lucas Padua later
Maestro Celestino succeeded Celestino. Afterward, a
former classmate of Don
Francisco, Leon Monroy, lived at the Rizal home in Calamba to
become the boy’s tutor in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately, Monroy
died five months later. Subsequently, Jose Rizal was sent to a
private school in Binan. In June 1869, his brother Paciano brought
him to the school of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. The school
was in the teacher’s house, a small nipa Maestro Lucas Padua
house near the home of Jose’s aunt
where he stayed.
When he was 11 years old, Rizal entered the Ateneo Municipal
de Manila. He earned excellent marks in subjects like philosophy,
physics, chemistry, and natural history. At this school, he read novels;
wrote prize-winning poetry (and even a melodrama— “Junto al Pasig”);
and practiced drawing, painting, and clay modeling, all of which
remained lifelong interests for him. Rizal eventually earned a land
surveyor’s and assessor’s degree from the Ateneo Municipal while
taking up Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas.
Maestro Leon Monroy
Upon learning that his mother was going blind, Rizal opted to study
ophthalmology at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. He, however, was not able to
complete the course because “he became politically isolated by adversaries among the faculty and
clergy who demanded that he assimilate to their system.” Without the knowledge of his parents,
Rizal traveled to Europe in May 1882. According to his biographer, Austin Craig, Rizal, “in order to
obtain a better education, had had to leave his country stealthily like a fugitive from justice, and his
family, to save themselves from persecution, were compelled to profess ignorance of his plans and
movements. His name was entered in Santo Tomas at the opening of the new term, with the fees
paid, and Paciano had gone to Manila pretending to be looking for this brother whom he had
assisted out of the country.” Rizal earned a Licentiate in Medicine at the Universidad Central de
Madrid, where he also took courses in philosophy and literature. It was in Madrid that he conceived
of writing Noli Me Tangere. He also attended the University of Paris and, in 1887, completed his
eye specialization course at the University of Heidelberg. It was also in that year that Rizal’s first
novel was published (in Berlin). Rizal is said to have had the ability to master various skills,
subjects, and languages.
Rizal’s Achievement

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. Rizal obtained his
bachelor of arts degree in 1877 with the grade of Sobresaliente (Excellent) and got five first prize
medals in philosophy, drawing, comportamiento (good behavior), good boarder, and aplicacion
(studiousness) as well as honorable mention in physics and chemistry. Rizal topped all his
classmates in all subjects and won five medals at the end of the school term during his 4th year in
Ateneo. He consistently maintained excellence and graduated “With highest honors” and with the
highest grade in all subjects. Indeed, Rizal was a man of intellect and a seeker of knowledge.
He wrote articles for publications in Manila and abroad; convened with overseas Filipinos to
discuss their duty to the country; and called on Spanish authorities to institute reforms in the
Philippines, such as granting freedom of the press and Filipino representation in the Spanish
Cortes. The greatest achievement of Rizal on London was the annotating of Morga’s book,
Sucessos de Las Isla Filipinas which was published in Mexico, 1609. Rizal was also a polyglot,
conversant in twenty-two languages. He knew how to paint, sketch, and make sculptures, and
became a polyglot as he can converse in 22 languages. Aside from medicine, poetry, and creative
writing, Rizal had other degrees in architecture, sociology, anthropology, fencing, martial arts, and
economics to name a few. In 1884, Rizal was awarded the Licentiate in Medicine and in 1885, he
was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters. In 1886, Rizal went to Germany
to study ophthalmology. He studied at the University of Heidelberg where he attended the lectures
of Doctor Otto Becker and Professor Wilhelm Kuehne and worked at the University Eye Hospital
under the guidance of Dr. Becker.

How did Rizal Became Our National Hero?

Contrary to the intentions of the Spanish, Rizal's death only strengthened the movement
toward revolution. Outraged by the death of their hero, Filipinos rallied to the cause of
independence, starting the rebellion that would eventually end Spanish control of the Philippines. A
true martyr, Rizal spoke out for injustice when others were complacent. His ideas helped formulate
a national identity for the Philippines, which was a new concept in Asia, then under colonial rule.
He defended his beliefs to his death. His country suffered a tremendous loss with the death of this
intellectual giant, who would likely have played an important part in establishing independence and
recognition for the Philippines. The world lost an exemplary citizen, a multitalented man with a
brilliant mind. He accomplished so much in his brief 35 years, one can only imagine what
contributions he would have made to the world and to the field of ophthalmology if he had lived a
full life span. To his patients he gave sight, and to his country he gave vision. Rizal has become a
symbol of the Philippine struggle for independence, and he is known there as the national hero.
December 30, the date of Rizal's execution in 1896, is celebrated as a national holiday in the
Philippines
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