FAMILY BACKGROUND OF

RIZAL AND ITS INFLUENCE ON

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIS
NATIONALISM
PREPARED BY: MICHELLE JOY M.VELASCO, LPT, MAEd
 INTENDED LEARNING
OUTCOMES
• At the end of the chapter, you should be able to:
1. Trace the genealogy of Rizal.
2. Sharpen one’s consciousness of the religiosity of
Jose Rizal in his early years.
3. Draw inspiration from the “Parable of the
Moth”.
We begin this learning packet
with a question: Who is the
greatest hero of the
Philippines? A Filipino when
asked that question might
answer: “Jose Rizal.”
• Who was Jose Rizal and why he well –known among
Filipinos? Why are there so many monuments in his
honor and why were so many streets named after
him? To many Filipinos their answers might be
varied: he was a martyr who died for the Filipinos,
just like Jesus Christ who died for humanity and
salvation. Some sectors even call him the Tagalog
Christ or Kristong Tagalog. Many Filipinos admire
him as a man of many talents, poet, doctor,
anthropologist, sculptor, surveyor, farmer, novelist,
essayist, historian, teacher, and a polyglot
 DISCUSSIONS
• Rizal’s Birth: The Day Destined to Change the Course of
Philippine History
The defining moment in the history of our country
took place at about midnight on June 19, 1861 in the
lakeshore of Calamba, Laguna, when Rizal, one of
the many babies born on that day, was destined to
sow the seed of freedom in the hearts and minds of
his countrymen.
• There were no unusual signs from Mother Nature that
heralded his birth, but three days after his birth when
he was baptized by Father Rufino Collantes, the
parish priest noticed the unusual size of the baby’s
head. It was said that his big head almost claimed the
life of his mother. This comment sounded like a
prophesy, which later on showed significant evidence
in the various events of his life.
Rizal’s Parents
The Roots of Pepe
The Roots of Pepe
 INTRODUCTIO
N
Education played a very important part in the family of
Jose Rizal. His parents were remarkably educated. His
father, Francisco Mercado Rizal, who was a native of
Biñan, Laguna, studied Latin and Philosophy at the
Colegio of San Jose, Manila. His mother, Doña Teodora
Alonso Realonda, who grew up in Manila was described
as a remarkable woman. She was educated at the Collegio
De Santa Rosa, a well-known for girls in the city.
She possessed a rare combination of literary and
mathematical intelligence. She knew literature well and
she was said to be a woman of refined culture who could
speak Spanish fluently. It is not surprising why Jose
Rizal put a big premium on the value of education and a
penchant for literature as evidenced by his writings as
early as eight years old when he wrote his first poem
titled “Sa Aking Mga Kababata.
 THE PARENTS
Don Francisco Mercado (1818-1898)
 born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11, 1818
 studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San
Jose in Manila
 became a tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned
hacienda
 a hardy and independent-minded man, who talked less
and worked more, and was strong in body and valiant
in spirit
 died in Manila on January 5, 1898 at the age of 80
 Rizal affectionately called him “a model of fathers”
 THE PARENTS
Dona Teodora Alonso Realonda
(1826-1911)
 born in Manila on November 8, 1826
 educated at the College of Santa Rosa, a well-known
college for girls in the city
 a remarkable woman, possessing refined culture,
literary talent, business ability, and the fortitude of
Spartan women
 a woman of more than ordinary culture: she knows
literature and speaks Spanish (according to Rizal)
 died in Manila on August 16, 1911 at the age of 85
• Jose Rizal inherited from his father some qualities
such as being hardworking, strong-willed,
independent minded and with a valiant spirit. Don
Francisco Mercado Rizal was a tenant farmer of a
Dominican owned hacienda. His love for work
contributed greatly to the nature of Jose Rizal who
had consistently demonstrated it throughout his
life until his exile in Dapitan, where he simply
worked to create the foundations for a better life for
the people.
• The marriage of Francisco
Mercado Rizal and Teodora
Alonso Realonda was blessed
with eleven children ̶ nine girls
and two boys. These children
were:
 The Siblings
Saturnina Mercado (1850-1913)
 Nicknamed Neneng
 Married to Manuel Hidalgo, a native
and one of the richest persons in
Tanauan Batangas
 The Siblings
Paciano Mercado (1851-1930)
 older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal
 was a second father to Rizal
 immortalized him in Rizal’s first novel Noli Me Tangere as
the wise Pilosopo Tasio
 Rizal regarded him as the “most noble of Filipinos”
 became a combat general in the Philippine Revolution
 died on April 13, 1930, an old bachelor aged 79
 had two children by his mistress (Severina Decena)—a boy
and a girl
 The Siblings
Narcisa Mercado (1852-1939)
 Nicknamed Sisa
 Married to Antonio Lopez, a musician and
teacher from
Morong, Rizal
 They had nine children, one married Paciano’s
daughter
 It is said that she could recite from her memory almost all
poems of Jose
 painstakingly searched the cemeteries in Manila for Rizal’s
burial place.
 The Siblings
• Olimpia Mercado (1855-1887)
 Nicknamed Ypia
 Married Silvestre Ubaldo,
a telegraph
operator from Manila
 They had three children
 Rizal confided to her about his first sweetheart,
Segunda Katigbak
 The Siblings
Lucia Mercado (1857-1919)
 Married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba
who was
a nephew of Fr. Casanas
 Herbosa died of cholera in 1889 and was denied a
Christian burial because of his relation to Rizal
 They had seven children
 Their daughter Delfina, first wife of Gen. Salvador
Natividad helped Marcela Agoncillo make the first
Filipino flag in Hong Kong
 The Siblings
Maria Mercado (1859-1945)
 Nicknamed Biang
 Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Binan,
Laguna
 They had five children, the last three
died young
 Rizal talked to her about wanting to
marry
Josephine Bracken whom his family
disapproved
 The Siblings

Jose Rizal Mercado (1861-1896)

 The National Hero of the Philippines
 7th child
 The Siblings

Concepcion Mercado (1862-1865)

 Nicknamed Concha
 Died of sickness at the age of three
 Her death was Jose’s first sorrow in life
 The Siblings

Josefa Mercado (1865-1945)

 Nicknamed Panggoy
 She became a member of the
Katipunan
 Died an old maid at the age of 80
 The Siblings

Trinidad Mercado (1868-1951)

 Nicknamed Trining
 She was also a member of the Katipunan and
became the custodian of Rizal’s elegy Mi
Ultimo Adios
 She was also an old maid and died at the age of
83
 The Siblings

Soledad Mercado (1870-1929)

 Nicknamed Choleng
 Married Pantaleon Quintero of
Calamba,
Laguna
 They had five children
 She became a teacher and said to have been
“the best educated” among Rizal’s sisters
CALAMBA, THE HERO’S TOWN
 In 1876, when he was 15 years
old and was a student at the
Ateneo de Manila, he wrote a
poem entitled Un Recuerdo A
Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My
Town).
 Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
Jose
 chosen by his mother who was a devotee of the
Christian saint San Jose (St. Joseph)
Protacio
 St. Protasio, the child’s patron who was a martyr.
Mercado
 adopted in 1731 by Domigo Lamco (the paternal
great-great- grandfather of Jose Rizal) which the
Spanish term mercado means ‘market’ in English
 Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
Rizal
 from the word ‘Ricial’ in Spanish means a field
where wheat, cut while still green, sprouts again
Alonzo
 maiden name of his mother.
Realonda
 it was used by Doña Teodora from the surname
of her godmother based on the culture by that
time
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
Pepe
 Saint Joseph was the putative (commonly
accepted) father of Jesus Christ. In Latin,
San Jose’s name is always followed by the
letters ‘P.P’ for pater putativus. In Spanish,
the letter ‘P’ is pronounced as ‘peh’ giving
rise to the nickname Pepe for Jose.” (In
Excelsis by Felice Prudente Santa Maria)
 Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
June 19, 1861
 moonlit of Wednesday between eleven and midnight
Jose Rizal was born in the lakeshore town of
Calamba, Laguna
June 22, 1861
 he was baptized in the Catholic church by the
Batangueno parish priest Fr. Rufino Collantes and
with the presence of his sole godfather Fr. Pedro
Casanas, a native of Calamba and a close friend of
the Rizal family.
 Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
 Rizal grew up a good Catholic. At the age of three, he
began to take part in the family prayers.
 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 Calamba to
go on a pilgrimage in Antipolo during the festival in
honor of the “Virgin of Peace and Safe Travel”
which had been brought from America by an early
Spanish governor.
 Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realond (Rizal’s Name)
 Of all the stories told by Dona Teodora to Jose, that of the
Parable of the moth made the profound impression on him.
The tragic fate of the young moth, which “died a martyr to
its illusions,” left a deep impress on Rizal’s mind.
 He justified such noble death, asserting that “to sacrifice one’s
life for it,” meaning for an ideal, is “worthwhile.”
 When he was 14, he wrote a poem entitled “Al Nino Jesus”
(To the Child Jesus). It was a brief ode.
 Another religious poem which doesn’t have exact date when it
was written was “A La Virgen Maria” (To the Virgin Mary).
 INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S
BOYHOOD
1. Hereditary Influence
 Malayan Ancestors
– Rizal, evidently, inherited his love for freedom, his innate desire to travel.
 Chinese Ancestors
– he derived his serious nature, frugality, patience, and love for children.
 Spanish Ancestors
– he got his elegance of bearing, sensitivity to insult, and gallantry to ladies.
 His Father
– he inherited a profound sense of self-respect, the love for
work, andthe habit of independent thinking.
 His Mother
– he inherited his religious nature, the spirit of self-sacrifice, and the passion
for arts and
literature.
 INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S
BOYHOOD
• 2. Environmental Influence
 The scenic beauties of Calamba and the beautiful garden of
the Rizal family stimulated the inborn artistic and literary
talents of Jose Rizal.
 The religious atmosphere at his home fortified his religious
nature.
 His brother, Paciano, instilled in his mind the love for
freedom and justice.
 From his sisters, he learned to be courteous and kind to women.
 The fairy tales told by his aya during his early childhood
awakened hid interest in folklore and legends.
 INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S
BOYHOOD
2. Environmental Influence
• Tio Jose Alberto, who had studies for eleven years in a British
school in Calcutta, India, and had traveled in Europe inspired
him to develop his artistic ability.
• Tio Manuel, a husky and athletic man, encouraged him to
develop his frail body by means of physical exercises,
including horse riding, walking, and wrestling.
• Tio Gregorio, a book lover, intensified his voracious reading of
good books.
 INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S
BOYHOOD
2. Environmental Influence
• Father Leoncio Lopez, the old and learned parish priest if Calamba,
fostered Rizal’s
love for scholarship and intellectual honesty.
• The sorrows in his family, such as the death of Concha on 1865 and
the imprisonment of his mother in 1871-1874, contributed to
strengthen his character, enabling him to resist blows of adversity in
later years.
• The Spanish abuses and cruelties which he witnessed on the Guardia
Civil and the alcalde, the unjust tortures inflicted on innocent
Filipinos, and the execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, Zamora in
1872, awakened his spirit of patriotism and inspired him to
consecrate his life and talents to redeem his oppressed people.
 INFLUENCES ON THE HERO’S
BOYHOOD
3. Aid of Divine Providence
 God had endowed him with the versatile gifts of a genius, the
vibrant spirit of a nationalist, and the valiant heart to sacrifice
for a noble cause.
 Fast Facts!
 Saturnina, Narcisa, and Lucia, along with their parents and
Manuel Hidalgo and Mariano Herbosa, were ordered to be
deported, charged with rousing the people to refuse to pay land
rent, and with causing the unrest in Calamba.
 Hidalgo was first exiled “as a conspirator and representative of
Jose Rizal,” and again, as Rizal observed, “without any
accusation, without his knowing any crime of which he was
accused, excepting that he was my brother-in-law.”
“I was not brought up among the people, and
perhaps I do not know what they need.”
- Crisostomo Ibarra, Noli Me Tangere
 Activity:
1. To what kind of family did Rizal belong? Tell
something about the family’s social and economic
status?
2. How did the people of long ago acquire their family
name? Is it the same practice we have nowadays?
Differentiate.
3. What Filipino culture did the Rizal family exemplify.
How were they manisfested?
 Clarification

1. What does it take to be a hero?

2. Rizal should not be treated like God but treated as a
human being so that his ideas are attainable.
3. Rizal, undeniably has weaknesses, but he
responded to the challenge of conquering these
weaknesses that catapulted him into a heroic
stardom.
 References

 http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/filipiniana-library/filipiniana/70-features/130-rizals-

sisters
 Craig, Austin (1909). The Story of Jose Rizal. Philippine Education Publishing Co.
 Castaneda et.al. (2013) Jose Rizal The Martyr and National Hero