José Rizal
- Fisica (Physics)
Born: June 19, 1861, Calamba
Died: December 30, 1896, Rizal Park, Manila
(Bagumbayan, Buried at Paco Cemetery)
Full name: José Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realonda
Siblings: Paciano Rizal, Saturnina Hidalgo,
Josefa Mercado, Soledad
Mercado, María Mercado, More
Spouse: Josephine Bracken (m. 1896–1896)
Nicknames: Dr. Jose Rizal, Jose, Jose P.
Rizal, Pepe
Mother/Father: Francisco Rizal Mercado y
Alejandro and Teodora Alonso Realonda y
Quintos
Occupations: leaseholders of a hacienda rice
farm held by the Dominicans
Living at: Calamba, Laguna
Siblings: 9 sisters, 2 brothers (7th)
Background:
Education:
1st school: Justiniano Aquino Rizal0 (Binan,
Laguna)
Took entrance exam at: Colegio de San
Juan De Letran (Intramuros, Manila)
2nd school/Enrolled at: Ateneo Municipal de
Manila (Quezon City)
3rd school: University of Santo Tomas
(Manila)
- Philosophy as a pre-law
- he switches to medicine
(ophthalmology) at the medical school of
Santo Tomas due to her mom was going blind.
Four-year practical training in medicine
at: Ospital de San Juan de Dios, Intramuros
Received a:
Sobresaliente in courses of Patologia Medica
(Medical Pathology)
Patologa Quirurgica (Surgical Pathology)
Obstretics
Subjects he finds hard:
- Patologia General (General Pathology)
Madrid (May 1882)
- supported by his brother, Paciano
- studied medicine at Universidad Central
de Madrid
- Degree: Licentiate in Medicine
- attended medical lectures at University of
Paris and University of Heidelberg
(Germany)
Berlin
- inducted as a member of the Berlin
Ethnological/Anthropological Society,
patronage by the famous Rudolf Virchow
(father of modern pathology)
Heidelberg
- 25-year-old Rizal completed his eye
specialization under the renowned professor,
Otto Becker
- he used the newly invented
ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann
von Helmholtz) to operate his mother’s eye.
- he moved to Ludwigsplatz where he met
Pastor Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with
them in Wilhemsfeld where he wrote the last
few chapters of Noli.
Skills:
- painter
- make sculptures
- sketching
- woodcarving
- polgyglot (knows six or more languages)
Languages he knows:
- Spanish, French, Latin, Greek German,
Portuguese, Italian, English, Dutch, Japanese,
Arabic, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Hebrew,
Sanskrit, Tagalog, Malay, Chavacano, Cebuano,
Ilocano and Subanun.
Novels:
Noli me Tangere (Touch me not)
- 1887
El Filibusterismo (Sequel)
- 1891
Lovelife:
- he and Mariano Katigbak brings Segunda
Katigbak (14-year-old Batanguena) with them
to visited Rizal’s maternal grandmother in
Tondo, Manila.
First love of Rizal: Segunda Katigbak who
is already engaged to Manuel Luz
Leonor Rivera
- inspired character of Maria Clara
- they met in Manila, but Rizal left for Europe
on May 3, 1882
- she referred Rivera as his betrothed
- Rivera’s family returned to Dagupan,
Pangasinan before Rizal returned on August 5,
1887, and his father forbade to see Rivera in
order to avoid putting her family in danger.
- Rizal wants to marry Rivera because she is
faithful and he asked permission to his father
to meet her before his second departure but
they never met again.
- 1888, he stopped receiving letter from Rivera
for a year but Rivera’s mother favored to Henry
Kipping, a railway engineer to marry Rivera.
Josephine Bracken
- February 1895, Rizal, 33 met Josephine when
they met due to her father (George Taufer,
blind adoptive father) need to check his
eyes by Rizal.
- they want to marry but due to Rizal’s writings,
the local priest Father Obach asked Rizal to get
permission from the Bishop of Cebu, but Rizal
refused practicing Catholicism (no marriage
happen)
- they got married (civil marriage/common-law
marriage) at Talisay, Dapitan.
- they had a son, but he lived only a few hours
named Francisco.
In Brussels and Spain (1890-1892)
- Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he’s
preparing the annotations of Antonio de
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1609)
where he lived with sisters.
- Rizal had romance with Suzanne Jacoby, 45,
as per historian Gregoria F. Zaide.
- but as per Belgian pros Slachmuylders the 17-
year-old niece, Suzanna Thil.
- Rizal gave the young Suzanna a box of
chocolates.
-Rizal was summoned by the German police,
who suspected him of being a French spy, Noli
me Tangere, published in Berlin in 1887,
and El Filibusterismo, published in
Ghent in 1891.
- Rizal's friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, a
professor and historian born in Austria-
Hungary, wrote that the novel's characters
were drawn from life and that every episode
could be repeated on any day in the
Philippines.
-Rizal contributed essays, poems to the Spanish
newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona here he
used pen names, “Dimasalang”, “Laong Laan”
and “May Pagasa”.
- The idea of his writings is about progressive
ideas of individual rights and freedom,
specifically, rights for the Filipino people.
Return to the Philippines (1892-1896)
- Manila, 1892, he formed a civic movement, La
Liga Filipina but was disbanded by the
governor.
- July 1892, deported to Dapitan, Zamboanga,
peninsula of Mindanao where he built a school,
hospital, water supply system.
Arrest and Trial
- August 1, 1896, he and Josephine left Dapitan
but he is arrested enroute to Cuba via Spain
and imprisoned in Barcelona on October 6,
1896 and sent back to Manila the same day.
- While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued
manifesto (published declaration of the
intentions, motives)
- Rizal was tried before a court-
martial for rebellion, sedition and
conspiracy, and was convicted on all three
charges and sentenced to death.
Execution
- December 30, 1896, by a squad of Filipino
soldiers of the Spanish Army. His last words
were those of Jesus Christ: “consummatum est”
means “it is finished”
- Granted by the mayor of Manila, Manuel
Luengo, Rizal was secretly buried in Paco
Cemetery (Paco Park) in Manila with no
identification on his grave.
-Undated poem Mi ultimo adios been written a
few days before his execution which is hidden
in an alcohol stove.
Works
Novels and essays
- "El amor patrio", 1882 essay
- "Toast to Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo", 1884
speech given at Restaurante Ingles, Madrid
- Noli Me Tángere, 1887 novel (literally Latin
for 'touch me not', from John 20:17)
- Alin Mang Lahi ("Whate'er the Race"),
a Kundiman attributed to Dr. José Rizal
- "Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga-Malolos" (To the
Young Women of Malolos), 1889 letter
-
Annotations to Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas, 1889
-
"Filipinas dentro de cien años" (The
Philippines a Century Hence), 1889–90 essay
- "Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos" (The
Indolence of Filipinos), 1890 essay
-
"Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (Governing
the Philippine islands), 1890 essay
- El filibusterismo, 1891 novel; sequel to Noli
Me Tángere
-
Una visita del Señor a Filipinas, also known
as Friars and Filipinos, 14-page unfinished
novel written in 1889
-
Memorias de un Gallo, two-page unfinished
satire
- Makamisa, unfinished Tagalog-language
novel written in 1892
-
The Triumph of Science over Death, by Rizal
Poetry
-"Felicitación" (1874/75)
- "El embarque"[71] (The Embarkation, 1875)
- "Por la educación recibe lustre la patria"
(1876)
- "Un recuerdo á mi pueblo" (1876)
- "Al niño Jesús" (c. 1876)
- "A la juventud filipina" (To the Philippine
Youth, 1879)
- "¡Me piden versos!" (1882)
- "Canto de María Clara" (from Noli Me
Tángere, 1887)
- "Himno al trabajo" (Dalit sa Paggawa, 1888)
-
"Kundiman" (disputed, 1889) - also attributed
to Pedro Paterno
- "A mi musa" (To My Muse, 1890)
- "El canto del viajero" (1892–96)
- "Mi retiro" (1895)
- "Mi último adiós" (1896)
- "Mi primera inspiracion" (disputed) - also
attributed to Antonio Lopez, Rizal's nephew
Plays
-El Consejo de los Dioses (The Council of Gods)
-
Junto al Pasig (Along the Pasig)
-
San Euistaquio, Mártyr (Saint Eustache, the
Martyr)[75]
First Travel Abroad (1882 – 1887)
After finishing his medical course in
University of Santo Tomas, Jose Rizal then
decided to go to Spain mainly for two reasons:
To finish his medical specialization.
To do his “secret mission” in preparation for
his fight in the Philippines.
His travel was kept secret to avoid detection
and suspicion from Spanish government and
friars.
He then used the name Jose Mercado and was
also assisted by his uncle, Antonio Rivera
The Creation of Noli me Tangere
Winter of 1886 – Jose was flat broke, and he had to
pawn the diamond ring her sister, Saturnina gave to him.
This was memorable for two reasons: the pain of
hunger and sickness he experienced and the creation of
Noli me Tangere
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – A novel used by Jose as a
reference for Noli me Tangere.
January 1884 – Jose suggested that the novel should be
done by a group of patriotic Filipinos, but at the end he
was the only one to finish it.
Half of the novel was written in Paris, he continued a
quarter of his novel in Madrid and the last part in
Germany.
In Berlin, He finalized the revisions in February 1886.
Because Jose was flat broke, his friend, Maximo Viola
funded the publication of the novel where 2000 copies
were printed for 300 pesos.
As a sign of gratitude, Jose gave Maximo one of the
original copies of the novel and a complimentary copy
.Jose admitted that the title, Noli me Tangere was not
originally came from him but from a Bible verse. (John
20: 13-17)
He dedicated the novel to his fatherland- the
Philippines.
First Homecoming
Because of the uproar created by the novel, Paciano
advised Jose not to return home yet.
But Jose was determined to return home because he
wanted to treat his mother’s eyes.
July 3, 1887 – He then boarded Djemnah again after
several years.
July 30, 1887 – He arrived in Saigon , Vietnam which
he boarded his transfer ship, Haiphong bound for Manila
.August 2, 1887 – the steam ship lest for Manila.
The calmness of the sea and the night sky, the
illumination of the moonlight prepared Jose for his battle
against the Spanish.
Aug 5, 1887 – Jose arrived in the Manila.
Upon arrival, he then treated young Filipinos and
introduced European culture
.But one thing that Jose was not able to do, to meet
Leonor Rivera.
Second Travel Abroad ( 1888 -1892)
In September 1887, Jose suspended his trip to Europe
because her sister, Olympia, died of internal bleeding
due to her giving birth.
Even though his family was persecuted because of the
uproar of Noli me Tangere, his family decided Rizal will
stay in the Philippines.
December 29, 1887 – The Church ordered a prohibition
in the publication and circulation of the Noli me
Tangere.
February 3, 1888 – After staying in the Philippines,
Jose left Manila for Hongkong bringing 5000 pesos,
earning from his medical practice.
In Hong Kong and Macao
On Feb 3, 1888, after a short stay of 6 months in his
beloved Calamba, Rizal left Philippines.
Half-sick and Disillusion.
Zafiro - The steamer he rode on
.The vessel arrived in Amoy (Xiamen), china but Rizal
did not land Because of his frail health, the City ‘s rainy
weather and the report that the city was dirty.
While in HongKong he met Jose Ma Basa, Balbino
Maurico, and Manuel Yrairte who were farmer exiles
from the Philippines.
Rizal and Basa went to Macau, rode on a vessel called
Kiu-Kiang.
During Rizal's two weeks’ vacation in Hong Kong,
JAPAN
Rizal arrived at Yokohama
He stayed at Grand Hotel
The next day he went to Tokyo and stay there for 3
days.
Later he moved over to the Spanish Legation on
invitation of its secretary, Juan Perez Caballero.
He accepted the invitational since staying with the
Spaniards would save him money and he believed that
he had nothing to hide from them.
Rizal was impressed of Japan's Culture
Few beggars on the streets; few Thieves
Clean houses
Japanese are Happy and Industrious.
Rizal took time to learn the language and customs of
Japan.
He was embarrassed, because he looks like Japanese
but could not speak Japanese.Seiko Usui or Osei-san
Rizal's love interest in Japan.
For 45 days he stayed in Japan
Rizal left yokohama on April 13, 1888 on board the
steamer
BELGIC bound for USA.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
-Rizal boarded the English vessel Belgic on April 18,
1888.
-Rizal reached San Francisco. Dubbed American as “A
motherland for the poor who wish to work”. And
America is the land Par Excellence of Freedom but only
for the whites.
-They experienced discrimination in America upon
arrival with the Chinese passengers.
-Rizal arrived New York on May 13 and he called New
York.
-The Big Town
Rizal's Impression about America
Positive
-America is a land of great opportunity especially for the
immigrants It has a large farms and factoriesIt has a
high standard of living.
Negative
-Racial Discrimination
-He left New York on May 1888 - March 1889
LONDON
He lived in London from May 1888-March 1889 for 3
Reasons:
1. To improve his knowledge on English.
2. To study Dr. Antonio de Morga's SUCESOS DE LAS
ISLAS FILIPINAS (Historical Events of the Philippines
Islands), with found in the British Museum.
3. London was safe from Spaniards.

He worked in the British Museum Library, studied,

copied, and published Morgan's book.
He stayed as a guest of Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor.
By May, He moved to a boarding house owned by the
Beckett family.
Because he was on excellent linguist, he became
friends with Dr. Reinhold Rost, A Sanskrit scholar of
that century.
 Rost was impressed with his manners and called him
“UNA PERLA DE HOMBRE” or pearl of a Man.