MODULES ON THE

STUDY OF THE LIFE AND WORKS

OF JOSE RIZAL
(GEd 103)

The Patriotic Objectives of Rizal Law

Usually, during the first day of the course, the professor asks the "well-overused questions'
1. Why study Rizal?
2. What is the importance of studying Rizal?
3. Why is Rizal one of the minor subjects taken up in college?
4. Why is Rizal included in the course outline?
5. What relevance does Rizal have in college education?

The answer to such questions can be summed up in two points:

1. First and foremost, because it is mandated by law.
2. Secondly, because of the lessons contained within the course itself.

WHY STUDY RIZAL: BECAUSE IT IS MANDATED BY LAW

The teaching of Jose Rizal’s life, works, and writings is mandated by Republic Act 1425,
otherwise known as the Rizal Law. Senator Jose P. Laurel, the person who sponsored the said
law, said that since Rizal was the founder of Philippine nationalism and has contributed much to
the current standing of this nation, it is only right that the youth as well as all the people in the
country know about and learn to imbibe the great ideals for which he died. The Rizal Law,
enacted in 1956, seeks to accomplish the following goals:
1. To rededicate the lives of youth to the ideals of freedom and nationalism, for which our
heroes lived and died
2. To pay tribute to our national hero for devoting his life and works in shaping the Filipino
character
3. To gain an inspiring source of patriotism through the study of Rizal’s life, works, and
writings.
4WHY STUDY RIZAL: BECAUSE OF THE LESSONS CONTAINED WITHIN THE
COURSE
Aside from those mentioned above, there are other reasons for teaching the Rizal course in
Philippine schools:
1. To recognize the importance of Rizal’s ideals and teachings in relation to present
conditions and situations in the society.
2. To encourage the application of such ideals in current social and personal problems and
issues.
3. To develop an appreciation and deeper understanding of all that Rizal fought and died
for.
4. To foster the development of the Filipino youth in all aspects of citizenship

Rizal: Human and Hero

Reverence without understanding is for deities, not flesh and blood heroes like Rizal.
Hero-worship must be both historical-critical.” (Ocampo: 1969)
We must view Rizal as an evolving personality within an evolving historical period.
Rizal was capable of unraveling the myths that were woven by the oppressors of his time,
but he would have been at a loss to see through the more sophisticated myths and
recognize the subtle techniques of present-day colonialist, given the state of his
knowledge and experience at that time.
5 Many of his social criticisms are still valid today because certain aspect of our life is still
carry-over of the feudal and colonial society of his time.
To be able to appreciate a hero for that matter, we must be able to learn more about him –
not merely his acts but the thoughts behind his acts, his reasons, the situation he found
himself in as well as his motivations.
“If Rizal is treated like God, he becomes unattainable and his accomplishments
inhuman.” (Cristobal, 2004)

“Whatever our condition might be then, let us love our country always and let us wish
nothing but her welfare. Thus we shall labor in conformity with the purpose of humanity
dictated by God which is the harmony and universal peace of His creations”
Letter of Rizal to Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt
Rizal: A Modern Day
According to Nick Joaquin, Rizal was greatly aggrieved by his physique. When Rizal
was young, he was always teased by his sisters because of his frail body and often described as a
very tiny child with a disproportionately big head that he carried even in his adulthood.
When the young Rizal was in the early stages of adolescence, he strove to erase his
punny image. He became interested in body-building and athletics but his feelings of inferiority
had made an indelible mark on his soul. Rizal was forever haunted by a sense of inadequacy
which explains his inability to sustain relationships with women and great dread for
responsibility.
Rizal's inferiority complexes were not without positive side, however. It is his feelings of
inn adequacy that made him dynamic and he continually looked for ways to be better than others.
Jose Rizal's dynamism was what made him a jack of many talents, and a master of many trades.
What he lackeed in physique he compensated by excelling iin many fields such as
science,art,literature,among many others. Because of his insecurities, Rizal strove to overcome
himself and rise above the others.

Rizal's determination to excel in as many fields as possible was to show the world that he
was capable, that he was as tall as the next man. He proved that he was very much taller by rising
above himself.

LESSON 2 JOSE RIZAL’S GENEALOGY AND EARLY EDUCATION

The Ancestry Clan
The Martyr-national hero of the Philippines, Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso Mercado
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, a few days before the full moon in Clamba, on the southwest shore
of the picturesque Laguna de Bay some forty miles south of Manila.
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.
There was the son of prosperous landowner, sugar and rice planter, of Chinese-Filipino
descent –Francisco Mercado Y Chinco, who apparently owed his surname to the Chinese custom
of looking for the appropriate meaning. Sangley, the name throughout all the Philippines for
Chinamen, signifies “traveling traders.” Mercado was used for trader. Francisco Mercado was
15born in Biňan and lived to be eighty years old, the youngest in the family of thirteen siblings:
seven men and six women, alternating in the following order: Petrona, Gabino, Potenciana,
Leoncio, Tomasa, Casimiro, Basilisa, Gabriel, Fausta, Julian, Cornelio, Gregorio, and Francisco.
The parents of these thirteen siblings were Captain Juan Mercado, who had been the
Gobernadorcillo or Mayor of Biňan, and Cirala 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 becamea 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 ( Narcisa,
Teodora, Gregorio, Manuel and Jose) of Mrs. Brigida de Quintos, daughter of Mr. Manuel De
Quintos of a well known family in Pangasinan and Regina Ursua of the Ursua family.
The siblings of Brigida De Quintos were Joaquina, Jose Soler, and Maria Victoria. Regina
Ursua was the daughter of Mr. Eugenio Ursua and Benigna. Her brothers were Father Alejandro,
Jose Ursua and Benito Ursua. and Pio Ursua.
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
16literary influences. Teodora had one of the most masterful commands of Spanish in the
Philippines.
Source: Pasigui, Ronnie E. and Danilo H. Cabalu (2006). The man and the hero (An
Anthology of Legacies and Controversies). C & E Publishing, Inc.

The Name
Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso Rizal Mercado,
Jose- was chosen by his mother who was 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- the name was adapted in 1850 by authority of the Royal Decree of 1849, upon the order of
Governor Narciso Claveria. Rizal was a shortened form of Spanish word for “second crop,”
seemed suited to a family of farmers who were making a second start in a new home.
Alonzo-old surname of his mother·
Y-and-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
https://www.coursehero.com/file/10498205/Rizal/
The Siblings
Jose was the seventh of eleven children; the younger of two boys.
FRANCISCO MERCADO (1818-1898)
Father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13 offsprings of Juan and Cirila Mercado. Born in
Biñan, Laguna on April 18, 1818; studied in San Jose College, Manila; and died in Manila.
17TEODORA ALONSO (1827-1913)
Mother of Jose Rizal who was the second child of Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos. She
studied at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She was a business-minded woman, courteous, religious,
hard-working and well-read. She was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on November 14, 1827 and
died in 1913 in Manila.
SATURNINA RIZAL (1850-1913) Eldest child of the Rizal-Alonzo marriage. Married Manuel
Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas.
PACIANO RIZAL (1851-1930) Only brother of Jose Rizal and the second child. Studied at San
Jose College in Manila; became a farmer and later a general of the Philippine Revolution.
NARCISA RIZAL (1852-1939) The third child. married Antonio Lopez at Morong, Rizal; a
teacher and musician.
OLYMPIA RIZAL (1855-1887) The fourth child. Married Silvestre Ubaldo; died in 1887 from
childbirth.
LUCIA RIZAL (1857-1919) The fifth child. Married Matriano Herbosa.
MARIA RIZAL (1859-1945) The sixth child. Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna.
JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896) The second son and the seventh child. He was executed by the
Spaniards on December 30,1896.
CONCEPCION RIZAL (1862-1865) The eight child. Died at the age of three.
JOSEFA RIZAL (1865-1945) The ninth child. An epileptic, died a spinster.
TRINIDAD RIZAL (1868-1951) The tenth child. Died a spinster and the last of the family to
die.
SOLEDAD RIZAL (1870-1929) The youngest child married Pantaleon Quintero
http://www.joserizal.ph/fm01.html
Early Education
Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan. 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 lived 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.

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
19 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 Terceras.
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 first poem, an Ode to Jesus, which was written in 1875, was short and considered of eight
verse only, which based on Spanish poetry standard must have influenced Rizal, may be
calssified as octava real. Translated by the late Hon. Leon Ma. Guerero.
To the child Jesus
How, God-child, hast Thou come
To earth in cave forlorn
Does fortune new deride Thee
When Thou art scarcely born?
Ah woe! Celestial king
Who mortal form doesn’t keep,
Woulds’t rather than be Sovereign,
Be shepherd of Thy Sheep
20The other religious poem addressed to the Virgin Mary appears to be a sonnet. Its last three
lines remind one of the hymn, “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.
Source: Pasigui, Ronnie E. and Danilo H. Cabalu (2006). The man and the hero (An
Anthology of Legacies and Controversies). C & E Publishing, Inc.
21