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AF TFIEMCETLIINVEE OWF
JOOSFE SRTIZUADL'YSI LNI
BEFORE EXAMS
1861
June 19 – Rizal is born in the town
of Calamba, Laguna, the seventh
1872 child of Francisco Mercado Rizal
and Teodora Alonso y Quintos
February 17 - Three Filipino June 22 – Rizal is baptized as José
priests, Mariano Gomez, José Rizal Mercado
Apolonio Burgos and Jacinto
Zamora, are executed on charges
of subversion
June 26 – Rizal attends Ateneo
1874
Municipal de Manila as a day
scholar November 14 – Rizal
composes the poem “Al Niño
Jesús”
1875
December 5 – Rizal writes the
poems “El Combate: Urbiztondo,” 1876
“Terror de Joló,” “El embarque,”
and “Y es español: Elcano el April 1 – Rizal pens the poem
primero en dar vuelta al mundo” “Alianza íntima entre la religión y
la buena educación”
December 3 – Rizal pens the
poems “El cautiverio y el triunfo,”
1877 “Entrada triunfal de los Reyes
Católicos en Granada” and “La
March 14 - Rizal at the age of
conquista de Granada”
sixteen obtains his bachelor of
arts degree from the Ateneo
Municipal de Manila with the
general average of sobresaliente
(excellent). 1878
June – Rizal meets Miss Segunda
January 6 – Rizal enrolls in
Katigbak
philosophy and letters at the
University of Santo Tomás (UST)
May 21 – Rizal passes the
surveyor’s examination (but is
1879
granted a license only after three
November 22 – Rizal composes years)
his award-winning poem, “A la June 2 – Rizal enrolls in
juventud filipina” (To the preparatory and proper medicine
Philippine Youth) at UST
September 11 – Using the pen
name P. Jacinto, Rizal begins his
1880 diary Memorias de un estudiante
de Manila
April 13 – Rizal wins first prize for
the allegory “El consejo de los
Dioses”
December 8 – Ateneo Municipal 1881
de Manila produces Rizal’s
January 25 – Rizal writes a
operetta “Junto al Pasig”
poem for the Ateneo rector
entitled “Al muy R.P. Pablo
Ramón, S.J., rector del Ateneo
1882 en sus días”February 10 – Rizal
becomes secretary of the
May 3 – Rizal sails for Spain and
Academia de Ciencias
enrolls at the Universidad
FilosóficonaturalesApril 30 –
Central de Madrid with financial
Rizal sketches a pencil drawing
help from his brother Paciano
of Leonor Rivera
August 20 – Diariong Tagalog
publishes Rizal’s first essay
“Amor Patria,” using Laong Laan
as pen name while in Barcelona
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AF TFIEMCETLIINVEE OWF
JOOSFE SRTIZUADL'YSI LNI
BEFORE EXAMS
1884
March 11 – Rizal begins to
study German seriously
June 21 – Rizal is conferred the
degree of licentiate in medicine
June 25 – Rizal delivers a speech
honoring Filipino painters Juan
Luna and Félix Resurrección
Hidalgo
July 1 – Through the newspaper El
Progreso, Rizal asks for freedom
of the press and the Filipino right
of representation in the Spanish
Cortes
August 31 – News of Rizal’s
speech about the two Filipino
painters makes him famous in
the Philippines
1886
February 2 – Rizal arrives in
Germany
April 22 – Rizal writes the poem
“A Las Flores de Heildelberg” (To
The Flowers of Heidelberg)
July 14 - Rizal becomes a member
of the Chess Club of Germany
October 31 – Rizal meets Dr.
Adolf Bernard Meyer, naturalist
of the Dresden University
December 11 – Máximo Viola
joins Rizal in Berlin
December 15 – Rizal starts
teaching Viola the German
language
1888
February 8 – Rizal arrives in Hong
Kong
February 28 – Rizal arrives in
Japan
March 15 – Rizal sees O-Sei-san
for the first time
April 28 - Rizal arrives in the
United States
May 8 – Rizal starts travelling
across the American continent
June 2 - Rizal arrives in London,
England
July 9 – Spanish senator Vida
denounces Rizal in the Senate of
Madrid, calling Noli Me Tangere
anti-Catholic
December 13 – La Solidaridad is
founded with Marcelo H. del Pilar
as editor in chief
1883
June 17 – Rizal arrives in
ParisJune 18 - Rizal visits Leannec
Hospital
June 20 – Rizal visits Lariboisiere
Hospital where Félix Pardo de
Tavera is an extern
September 28 – Rizal goes back
to Madrid and enrolls in
Universidad Central for a second
course in medicine
November 4 – Rizal’s sister
Soledad marries
1885
January 1 – In a letter, Paciano
tells Rizal that it would be too
dangerous for him to return
immediately to the Philippines
June 16 - Rizal is informed by
Manuel Hidalgo about cholera in
Manila
June 19 – Rizal finishes his
degree in licentiate in
philosophy and letters in
Universidad Central de Madrid
with a grade of sobresaliente
November 19 – Rizal learns
about the gambling habit of
Filipinos in Madrid
December 4 - Rizal goes to Paris
and practices ophthalmology
with Dr. de Wecker at the Crugen
Clinic, against his brother
Paciano’s wishes
1887
January – Rizal becomes a
member of the Ethnographic
Society of Berlin
February – Rizal becomes a
member of the Anthropological
Society and the Geographic
Society of Berlin
March 21 – Copies of Noli Me
Tangere become available
April – Rizal submits his thesis
“Arte Métrica del Tagalog” to the
Ethnographic Society of Berlin
June 19 – Rizal celebrates his 26th
birthday in Geneva, Switzerland
August 5 – Rizal arrives in Manila
August 30 – An order prohibiting
the possession and reading of
Noli Me Tangere is issued
September - Olimpia, Rizal’s
sister, dies of hemorrhage while
giving birth
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AF TFIEMCETLIINVEE OWF
JOOSFE SRTIZUADL'YSI LNI
BEFORE EXAMS
1890
February 2 – Rizal arrives in
Brussels, Belgium
May 26 – Rizal’s annotations of
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas become widely read in
the Philippines
May 28 – Through a letter Rizal
informs M. H. del Pilar about the
Filipinos’ gambling habit in
Madrid
June 28 – Friars harass Rizal’s
family in Calamba
July 20 – Rizal’s family loses the
land case against the friars
1892
January 30 – Juan Luna
endorses Rizal’s plan of
establishing a Filipino colony in
North Borneo February - The
Kataas-taasang Kagalang-
galangang Katipunan ng mga
Anak ng Bayan is founded by
Andrés Bonifacio
June 21 – Rizal writes a letter
to Governor-General Eulogio
Despujol, informing the latter
of his return to the Philippines
July 6 – Rizal is arrested and
imprisoned in Fort Santiago for
sedition and anti-religion
September 1 – Rizal starts
corresponding with Father Pablo
Pastells on matters of philosophy
and religion
July 7 – Despujol orders Rizal’s
exile to DapitanAugust 20 – Rizal
writes a poem “A Don Ricardo
Carnicero” for his guardian in
Dapitan
September 21 – Rizal wins the
lottery’s second prize
1889
March 31 – Rizal’s “Me piden
versos” (They Ask Me For Verses)
is published in La Solidaridad
under the pen name Laong Laan
April 12 – Dr. Luis M. de Pardo
delivers a speech against Rizal
and Noli Me Tangere before the
Spanish Congress
May 23 – Rizal’s brother-in-law
Mariano Herbosa dies of cholera
July 12 - Rizal arrives in Paris,
spending days proofreading
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
September 10 – Rizal meets Sr.
Segismundo Moret, a former
minister of the Spanish
government who admires Noli
Me Tangere
1891
March 21 – Rizal finishes his
second novel El Filibusterismo,
but plans to revise some
chapters
October 7 – Rizal informs del
Pilar that he will stop writing for
La Solidaridad
October 9 – Rizal tells Ferdinand
Blumentritt of his decision to
cease writing for La Solidaridad
in order to avoid a schism
among the Filipinos in Spain
December 6 - Rizal’s family
reunites in Hong Kong
December – Rizal is almost
attacked by an Augustinian friar
1893
April 30 – Rizal’s “El consejo de
los Dioses” is published in La
Solidaridad
May 16 – Rizal’s prison guardian
Carnicero is replaced
August 28 - Leonor Rivera, Rizal’s
girlfriend for eleven years, dies
August 29 – Rizal’s mother visits
him in Dapitan
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AF TFIEMCETLIINVEE OWF
JOOSFE SRTIZUADL'YSI LNI
BEFORE EXAMS
1894
February – Governor-General
Ramón Blanco visits Rizal in
Dapitan
June – Rizal makes a successful
operation on his mother’s
cataract
August – Rizal encourages
businessmen in Dapitan to form
a company 1895
August 21 – Rizal exchanges
January 1 – Rizal finishes the
information with Dr. Adolf Meyer
draft of the statutes and
about animal and insect
regulations for the Society of
classification
Dapitan Agriculturists
February - Rizal meets Josephine
Bracken
February 22 – Rizal asks George
Taufer for the hand of Josephine
Bracken
June 1 – Governor-General
Blanco permits Rizal to establish
an agricultural colony in Dapitan
October 22 - Rizal sends a poem
1896 to his mother entitled “Mi retiro”
(My Retreat)
July 1 – Pío Valenzuela visits and
informs Rizal of the impending
revolution against the Spanish
colonial government
July 30 – Rizal receives a letter
informing him that his
application to go to Cuba to
serve the Spanish army as a
military doctor has been
accepted
August 23 – The Philippine
Revolution starts with the Cry of
Pugadlawin
September 4 – On the ship bound
for Spain, Rizal receives news
implicating him as the cause of
disturbances in the Philippines
December 11 – In the presence of
his defender Lt. Luis Taviel de
Andrade, Rizal is charged with
sedition. The following day he
writes his defense
December 15 – Imprisoned in Fort
Santiago, Rizal writes a
manifesto to the Filipinos to stop
the revolution. The Spanish
authorities, however, do not
publish the document
December 27 – Rizal is sentenced
to death
December 29 – Rizal is reputed to
have written an unsigned poem,
later to become known as “Mi
último adios” (Last Poem of Rizal)
December 30 – At 7:03 am Rizal is
executed. In the afternoon,
Narcisa discovers a newly dug
grave at Paco Cemetery. She
marks it with a marble plaque,
with Rizal’s initials in reverse