JOSE RIZAL Y.

MERCADO

Champion of nationalism

in the multifaceted history of this man, jose rizal y, mercado who heads this handful of short biographies of

Filipino patriots and statesmen, because dr. rizal has not only filled the filipino with his genius, his patriotism and

his heroism, but he has also gone beyond the confines of the country and it can be said that he has overflowed

throughout asia and the rest of the world. that is why he is called today "the genius of the race" and by race we could

very well encompass all the malava.

volumes and more volumes have been written about the "son of calamba", but a characteristic that signs this history

full of events, although physically brief due to the premature death of the hero, is the "nationalism" facet of which

rizal was a precursor from the country.

In the brief history that we are going to relate here, that nationalism is emphasized many times until it takes on

magnificent brilliance .
Ancestry:

Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861. He was baptized in the Calamba parish church by Father

Rufino Collantes, his godfather being Father Casanas, a secular priest was baptized with the names Jose Protacio.

His parents were Francisco Mercado and Alejandra and Teodora Alonso Quintos Realonda. According to various

historians, his paternal ancestry dates back to Domingo Lam-Co, a Chinese mestizo who decided to change his last

name to Mercado. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry dates back, according to Craig and Laubach, to Lakandula,

the brave indigenous leader of Tondo. The children of the Mercado couple were eleven, Rizal being the seventh of

them. They were Saturnina, Paciana, Narcissa, Olympia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepción, Josefa, Trinidad and

Solitude.

His first study:

His first letters and his first prayers were taught to him by his mother, whom Rizal idolized. His father later hired the

services of a teacher who taught Rizal Latin.

The incident of her mother's arrest for something trivial and to which she was totally oblivious, prompted the family

to make Rizal move to Manila to continue her studies. He enrolled in the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, although

later, on his return from a vacation in his town, he entered the Ateneo de Manila. Here Rizal began to model his

great skills. his academic studies were brilliant. He began to cultivate sculpture and was distinguished by his poetry

that earned him a name and awards.

His higher studies:

some time later, he enrolled at the unibersidad de santo tomas where he studied some subjects in philosophy and its

ramifications. shortly after, he entered the college of medicine and surgery, without neglecting the belles letters. In a

contest offered for works in prose and verse, Rizal captured first prize with the poetry "To Filipino Youth." (this

poem is found in the third part of the text).

his studies and his trips abroad:

An unpleasant incident he had with one of his professors led Rizal to continue his medical studies abroad. Rizal then

set foot in Madrid for the first time, where he enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the Central

University. Although not brilliant, his academic work was good.