CHAPTER 1

ADVENT OF A NATIONAL HERO

Dr. Jose Rizal is a unique example of many-splendored genius who became the greatest
hero of a nation. Endowed by God with versatile gifts, he truly ranked with world’s geniuses. He
was a physician (ophthalmic surgeon), poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist, historian, architect,
painter, sculptor, educator, linguist, musician, naturalist, ethnologist, surveyor, engineer,
farmer businessman, economist, geographer, cartographer, bibliophile, philologist,
grammarian, folklorist, philosopher, translator, inventor, magician, humorist, satirist, polemicist
sportsman, traveler, and prophet. Above and beyond all these, he was a hero and political
martyr who consecrated his life for the redemption of his oppressed people. No wonder, he is
now acclaimed as the national hero of the Philippines.

June 19, 1861- Dr. Jose Rizal was born on the moonlit night of Wednesday in the lakeshore
town of Calamba, Laguna.

-His mother almost died during the delivery because of his big head.

June 22, 1861- He was baptized in the Catholic Church of his town, aged three years old.

Father Rufino Collantes- who was a Batangueno, a parish priest who baptized Dr. Jose Rizal.

Father Pedro Casanas- close friend of Rizal family, the godfather of Rizal

“Jose”- was derived from the name Saint Joseph

Lieutenant-General Jose Lemery- the governor general of the Philippines at the time Rizal was
born, former senator of Spain (member of the upper chamber of the Spanish Cortes)

His achievements as governor general were:

(1) Fostering the cultivation of cotton in the provinces

(2) Establishing the politico-military governments in the Visayas and Mindanao

Francisco Mercado Rizal (1818-1898) - the hero’s father, was born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11,
1818. He studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila.

-In early manhood, following his parent’s death, he moved

to Calamba and became a tenant- farmer of the Dominican-owned hacienda.
 -He was a hardy and independent –minded man, who
talked less and works more and was strong in body and valiant in spirit.

-He died in Manila on January 5, 1898 at the age of 80.

Rizal affectionately called him “a model of fathers”.

Doña Teodora Alonso Realonda(1826-1911)- the hero’s mother, was born in Manila on
November 8, 1826 and was educated at the College of Santa Rosa .

-She was a remarkable woman, possessing refined

culture, literary talent, business ability and the fortitude of Spartan women.

-She died in Manila on august 16, 1911, at the age

of 85.

THE RIZAL CHILDREN

Eleven children –two boys and nine girls.

(1)Saturnina (1850-1913) - oldest of the Rizal children, nickname Neneng, she married Manuel
T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.

(2)Paciano (1851-1930) –older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal. After his young brother’s
execution he joined the Philippine Revolution and became a combat general; after the
Revolution he retired to his farm in Los Baños, where he lived as a gentleman farmer and died
on April 13, 1390, an old bachelor aged 79. He had two children _a boy and a girl.

(3)Narcisa (1852-1939) -her pet name was Sisa and she married Antonio Lopez (nephew of
Father Leoncio Lopez), a school teacher of Morong.

(4)Olimpia (1855-1887) –Ypia was her pet name; she married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph
operator from Manila.

(5)Lucia (1857-1919) – she married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who was a nephew of Father
Casanas, Herbosa died of cholera in 1889 and was denied Christian burial because he was a
brother-in-law of Dr. Jose Rizal.

(6)Maria (1859-1945) –Biang was her nickname; she married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan,
Laguna.

(7)Jose(1861-1896) – the greatest Filipino hero and peerless genius; his nickname was Pepe;
during his he exile in Dapitan he lived with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from Hong Kong; he
had a son by her, but this baby-boy died a few hours after birth; Rizal named him “Francisco”
after his father and buried him in Dapitan.

(8)Concepcion (1862-1865) –her pet name was Concha; she died of sickness at the age of 3; her
death was Rizal’s first sorrow in life.

(9)Josefa (1865-1945) –her pet name was Panggoy; she died an old maid at the age of 80.

(10)Trinidad (1868-1951) –Trining was her pet name; she died also an old maid in 1951 aged 83.

(11)Soledad (1870-1929) youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name was Choleng; she
married Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba.

Domingo Lameo –Rizal’s great-great grandfather on his father side

-A Chinese immigrant from the Fukien City of Changchow who arrived in

Manila about 1690. He became a Christian, married a well-to-do Chinese Christian girl of Manila
named Ines de la Rosa.

Mercado –means “market” in English

June 28, 1848 –Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda were married, after which the
settle down in Calamba.

Eugenio Ursua –great-great grandfather on mother’s side (a Japanese ancestry), who married a
Filipina named Benigna.

The surname Rizal –the real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado, which was adopted in
1731 by Domingo Lameo, who was a full blooded chemist. Rizal’s family required a second
surname-Rizal- which was given by spanish alcalde mayor of Laguna.

Middle class Family

The Rizal family belonged to the principalia a town aristocracy in Spanish Philippines. It
was one of the distinguished families in Calamba.
 CHAPTER 2

CHILDHOOD YEARS IN CALAMBA

Calamba –named after a big native jar

-was a hacienda town which belonged to Dominican order

Earliest Childhood Memories

- In his infancy, was his happy days in the family garden when he was three years old
- His father built a little niopa cottage in the garden for him to play in the daytime
- Was the daily Angelus prayer, by nightfall, Rizal related his mother gathered all the
children of the house to pray the Angelus
- He also remembered the happy moonlit, nights at the azotea after the nightly rosary
- The nocturnal wall in the town, especially when there was a moon.

The Hero’s first Sorrow –Concha died in sickness in 1865 when she was only three years old.
The death of little concha brought him his first sorrow.

Father Leoncio Lopez –the old and learned parish priest of Calamba1, fostered Rizal’s love for
scholarship and intellectual honesty

June 6, 1868 –Jose and his father left Calamba to go on a pilgrimage to Antipolo

Artistic talent –at the age of five he began to make sketches with his pencil and to mold in clay
and wax objects which attracted his infancy

-when he was about six his sisters laughed at him for spending so much time for
making those images but he told them: “All right laugh at me now! Someday when I
die, people will make monument and images for me!”
-at the age of eight, Rizal wrote his first poem in the native language entitled Sa
Aking mga Kababata (To my Fellow Students)

Influence on the Hero’s Boyhood

1. Hereditary influence
2. Environmental influence
3. Aid of Divine Providence

His three Uncles

 1. Tio Jose Alberto –who had studies for eleven years in a British school in inspired him to
develop his artistic ability
2. Tio manuel –a husky and athletic man, encouraged him to develop his frail body by
means of physical exercise
3. Tio Gregorio –a book lover, intensified his voracious reading of good book

CHAPTER 3

EARLY EDUCATION IN CALAMBA AND BIÑAN

Four R’s –reading, writing, arithmetic and religion

The Hero’s First Teacher –was his mother who was a remarkable woman of good character
and fine culture

Private Tutors:

1. Maestro Celestino
2. Maestro Lucas Padua
3. Leon Monroy

June, 1869 –Rizal left Calamba for Biñan

Juancho –an old painter who was the father-in-law of the schoolteacher

December 17, 1870 –he left Biñan on Saturday afternoon

January 20, 1872 –about 200 Filipino soldiers and workmen of the Cavite arsenal under the
leadership of lamadrid

Governor Rafael de Izquerdo –Filipino sergeant, rose in violent because of the abolition of their
usual privileges including exemption from tribute and polo

February 17, 1872 –the Gom-Bur-Za were executed by order of Gov. General Izquerdo

1891 –he decided his second novel, El Filibusterismo to Gom-Bur-Za

June of 1872 –tragedy struck the Rizal’s family. Doña Teodora was suddenly arrested on a
malicious charge
 CHAPTER 4

SCHOLASTIC TRIUMPHS AT ATENEO DE MANILA

Rizal studied at Ateneo Municipal, a college under the supervision of the Spanish Jesuits.

1817 –Escuela Pia (charity school) a school for poor boys in manila ahich was established by the
city government

- When the Jesuit, who had been expelled from the Philippines in 1786, returned to
Manila in 1859, they were given the management of the Escuela Pia whose name
was change to Ateneo Municipal and later became Ateneo de Manila

June 10, 1872 –Rizal went to manila accompanied by Paciano

Father Magin Fernando –who was the college registrar, refused to admit him for two reasons:
1.) he was late for registration 2.) He was sickly and undersized for his age

Manuel Xeres Burgos – nephew of Father Burgos upon his intercession he was reluctantly
admitted at the Ateneo

Students were divided into two groups:

1.) Roman Empire –consisting of the internos (boarders)

2.) Carthaginians Empire –composed of the externos (non-boarders)

Each of these empires had its ranks:

1. Emperor- best students

2. Tribune- second best
3. Decurion– third best
4. Centurion- fourth best
5. Standard bearer– fifth best
The Ateneo students in Rizal’s time wore a uniform with consisted of “hemp fabric
trousers” and “striped cotton coat”

Rayadillo –the coat material

Father Jose Bech –first professor of Rizal

Rizal was placed at the bottom of the class. He was externo, hence he was assigned to
the Carthaginians, occupying the end of the line.
Santa Isabel College –Rizal took private lessons during the noon recess. He paid three pesos for
these extra Spanish lessons.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas –first favorite novel of Rizal

Travels in the Philippines by Dr.Feodor Jagor –a German scientist-traveler who visited the
Philippines in 1859-1860, what impressed him to this book were: 1.) Jagor’s keen observations
of the defects of Spanish colonization 2.) His prophecy that someday Spain would lose the
Philippines and that America would come to succeed her as colonize.

June 16, 1875 –Rizal became an interno in the Ateneo

Father Francisco de Paula Sanchez –one of his professors, a great educator and scholar, he
inspired Rizal to study harder and to write poetry, he became an admirer and friend of Rizal

 Rizal –the most brilliant Atenean of his time, he was truly “the pride of the Jesuits”

March 23, 1877 –Commencement day, Rizal, who was 16 years old, received from his alma
Mater, Ateneo Municipal, the degree of Bachelor of Arts with highest honors.

Extra-Curricular Activities in Ateneo

RIZAL WAS ACTIVE IN EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

1.) An “emperor” inside the classroom.

2.) A campus leader outside
3.) Active member, later, secretary of a religious society, the Marian Congregation
4.) He was accepted as member of his sodality.
5.) He was also a member of the academy of Spanish Literature and Academy of natural
sciences.

Father Jose Villaclara –another professor, advised him to stop communing with the nurses and
pay more attention to more practical studies

Agustin Saez –famous Spanish printer

Romualdo de Jesus –Filipino sculpture

Felix M. Roxas –one of Rizal’s contemporaries in the Ateneo

Segunda Katigbak –first romance of Rizal

-a pretty fourteen-year-old Batangueña from Lipa

 CHAPTER 5

MEDICAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

April 1877 –Rizal who was nearly 16 yrs. Old matriculated in the University of Santo Tomas,
taking the course on Philosophy and letters. He enrolled in this course for two reasons: 1.) his
father liked it 2.)he was “still uncertain as to what career to pursue

Father Pablo Ramon –Rector of the Ateneo, who had been good to him during his student days
in college, asking for advice on the choice of career

Perito agrimensor (expert surveyor)

*at the age of 17, he passed the final examination in the surveying course

Nov. 25, 1881-the title was issued to him

Miss L – second romance of Rizal; Young woman in Calamba, a fair with seductive and attractive
eyes

Two reasons for his change of heart:

1.) The sweet memory of Segunda was still fresh in his heart
2.) His father did not like the family of “Miss L”

Leonor Valenzuela –who was tall girl with a regal bearing

- Third romance of Rizal

- Orang (pet name of Leonor Valenzuela)

Leonor Rivera –fourth romance of Rizal

-a student at La Concordia College, where Soledad (Rizal’s youngest sisters) was

studying

-born in Camiling, Tarlac on April 11, 1867 was a frail, pretty girl “tender as a
budding flower with kindly, wistful eyes”

-they became engaged

General primo de Rivera –Spanish Governor General of the Philippines at that time, Rizal
reported the incident but nothing came
March 21, 1887 –out of his complaint because he was an Indio and abusive lieutenant was a
Spaniard

May 1881 –rizal went on a pilgrimage to the town of Pakil, famous shrine of the Birhen Maria
de los Dolores. And stayed at the home of Mr. and Mrs.Manuel Regalado, whose son Nicolas
was Rizal’s found in

Rizal was unhappy at this Dominican Institution of higher learning because:

1.) The Dominican professors were hostile3 to him

2.) The Filipino student5swere racially discriminated against by the Spaniards
3.) The method of instruction was obsolete and repressive

CHAPTER 6

IN SUNNY SPAIN (1882-1885)

Rizal’s Secret Missions:

To observe keenly the life and culture, languages and customs, industries and commerce
government and laws of the European nations in order to prepare himself in the mighty task of
liberating his oppressed people from Spanish tyranny.

May 3, 1882 –Rizal departed on board the Spanish steamer Salvadora board for Singapore

Donato Lecha –the ship captain from Asturias, Spain, befriend him

May 8, 1882 –while the steamer was approaching Singapore-Rizal saw a beautiful island. He
remember “Talim Island with the Susong Dalaga”

Sir Thomas Stranford Raffles –founder of Singapore

From Singapore to Colombo –Rizal transferred to another ship Djemnah, a French steamer
which left Singapore for Europe on May 11

May 17 –the Djemnah reached point Galle, a second town in Southern Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

Colombo –the capital of Ceylon

- More beautiful, smart and elegant than Singapore, point Galle and Manda

Ferdinand de Lesseps – French diplomat-engineer

 - He built the Suez Canal, it was inaugurated on Nov. 17,1869

June 11 –Rizal reached Naples, this Italian City pleased him because of its business activity

June 12 –the steamer docked at the French harbor of Marseilles

June 16, 1882 –finally reaching his destination –Barcelona

Las-Ramblas –the most famous street in Barcelona

“Amor Patrio” (love of Country) –nationalistic essay, Rizal’s first article written on Spain’s soil

Basilio Teodore Moran –publisher of Diariong Tagalog, the first Manila bilingual newspaper
(Spanish and Tagalog)

Aug. 22, 1882 –Rizal’s “Amor Patrio” under his pen name LaongLLaan, appeared in print in
Diariong Tagalog

- It was published in two text-Spanish and Tagalog. The Spanish text was originally
written by Rizal in Barcelona. The Tagalog text was a Tagalog translation made by M.
H. Pilar.

“Las Viajes” (Travels) - second article

“Revista de Madrid” (Review of Madrid) –third article, which he wrote in Madrid on Nov. 29,
1882, was returned to him because Diariong Tagalog had ceased publication for lack of funds

September 15, 1882 –Paciano’s letter about the dreadful epidemic

May 26, 1882 –Paciano advised Rizal to finish the medical course in Madrid

Nov. 3, 1882 –Rizal enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid (Central University of Madrid)
in two courses-Medicine and Philosophy and latters

Don Pablo Ortiga y Rey –had been city mayor of manila during the administration of the liberal
governor general Carlos M. de la Torre (1869-1871)

Consuelo Ortiga y Perez –fifth romance of Rizal; Don Pablo’s Daughter

Aug. 22, 1883 –Rizal composed a lovely poem dedicated to her titled “ A La Señorita C.O.yP

Rizal backed out for two reasons:

1.) He was still engaged to Leonor Rivera

 2.) His friend and co-worker Eduardo deLete, was madly in love with Consuelo and he had
no wish to break their friendship because of a pretty girl

1882 –Rizal joined the Circulo Hispano Filipino_-a society of Spanish and Filipinos

“Mi Piden Versos” ,1882-poem was written upon the request of the member of this society
which he personally determined during New Year’s Eve reception of the Madrid Filipinos held in
the evening of Dec. 3, 1882

Two books was deeply affected Rizal

1.) Beecher Stowe’s Uncle tom’s Cabin

2.) Eugene Sue’s the wandering Jew

June 17-Aug 20, 1883 –Rizal went to Paris capital of France he lived to a cheaper hotel on 124
Rue de Rennes in the Latin Quarter

Laennec Hospital –where he observed Dr. Nicaise treating his patients

Lariboisiere Hospital – where he observed the examination of different disease of women

March 1883 –Rizal joined the maconic lodge called Acacia in Madrid

Nov. 15 1890 –Rizal transferred to Lodge Solidaridad (Madrid) where he became a master
mason

Feb. 15, 1892 –he was awarded the diploma as master mason by Le Grand Orient de France in
Paris

June 24, 1884 –a touching incident in Rizal’s life in Madrid occurred, because he was unable to
take breakfast that day

Nov. 20, 21, 22, 1885 –the serene city of Madrid exploded in bloody riots by the students of the
central university

Dr. Miguel Morayta –professor of history, at the opening ceremonies of the academic year on
Nov.20, in which he proclaimed “the freedom of science and teacher”

June 21, 1884 –he was conferred the degree of licentiate in medicine by the Universidad
central de Madrid

June 19, 1885 –his 24th birthday, he was awarded the degree of licentiate in Philosophy and
letters with the rating of “Excellent”
 CHAPTER 7

PARIS TO BERLIN (1885-1887)

Top German Scientist

1.) Dr. Feodor Jagor

2.) Dr. Adolph B. Meyer
3.) Dr. Hans Meyer
4.) Dr. Rudolf Virchow

Maximo Viola –a medical student and a member of a rich family of San Miguel of Bulacan

Dr. Louis de Weckert (1852-1906) –leading French ophthalmologist, from Nov.1885-Feb. 1886

February 1, 1886 –Rizal left Paris for Germany

Feb. 3, 1886 –he arrived in Heidelberg

April 22, 1886 –he wrote a time poem “A Las Flores de Heidelberg)

Dr. Karl Ullmer –protestant pastor, who became his good friend and admirer

July 31, 1886 –Rizal wrote his first letters in German to Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt

Aritmetica (Arithmetic) –was published in two languages Spanish and Tagalog by the University
of Santo Thomas Press in 1868

Rufino Baltazar Hernandez –author of Arithmetica, a native of Santa Cruz Laguna

August 6, 1886 –celebration of the fifth centenary of the famous University of the Heidelberg

Aug. 14, 1886 –Rizal arrived in Leipzig

Professor Friedrich Ratzel –a famous German historian

Dr. Hans Meyer –German Anthropologist

Dr. Adolph B. Meyer –director of the Anthropological and Ethnological Museum

Dr. Feodor Jagor –German scientist-traveler and author of Travels in the Philippines
Dr. Rudolf Virchow –famous German anthropologist

Dr. Hans Virchow –professor of descriptive Anatomy

Dr. W. Joest –noted German geographer

Dr. Karl Ernest Schweigger –famous German ophthalmologist

Rizal’s life in Berlin

He lived in the famous capital of unified Germany for the five reasons:

1.) To gain for the knowledge of ophthalmology.

2.) To further his studies of sciences and languages.
3.) To observe the economic had political conditions of the German nation.
4.) To associate with famous German scientist and scholars.
5.) To publish his novel, Noli me Tangere.
DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION

TABACO CITY

SUBMITTED BY:

JULIE PERL SUALIVIO

BSA II

SUBMITTED TO:

MR. HERCULANO BIBON