Rizal’s Life: Rizal’s

Family, Childhood, &

Early Education
Chapter
III
Don Francisco Mercado

 Independent-minded, tacticurn but

dynamic gentleman
 Tiniente Kiko
 Latin and philosophy of the College of
San Jose at Manila
 Don Francisco's Influence on Rizal
 Provided exciting experiences
 Introduced Jose to Spanish and Latin
 Enrolled Jose at the Ateneo Municipal in Intramuros, Manila
 Bought Jose an expensive set of the Universal History by Cesar
Cantu
 Don Francisco scolded Jose for playing panguingue
 After the Cavite mutiny And the martyrdom of the Gomburza in 1872
 Rizal's Love for His Father
 Adored his dad so much
 Naming his premature son after his father
 Wrote a letter to paciano that, a letter for his father
"Tell our father I remember him, and how! I remember my whole
childhood, of his affection and his love. Ask him to forgive me for the
pain that I have unwillingly caused him."
 Wrote directly to his father before his death
"My beloved father,
Pardon me for the pain with which I repay you for sorrows and
sacrifices for my education. I did not want nor did I prefer [it.]
Goodbye, Father, Goodbye...“
 Model of fathers
Doña Teodora Alonso
 A diligent business-minded woman

 Very grateful but courageous

 Well-mannered
 Religious
 Well-read
 Very dignified
 She disliked gossip and vulgar conversation
 Doña Teodora was the first teacher of the hero

 On her lap, Jose learned the alphabet and Catholic prayers at

the age of three, and had learned to read and write at age 5.

 At an early age, Rizal thus learned to read the Spanish family

Bible, which he would refer to later in his writings.

 Rizal himself remarked that perhaps the education he

received since his earliest infancy was what has shaped his
habits.
Jose’s Siblings
Saturnina Rizal (1850-1913)
 Provided the little Jose with a good basic education
 Always been a loving ate neneng to jose
 Contributed money to Jose's expenses in finishing
one of his degrees
 Published Pascual Poblete's tagalog translation of
the Noli Me Tangere
 Jose painted a portray of his sister, Saturnina.
 Paciano Rizal
(March 9, 1851 – April 13,
1930)
 Paciano advice the national hero dropped
the last three names in his full name and
thus enrolled at the Ateneo as “Jose
Protasio Rizal" addressed by his siblings as
nor Paciano short for senior Paciano
 Paciano had only two pictures one is stolen shot by a nephew
during a family reunion and other taken posthumously of his corpse
its because he is a wanted man in the past and if there were no
photographed of him then it would be hard for the authorities to
arrest him. So he could walk everywhere without being recognize.

 He is the student of Dr. Jose Burgos

 Promoting equal rights for filipino and spanish priests in the country on
his part Paciano was prevented from taking the examination because of
his known connection with Burgos and because of that, Paciano had
put in the watch list of the Spanish authority and before Jose
experience to be exile paciano had already gone through deportation to
Mindoro from 1890-1891 for fighting the rights of Calamba farmers.
 In November 1896 Paciano arrested while Jose was in fort Santiago
prison to extract evidence for Jose's involvement in the revolution.
 Jose seek a legal assistance for his brother. Jose took the services of
Marcelo H. Del Pilar as their lawyer and tapped every influential
person and association he could find just to help paciano win his
fight. Unfortunately Rizal found no Spanish authority.

 Paciano is the second father of Jose acting as Jose’s caring guardian

Paciano brought him to Biñan to study under the tutelage of
Justiniano Aquino Cruz, paciano accompanied young Rizal to take
the examination at the College of San Juan de Letran.
 In choosing a course in university of Santo Tomas taking up law, Paciano
influence him not to take law. He also wished to cure his mother, Jose
thus opted to take medicine instead.
 Jose decided go to Spain while Paciano would stay to take care of their
parents. widening his political knowledge through exposure to European
government he did not continue his medical studies.
 Paciano gave him 365 pesos for the trip and his allowance 50 pesos
monthly.
 Sometimes in November 1885 Rizal also receive a letter from his kuya
disapproving his plan to transfer to Paris.
 Paciano disallowed Jose’s intension to return home because the
situation in the Philippines was dangerous for him.
 When Jose had return home in 1887, Paciano never left him during
the first days of his arrival fearing that enemies would assault him.
 Before leaving the country for second time. Jose wanted marry his
girlfriend Leonor Rivera and leave her in a sister care. But Paciano
adamant and was said to have told Jose “sarili mo lang ang iniisip
mo”.
 The passionate between the two heroes cannot be overemphasized
 Before his execution the national hero wrote these very emotional
words to his beloved kuya.
“For more than four years, we have neither seen nor written to
each other, nor lack of love on your part nor on mine, but because
knowing each other as we do, we needed no words to understand each
other. now that i am about to die, I dedicate these last times to you to tell
you how sorry i am to leave you alone in the world, bearing the burden of
the whole family and our old parents. I think of the hardships you went
through to help me in my career and i believe I try my best to waste no
time. my brother ,if the fruit is bitter, the fault is not mine, but fates....”
Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939)
 Helped in financing Rizal’s studies in Europe, even
pawning her jewelry and peddling her clothes if needed.
 She could recite from memory almost all of the poems
of the national hero.
 It was also Narcisa who painstakingly searched for the
place where the authorities secretly buried the dead
Rizal.
Olympia Rizal (1855-1887
 Jose’s first love was Segunda Katigbak, was
Olympia’s schoolmate at the La Concordia
College.
 Rizal confided to Olympia about Segunda and the
sister willingly served as the mediator between
the two teenage lovers.
 Lucia Rizal (1857-1919)
The partaker of the hero’s sufferings

 In December 1891, the then widowed Lucia was

among Rizal’s siblings who were present in their so-
called ‘family reunion’ in Hong Kong.
 She accompanied Rizal when he returned to manila.
 One of the daughter of Lucia and Mariano, Delfina
became renowned for being one of the three women
who seamed together the Philippine flag.
Maria Rizal (1859-1945)
The Hero’s Confidant
 It was to her whom Jose talked about wanting to
marry Josephine bracken.
 Letter dated December 12, 1891
 Jose had also brought up to Maria his plan of
establishing a Filipino colony in north British
Berneo.
 While in Madrid in December 1882, Jose wrote her sister, “Since
the middle of August I haven’t taken a bath is expensive. One pays
thirty-five cents for one”
 Maria’s letter dated March 15, 1887, she explained to her slighted
(nagtatampo) brother that she got busy, so she had not
immediately updated him about her new status as married to the
“very young man from Binang whose name is Daniel Faustino
Cruz.
 A caring family physician, Jose once prescribed through letters a
remedy for Maria’s toothache and a treatment for her son Mauricio
 December 28, 1891, Jose wrote to Maria, “I’m told that your children
are very pretty”
 Today, we have historical proof that Maria’s progenies were indeed
nice-looking.
 Maria and Daniel had five children: Mauricio, Petrona, Prudencio,
Paz, and Encarnacion.
 Concepcion Rizal (1862-
1865)

 Concepcion (nicknamed “Concha”) did not live

long to see Rizal’s martyrdom. She died early at
the age of three.
Josefa Rizal (1865-1945)

 Josefa Rizal 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 Rizal (1868-1951)

 The custodian of the hero's Greatest poem

 Mi ultimo adios
 Last Farewell (Mi Ultimo Adios)

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress’d

Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life’s best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.

On the field of battle, ‘mid the frenzy of fight,

Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom’s plight,
‘Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country’s
need.
I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the
day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt
take,
Pour’d out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat
high,
Were to see thy lov’d face, O gem of the
Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and
sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
Dream of my life, my living and burning
desire,
All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take
flight;
All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity’s long
night.
If over my grave some day thou seest
grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold
tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath’s
warm power.
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen ;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.

Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,

And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o ‘er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.
Soledad Rizal (1870-1929)

 Jose Rizal was proud of her for becoming a

teacher.
 She’s the Hero’s Controversial sister.
The Surname
Rizal
 The father of Jose Rizal was of Chinese origin. His paternal
great-great grandfather, Chinese merchant Domingo Lam-co,
adopted the name “Mercado”, which means “merchant/market”
because they came from a line of respectable merchant.

 Don Francisco was not satisfied with his surname, so he

adopted the surname “Rizal” (originally “Ricial”) which means “ a
green of young growth” or “green fields”.
 The new name was suggested by a provincial governor who
was a friend of the family. Don Francisco thus settled on the
name “Rizal Mercado” as a compromise, and often just
used his more known surname “Mercado”.
Rizal’s Birth
 Dona Teodora was said to have suffered the greatest pain during
the delivery of her seventh child, Jose. Her daughter Narcisa
recalled, “she labored for a long time. Her pain was later attributed
to the fact that Jose’s head was bigger than normal”.

 Jose Rizal was born in Calamba. In 1848, his parents decided to

build a home in Laguna, southern Luzon. The name Calamba
was derived from kalan-banga, which means “clay stove”(kalan)
and “water jar”(banga).
 Jose’s adoration of its scenic beauty-punctuated by the sights
of the Laguna de Bay, Mount Makiling, palm-covered
mountains, curvy hills, and green fields was recorded in the
poem he would later write at Ateneo de Manila in 1876, un
Recuerdo A Mi pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
The Childhood of
a Phenom

Jose was weak, sickly and undersized so he was given the
fondest care by his parents.

Another childhood memory was the daily angelus prayer in their
home.

At the early age of three, he started to take a part the family
prayers.

His little sister (Concha) died of sickness in 1865, he was
mournfully wept at losing her.

At the age of five, young Pepe learned to read the Spanish family
bible.

Pepe started to make pencil sketches, mold in clay and wax
objects.

When he was seven years old, his mother included him to love
the arts, literature and the classics.

Before he was eight, he had written a drama.

Contrary to the “former” knowledge, Rizal did not write the
Filipino poem “Sa Aking mga Kababata/Kabata"

Young Rizal was also interested in magic.

His Tio Jose Alberto who inspired him to cultivate his artistic
ability.

His Tio Manuel who encouraged him to fortify his frail body
through physical exercises.

His Tio Gregorio who intensified Rizal’s avidness to read
good books.
The Story of the
Moth
 “One night "Doña" Teodora was reading the story of "The Moth
and the Flame" in a book, El Amigo de los Ninos (The Friend of
the Children).
Young Jose was not listening to his mother for he was
attracted by two moths flying around the flame of the coconut oil
lamp.
The young moth, disobeying its mother's advice, flew too near
the flame and got killed. It felt dead into the hot oil of the lamp.
 Rizal was deeply attracted by the death of the brave little
moth that he did not notice when his mother ended the reading
of the story. All his attention was on the light of the oil lamp and
on the dead little moth.
The light that caused the little moth's death appeared to
him "more beautiful" than ever. He justified the tragic fate of
the little moth. Rizal believed that "it is worthy for a man to
sacrifice his life for a noble cause.”
Education in
Calamba
 He is a highly educated like his mother Doña Teodora who
had the capacity to teach Spanish reading poetry and values
through rare story
 Jose Rizal learned alphabet and the prayer at the age of
three
 His uncle Jose Alberto taught him painting, sketching and
sculpture
 Uncle Gregorio influence him to further love reading
 Uncle Manuel developed Rizal’s physical skills in martial
arts like wrestling
 Maestro Celestino and maestro Lucas tutored of Rizal
 Don Francisco, Leon Monroy lived at the Rizal’s home to
become boy’s tutor in Spanish and Latin.
Education in
Biñan