CHAPTER 1

ADVENT OF A NATIONAL HERO

 The birth of a hero
 Rizal’s parents
 The rizal children
 Rizal’s ancestry
 The surname rizal
 The rizal home
 A good and middle-class family
 Home life of the rizal

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Dr. Jose p. Rizal 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.

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 The birth of a hero
• June 19, 1861 - Wednesday midnight, Jose Rizal was born in the town of
Calamba, Laguna Province, Philippines.
• His mother almost died during the delivery because of his big head.
• June 22, 1861 - (3 days old) Rizal was baptized in the Catholic Church by
parish priest Father Rufino Collantes, who was a Batangueño.
• Father Collantes said, “Take good care of this child, for someday he
will become a great man”
• Father Pedro Casanas - his Godfather(ninong), native to Calamba and
close friend of Rizal family.
• His name “Jose” was chisen by his mother who was a devoted of San
Jose (Saint Joseph). 3
 Rizal’s parents
■ Jose Rizal was the seventh of the eleven children of Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora
Alonso Realonda.

• Francisco Mercado (1818-1898)

• Born in Biñan, Laguna on May 11, 1818.
• 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.
• A hardy and independent mind, 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.
• Based from his student memoirs, Rizal affectionately
called him “a model of fathers”.
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Rizal’s parents Continued…

■ 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, lirterary
talent, business ability, and fortitude of Spartan women.
■ Died in Manila on August 16, 1911 at the age of 85.
Before her death, the Phil. Government offered her a life
pension but she courteously rejected it by saying ”My
family has never been patriotic for money. If the
government has plenty of funds and does not know what
to do with them, better reduce the taxes”.

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 Rizal children
■ Don Francisco and Doña Teodora was blessed with eleven
children - two boys and nine girls.
■ The children were as follows:
1. Saturnina (1850-1913)
2. Paciano (1851-1930)
3. Narcisa (1852-1939)
4. Olimpia (1855-1887)
5. Lucia (1859-1945)

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 The Rizal children
1. Saturnina (1850-1913) Saturnina Rizal Mercado de Hidalgo
■ Also known as “Neneng” or “Sra Neneng”
■ Eldest of the Rizal children, Married to Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan,
Batangas and had 4 children: Alfredo, Adela, Abelardo, Amelia and
Augustu.
■ Published Pascual Poblete’s Tagalog translation of the Noli Me Tangere
2. Paciano (1851-1930) – older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal; after
his younger 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, 1930,
an old bachelor aged 79. he had two children by his mistress (Severina
Decena) – a boy and a girl.

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 The Rizal children Continued…

3. Narcisa (1852-1939) – her pet name was Sisa. A teacher and a musician by
profession and married to Antonio Lopez (nephew of Father Leoncio Lopez), a
school teacher of Morong, Rizal. Had nine children
4. Olimpia (1855-1887) - Ypia was her pet name; she married Silvestre Ubaldo, a
telegraph operator from Manila. Blessed with 3 children of whom one was Dr.
Aristeo Ubaldo, one of the few ophthalmologists in the Philippines at that time
connected with the Philippine General Hospital
5. Lucia (1857-1919) – She married to Mariano Herbosa off Calamba, who was a
nephew of Father Casanas. Blessed with 8 children. Herbosa died of cjholera in
1889 was denied Christian burian because he was a brother-in-law of Dr. Rizal.
She died on December 25, 1919 at the age of 62.

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 The Rizal children Continued…

6. Maria (1859-1945) - also called as “Biang”. Married to Daniel Faustino

Cruz of Biñan, Laguna. Blessed with 5 children, one of which was Mauricio
Cruz who was a successful businessman and was one of the pupils of Dr.
Jose Rizal in Dapitan.
7. Jose (1861-1896) – Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
(June 19, 1861-December 30, 1896). Also called as “pepe”; during his exile
in Dapitan he lived with Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from Hongkong; He
had a son by her, but this baby-boy died few hours after birth; Rizal named
him “Francisco” after his father ad buried him in Dapitan.
8. Concepcion (1862-1865) –her pet name was “Concha”. Died at age age
of 3 because of sickness. Her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in life.

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 Continued…
The Rizal children
9. Josefa (1865-1945) – her pet name was “panggoy”; an epileptic, died a
spinster at the age of 80
10. Trinidad (1868-1951) – “Trining” washer pet name. A katipunera and a
Mason. She lived through the world wars until peace was restored. She
also died a spinster in 1951 aged 83. She is the one whom Dr. Jose Rizal
gave the alcohol lamp where he secretly hid the “Last Farewell”
11. Soledad (1870-1929) – youngest of the Rizal children; her pet name
was ”choleng”. She married to Pantaleon Quintero, a town mate and a
native of Calamba, Laguna.

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RIZAL’S RELATION WITH HIS
ONLY BROTHER PACIANO,

■ Who was ten years his senior, was more than that of younger to older
brother.
■ Paciano was a second father to him. Throughout his life, Rizal respected
him and greatly valued his sagacious advice.
■ He immortalized him in his first novel Noli Me Tangere as the wise
Pilosopo Tasio.

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 RIZAL’S ANCESTRY
■ As a typical Filipino, Rizal was a product of the mixture of races.
■ In his veins flowed the blood of both East and West-
 Negrito
 Indonesian
 Malay
 Chinese
 Japanese
 and Spanish

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 RIZAL’S GREAT GREAT GRAND
PARENTS
■ Domingo Lameo – Rizal’s great-great grand-father on his father’s side,
a Chinese immigrant from the Fukien City of Chagchow.
■ Ines de la Rosa – Chinese Christian girl of Manila the surname
Mercado which was appropriate for him because he was a merchant.
Rizal’s great-great grand-mother on his father’s side.

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 DOMINGO MERCADO AND INES
DE LA ROSA HAD A SON,
■ Francisco Mercado – who resided in Biñan, married a Chinese-Filipino
mestiza, Cirila Bernacha, and was elected gobernadorcillo (municipal
mayor) of the town.
■ One of their sons,
■ Juan Mercado (Rizal’s grandfather) – married Cirila Alejandro, a
Chinese-Filipino mestiza. Like his father, he was elected gobernadorcillo
of Biñan.

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 CAPTAIN JUAN AND CAPITANA
CIRILA HAD THIRTEEN
CHILDRENS.
■ The youngest being Francisco Mercado, Rizal’s Father.
■ At the age of eight, Francisco Mercado lost his father and grew up to
manhood under the care of his mother.
■ He studied Latin and Philosophy in the College of San Jose in Manila.
While studying in Manila, he met and fell in love with Teodora Alonso
Realonda, a student in the College of Santa Rosa.

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 DOÑA TEODORA’S FAMILY
■ It is said that her family descended from Lakan-Dula, the last native
king of Tondo.
■ Her great-grandfather (Rizal’s maternal great-great-grandfather) was
Eugenio Ursua (of Japanese ancestry), - who married a Filipina named
Benigna (surname unknown).
■ Their daughter, Regina, married Manuel de Quintos, a Filipino-Chinese
lawyer from Pangasinan.
■ One of the daughters of attorney Quintos and Regina was Brigida, who
married Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a prominent Spanish-Filipino mestizo of
Biñan.
■ Their children were Narcisa, Teodora (Rizal’s mother), Gregorio,
Manuel, and Jose.
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 THE SURNAME OF RIZAL
■ The real surname of he Rizal family was Mercado, which was adopted in
1731 by Domingo Lamco (the paternal great-great-grandfather of Rizal),
who was full-blooded Chinese.
■ Rizal’s family acquired a second surname – Rizal – which was given by a
Spanish alcalde mayor (provincial governor) of Laguna, who was a family
friend.
■ Thus, said Dr. Rizal, in his letter to Blumentritt:
“ I am the only Rizal because at home my parents, my susters, my brother,
and my relatives have always preferred our old surname Mercado. Our family
name was in fact Mercado, but there were many Mercados in the Philippines
who are not related to us. It is said that alcalde mayor, who was a friend of
our family added Rizal to our name. My family did not pay much attention to
this, but now I have to use it. In this way, it seems that I am an illegitimate
son.”
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 THE RIZAL HOME
■ The house of Rizal Family, where the hero was born, was one of the
distinguished stone houses in Calamba during Spanish times.

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 A good and 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.
■ As evidence of their affluence, Rizal’s parents were able to build a large
stone house which was situated near the town church and to buy
another one.

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 HOME LIFE OF THE RIZAL

■ The Rizal family had a simple, contented, and happy life. In consonance
with Filipino custom, family ties among the Rizals were intimately close.
■ Don Francisco and Doña Teodora loved their children, but they never
spoiled them. Whenever the children, including Jose Rizal, got into
mischief, they were given a sound spanking. Evidently, they believed in
the maxim: “Spare the rod and spoil the child”.
■ Life was not, however, all prayers and church services for the Rizal
children. They were given ample time and freedom to play by their strict
and religious parents. They played merrily in the azotea or in the
garden by themselves. The older ones were allowed to play with the
children of other families.

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