BRIEF BACKGROUND

OF THE FAMILY OF
RIZAL
Don Francisco
• The Ancestors of Jose Rizal are all wealthy. The branch of
the father side were clan of respectful merchants, while
the mother side were lawyers, and priests.
The fifth generation
family of Jose Rizal
belongs to the middle class,
but because of his hard working father,
they catapulted among
the wealthy ranks in Calamba, Laguna.
•  it all went down when Don Francisco failed to give an
agent of the hacienda a turkey because his flock had
been decimated by death. Since then the administrators
of the hacienda doubled the rent and has raised it for
several times, but Don Francisco refused to pay the rent
and took the matter to the court. 
• Other tenants followed his example and refused to pay
the rent as well.
The administrator of the hacienda evicted them along with
other tenants. All their property were destroyed. Because
of this, the family of Jose Rizal had to transfer to Los
Baños and start over again.
Dona Teodora
1st Persecution
• Jose Rizal was only 11 years old, he witnessed the
extraordinary bravery of his mother: The Spaniards
arrested Doña Teodora and made her walk 50 kilometers
around Laguna
• She was around 45 y/o
• Upon arriving at Santa Cruz after more than a day of
walking under the sun, the exhausted Doña Teodora was
charged and imprisoned for two years without trial for
falsehoods leveled against her, particularly an accusation
that she attempted to poison her sister-in-law.
2nd Persecution
• arrested for allegedly refusing to use her Spanish name
Rizal
• preferred to go by her birth name, Alonzo
• preferred to go by her birth name, Alonzo
• 64 years was almost blind due to the advanced stage of
her cataracts
• forced to walk 90 kilometers from Manila to Santa Cruz,
Laguna
•  arrived at court in Santa Cruz four days later, she was so
parched, exhausted, and in mortal peril
• The Laguna governor, upon seeing her, immediately
ordered her release without question
Paciano Mercado 
• born on 7 March 1851 to Don Francisco Mercado and
Doña Teodora Alonso
• second of the 11 children 
• sent to Biñan, Laguna to learn
more under the tutelage of
Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz
• parents sent him to Manila
to pursue further education
•  studied at the College of San Jose
•  lived and worked with Father Jose Burgos, one of the
three martyr priests implicated in the 1872 Cavite Mutiny
• Probably, his acquaintance with Father Burgos made him
very vocal on his criticisms regarding the abuses of the
Spanish friars
• was tasked to look after the education of his younger
brother
•  made sure that all his brother’s needs were well taken
cared
•  In 1882, Pepe went abroad to continue his medical
studies in Europe
• the heavy tasks fell on Paciano’s shoulders
• First, to inform their parents on Pepe’s real intention in
leaving the Philippines;
• Second, to comfort them in their unspeakable sorrow; and
• most importantly, to carry the burden of working hard to
find means to finance his brother’s expenses while
studying abroad