CHAPTER 1

ADVENT OF A
NATIONAL
HERO

Renz Arnie
S. Rogayan
 OBJECTIVES
0 Learn and understand the beginning of the life of Jose
Rizal and his family background.
0 Present Jose Rizal’s ancestors, parents, and siblings.

0 Discuss the kind of life that the Rizals had.

 0 Physician 0 Economist
0 Poet 0 Geographer
0 Dramatist 0 Cartographer
0 Essayist 0 Bibliophile
0 Novelist 0 Philologist
0 Historian 0 Grammarian
0 Architect 0 Folklorist
0 Painter 0 Philosopher
0 Sculptor 0 Translator
0 Educator 0 Inventor
0 Linguist 0 Magician
Dr. Jose Rizal 0 Musician 0 Humorist
Hero and Political Martyr 0 Naturalist 0 Satirist
0 Ethnologist 0 Polemicist
0 Surveyor 0 Sportsman
0 Engineer 0 Traveler
0 Farmer businessman 0 Prophet
The Birth of a Hero
“I was born in Calamba on 19 June, 1861, between eleven and
midnight, a few days before full moon. It was a Wednesday and my coming
out in this vale of tears would have cost my mother her life had she not
vowed to the virgin of Antipolo to take me to her sanctuary by way of
pilgrimage.” - Dr. Jose Rizal
 0 June 22, 1861 – At the age of three days old, he was
baptized in the Catholic church of his town.
0 Father Rufino Collantes – parish priest who baptized
Rizal, a Batangueño.
0 Father Pedro Casanas – godfather (ninong) of Rizal,
native of Calamba and close friend of his family.
0 “Jose” – chosen by his mother who was a devotee of
the Christian saint San Jose (St. Joseph).

During the christening ceremony…

“Take good care of this child, for someday he will become a great man.”
– Father Collantes
0 Lieutenant-General Jose Lemery - the governor general of the
Philippines when Rizal was born (from February 2, 1861 to
July 7, 1862), former senator of Spain (member of the upper
chamber of the Spanish Cortes).
0 His achievements as governor general were:
0 Fostering the cultivation of cotton in the province.

0 Establishing the politico-military governments in the Visayas

and Mindanao.
 Rizal’s Parents
THE HERO’S FATHER.
0 Don Francisco Mercado Rizal – born in
Biñan, Laguna, on May 11, 1818.
0 College of San Jose in Manila - studied
Latin and Philosophy
0 He moved to Calamba and became a
tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned
hacienda.
0 January 5, 1898 – he died in Manila at
the age of 80.
0 “A model of fathers.”
THE HERO’S MOTHER
0 Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda – born
in Manila on November 8, 1826.
0 She studied at the College of Santa
Rosa.
0 Died in Manila on August 19, 1911 at
the age of 85.
 The Rizal Children
0 Don Francisco and Doña Teodora had 11 children – two
boys and 9 girls.
• SATURNINA – oldest of the Rizal children.
• Neneng - nickname
• She married Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan,
Batangas.

• PACIANO – older brother and confidant of Jose

Rizal.
• Joined the Philippine Revolution and became a
combat general.
• Died on April 13, 1930, an old bachelor aged 79.
• Had two children by his mistress (Severina
Decena)
• NARCISA - her pet name was Sisa and married
Antonio Lopez, a school teacher of Morong.

• OLIMPIA – Ypia was her pet name; she married

Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph operator from Manila.

• LUCIA – married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba.

• MARIA – Biang was her nickname; she married Daniel
Faustino Cruz of Biñ an, Laguna.

• JOSE – the greatest Filipino hero and peerless genius

• Pepe – his nickname
• During his exile in Dapitan he lived with Josephine
Bracken, Irish girl from Hong Kong; had a son by her,
but this baby boy died a few hours after birth; Jose
named him “Fransico” after his father and buried him
in Dapitan.
 • CONCEPCION - her pet name was Concha; died of sickness at the age of
three; her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in life.

• JOSEFA- her pet name was Panggoy; died an old maid in 1951 aged 83.

• TRINIDAD – her pet name was Trining; died in 1951.

• SOLEDAD – youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name was

Choleng; married Panteleon Quintero of Calamba.
0 Rizal’s relation to his only brother Paciano was more than that
of younger to older brother.
0 Paciano was a second father to him.

0 Jose immortalized him in his first novel Noli Me Tangere as the

wise Pilosopo Tasyo.
0 He regarded Paciano as the “most noble of Filipinos” and
“though an Indio, more generous and noble than all Spaniards
put together”
0 “He is much finer and more serious than I am; he is bigger and
more slim; he is not so dark; his nose is fine, beautiful and sharp;
but he is bow-legged.”
 Rizal’s Ancestry
0 Rizal was a product of mixture of races.
0 In his veins flowed the blood of both east and West – Negrito,
Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.
Predominantly, he was a Malayan and magnificent specimen
of Asian manhood.
0 Domingo Lameo- Rizal’s great-great-grandfather on his
father’s side. A Chinese immigrant from the Fukien City of
Changchow, who arrived in Manila about 1690.
0 Domingo Lameo became a Christian, married a Chinese
Christian girl of Manila named Ines de la Rosa.
0 Assumed the surname Mercado in 1731, which was
appropriate because he was a merchant. The Spanish term
“mercado” means “market”.
0 Domingo Mercado and Ines de la Rosa had a son, Francisco
Mercado, who resided in Biñ an, married a Chinese-Filipino
mestiza, Cirila Bernacha, and was elected gobernadorcillo
(municipal mayor) of the town.
0 One of their sons, Juan Mercado (Rizal’s grandfather),
married Cirila Alejandro, a Chinese-Filipino mestiza.
0 Capitan Juan and Capitana Cirila had 13 children, the
youngest being Francisco Mercado, Rizal’s father.
0 Francisco Mercado studied in Manila and met and eventually
fell in love with Teodora Alonso Realonda. They were married
on June 28, 1848, and settle down in Calamba, where they
engaged in farming and business and reared a big family.
0 It is said that Doñ a Teodora’s family descend from Lakan
Dula, the last native king of Tondo.
0 Doñ a Teodora’s great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua (of
Japanese ancestry), who married a Filipina named Benigna.
Their daughter, Regina, married Manuel de Quintos. One of
the daughter of de Quintos and Regina was Brigida, who
married Lorenzo Alberto Alonso. Their children were Narcisa,
Teodora, Gregorio, Manuel and Jose.

THE SURNAME OF RIZAL

0 Mercado – the real surname of the Rizal.

0 Rizal’s family acquired a second surname – Rizal – which was

given by a Spanish alcalde mayor of Laguna, who was a family
friend.
 The Rizal Home
0 The house of the Rizal family was one of the distinguished
stone houses in Calamba during Spanish times. It was a two-
storey building, rectangular in shape, built of adobe stones
and hard woods, and roofed with red tiles.
 The Good and Middle-Class Family
0 Pricipalia – a town aristocracy in Spanish Philippines, where
Rizals’ family belong to.
0 It is one of the distinguished families in Calamba.
0 Rizal’s parents were able to live well by the dint of honest
and hard work and frugal living. From the farms, which were
rented from the Dominican Order, they harvested rice, corn,
and sugarcane. They raised pigs, chickens, and turkeys in
their backyard.
0 Doñ a Teodora managed a general goods store and operated a
small flour-mill and a home-made ham press.
0 They owned a carriage, which was a status symbol of the
ilustrados in Spanish Philippines and a private library (the
largest in Calamba) which consisted of more than 1,000
volumes.
 Home Life of the Rizals
0 Rizal family had a simple, contented, and happy life.
0 Don Francisco and Doñ a Teodora loved their children, but they
never spoiled them.
0 They were strict parents and trained their children to love God,
to behave well, to be obedient, and to respect people, especially
the old folks.
0 They give their children a sound spanking whenever they
(children) got into mischief.
0 They believed in the maxim: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
0 Everyday, the Rizal heard mass in the town church.
0 They prayed daily at home – the Angelus and the Rosary.
0 After family prayers, all the children kissed the hands of their
parents.