THE LIFE AND

WORKS OF RIZAL
Prof. Ace D. Wenceslao, MAEd
MODULE 4: RIZAL’S
LIFE: FAMILY,
CHILDHOOD AND
EARLY EDUCATION
Lesson Overview:
Dr. Jose P. Rizal is a genius of his kind who
was molded by his parents and his teachers.
Endowed with versatile gifts, he truly ranked with
the world’s geniuses and became the greatest hero
of our nation.
This module covers the brief history of
Rizal’s life and his education in his early age.
 LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Analyze Rizal’s family, childhood and early education.
2. Analyze the early experiences of Dr. Rizal that gave way
for the realization of injustice and discrimination under
the Spanish Rule in the Philippines and make
connections to the present scenario in the Philippines.
3. Evaluate the work of Rizal when he was still young.
 Jose Protacio
Realonda Alonso
Mercado Rizal
What is the complete name of
Dr. Jose Rizal?

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Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa,
Olympia, Lucia, Maria,
Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad
and Soledad.

What are the names of Dr. Jose

Rizal’s siblings?
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 Calamba, Laguna

Where is the birthplace of Dr.

Jose Rizal

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 Sa Aking mga
Kababata
What is the first poem written
by Dr. Jose Rizal in native
language?
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https://www.britanica.com
Fr. Mariano D. Gomez
Fr. Jose G. Burgos
Fr. Jacinto D. Zamora
What are the complete names of
the three martyred priest?

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 Rizal – Mercado Family
The Rizal’s family is considered as one of the biggest
family during their time Domingo Lam-co, the family’s paternal
ascendant was Chinese who came to the Philippines from
Amoy, China in the closing years of 17 th Century and married a
half-Chinese by the name of Ines dela Rosa.

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 Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso
Mercado Rizal
- Known to a “child of a good family”
- Jose was born on June 19, 1861
- Calamba, Laguna (between 11 and 12 at night)
- He was the seventh of the eleven children of Francisco and Teodora. The
younger of the two boys with the nine sisters.

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 Rizal - Mercado Family
Francisco Mercado (1818 to 1898) – father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13
off springs of Juan and Cirila Mercado. Born in Binan Laguna on April 18, 1818,
studied in San Jose College.
Francisco Mercado Y Chinco
- A prosperous landowner
- Sugar and rice planter
- Well educated having studied Latin Philosophy
- Trader

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Teodora Alonso (1827 to 1911)
- The second child of Lorenzo Alonzo and Brijida de Quintos. Studied at the Colegio de
Santa Rosa.
Terodora Alonso
- A business minded woman, courteous, religious, hard-working and well-read
- One of the most highly educated women in the Philippines during that time
- A gifted woman with insights in literature, art, music and other forms of Filipino
culture
- A fine mathematician, gourmet cook, interior decorator, collector of the books
- Was as Ilocano-Tagalog-Chinese-Spanish descent

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Jose Florentino
- Uncle of Jose Rizal
- Elected to the Spanish Cortes
- Distinguish government servant
- Inspiration of Jose Rizal to be a government servant

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Jose Protacio Realonda Alonso Mercado Rizal
- Jose was named after St. Joseph. Name normally called by his uncle, grandfather and
other siblings
- Protacio comes from the name of St. Protacio a martyr. Filipino priest baptized him a
secular Archbishop confirmed
- Rizal was a shortened form of the Spanish word “second crop”, seemed suited to the
family of farmers who were making a second start in a new home
- Mercado was attached to Rizal to avoid confusion
- Realonda was adopted by Franscisco’s mother in law that gave Teodora a middle
name Realonda

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 The Siblings
Saturnina (1850 to 1913) – eldest of the Rizal children, became the wife of Manuel T.
Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas. She and her mother provided the little Jose with the
basic education by the age of three.

Paciano (1851 to 1930) – the second child in the family and Rizal’s only brother. Was
born on March 7 in Calamba, Laguna. He was fondly addressed by his siblings as Nor
Paciano, short for “Senior Paciano”. The 10 year old brother of Jose studied at San Jose
College in Manila. He became a former and later general of the Philippine Revolution.

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Narcisa (1852 to 1939) – third Rizal, was married to Antonio Lopez, a teacher of
Morong, Rizal. Later in history, Narcisa like Saturnina would help in financing Rizal’s
studies in Europe, even pawning her jewelry and peddling her clothes if needed.

Olimpia (1855 to 1887) – fourth Rizal child, was married to Silvestre Ubaldo. Jose
love to tease her, sometimes good-humoredly describing her as his stout sister. She died
of childbirth.

Lucia (1857 to 1919) – fifth Rizal child, was the wife of Mariano Herbosa.

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Maria (1859 to 1945) – the sixth Rizal child, became the wife of Daniel Faustino Cruz
of Binan, Laguna. It was to her whom Jose talked about wanting to marry Josephine
Brachen when the majority of Rizal family was apparently not amendable to the idea. In
this letter date December 28, 1891, Jose wrote to Maria.

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

Josefa (1865 to 1945) – the ninth child in the family. Panggay was her nickname died
and old maid at the age of 80.

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Trinidad (1868 to 1951) – the tenth Rizal child. Historically she was the custodian of
Jose Rizal’s greatest poem. She died also an old maid in 1951 at the age of 83.

Soledad (1870 to 1929) – the youngest Rizal child became the wife of Pantaleon
Quintero.

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 Jose Rizal’s Childhood
- Jose Rizal had many beautiful memories of childhood in his native town of Calamba
where he grew up with his family. The happiest period of Jose Rizal’s life was spent in
this lakeshore town, a worthy prelude to his Hamlet like tragic manhood.
- Jose Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In 1876, when he was 15 yeas
old and was a student in Ateneo de Manila, he remembered his beloved town.
Accordingly, he wrote a poem Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).

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- The first memory of Jose Rizal, in his infancy, was his happy days in the family
garden when he was three yeas old. Because he was a frail, sickly and undersized
child, he was given the tenderest care by his parents. His father built a nipa cottage in
the garden for him to play in a day. A kind old woman was employed as nurse maid to
look after his comfort.
- “Pepe” or “Pepito” was the childhood nick name of Jose Rizal for the town people of
Calamba.
- Jose Rizal was struck by tragedy with the death of his favorite sister Concha.
- When he was 7 years old, he wrote a comedy for the local fiesta.
- A voracious reader, Jose Rizal was able to read at the age of three.

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- Jose Rizal was influenced greatly by his mother in his education and development of
interest in poetry, music and European literature.
- Readings in Tagalog poetry and assignments in Philippine History inculcated sense of
Filipino Culture.
- At the age of eight, Jose Rizal wrote his first poem in the native language entitled Sa
Aking mga Kababata (To My Fellow Children).

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 Early Religious Writings
1. Ode to Jesus (1875) (To the child Jesus) – a poem of eight verse only.
2. “A La Virgen Maria” (To the Virgin Mary) – a sonnet
3. Alianza Intima Entre La Religion Y La Education (The Intimate Alliance Between
Religion and Education) – a poem written when he was fifteen years old. Reflects
the connection between education and faith.

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 The Parable of the Moth
- Was an inspiration to Jose Rizal. He said, it was not possible to conquer
insurmountable odds and be a martyr in reality but never an illusion.
- The parable of the moth implies that there are things that certain people are willing to
do even if it may cost them their lives.
- In the poem describes that rather than maintaining ordinary conventionalities,
individuals should actively fulfill their own satisfactions and desires by freely
experiencing their own interests rather than conceding to longevity.

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 Early Religious Formation
- Very religious coming from a family of Catholics.
- Learned common Catholic prayers at an early age.
- Her mother taught him to be God-fearing.
- Devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Blessed Mother.

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 Early Education in Binan
- Instruction during this time was quite rigid and strict.
- Knowledge was forced to its students through memory method aided with a whip.
- Jose did not like his experience in Binan under the teacher Maestro Justiniano Aquino
Cruz who never forgot to whip him or punish him with blows in an open palm even
when he was good in class.
- He was advanced beyond his teachers.
- Primarily educated himself in the family library and through conversation with family
and friends.

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- Some of his older classmates were jealous of his intellectual superiority. They
wickedly squealed to the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the school, and
even told lies to discredit him before the teacher’s eyes. Consequently, the teacher had
to punish Jose. Thus, Jose Rizal said that “in spite of the reputation I had of being a
good boy, the day was unusual when I was not laid out on a bench and given five or
six blows.”

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 The Martyrdom of
Gom-Bur-Za
On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workmen of
the Cavite Arsenal under the leadership of Fernando La Madrid, Filipino sergeant, rose
in violent mutiny because of the abolition of their usual privileges, including exemption
from tribute to polo by the reactionary Governor Rafael de Izquierdo. Unfortunately,
this Cavite Mutiny was suppressed two days later by troop reinforcements from Manila.
The Spanish authorities, in order to liquidate Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora, leaders of secular movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes and
their supporters magnified the failed mutiny into a “revolt” for Philippine
Independence.

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 Accordingly, Gom-Bur-Za despite the archbishop’s plea for clemency because
of their innocence, were executed at sunrise of February 17, 1872 by the order of
Governor General Izquierdo. Their martyrdom was deeply mourned by Rizal’s family
and many other patriotic families in the Philippines.
Paciano, enraged by the execution of Father Burgos, his beloved teacher and
housemate, quit his studies at the College of San Jose and returned to Calamba, where
he told the heroic story of Father Burgos to his younger brother Jose, who was then
nearly 11 years old.
The martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za in 1872 truly inspired Jose Rizal to fight the
evils of Spanish tyranny his oppressed people. In 1891, Jose Rizal dedicated his second
novel, El Filibusterismo to Gom-Bur-Za.

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 Injustice to Hero’s Mother
Before June of 1872, a tragedy struck the Rizal’s Family. Dona Teodora was
suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to
poison the latter’s wife. Jose Alberto found his wife living with another man. Infuriated
by her infidelity, he planned to divorce her. Dona Teodora, to avert family scandal,
persuaded him to forgive his wife. The family trouble was amicably settled until the
wife filed a case in court accusing her husband and Dona Teodora of attempting to
poison her.
After arresting her, the sadistic Spanish Lieutenant forced her to walk from
Calamba to Sta Cruz, Capital of Laguna, a distance of 50 kilometers. Upon arrival in
Sta Cruz, she was incarcerated at the provincial prison, where she languished for two
years and half until Manila Royal Audencia acquitted her of the alleged crime.

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Activity 5. E-Portfolio Making

Create a portfolio of the family of Rizal. Indicate the

date of birth and death of each member and their
accomplishments. It is your discretion whether to put their
pictures or not. Be creative in doing your portfolio.
Activity 6. Three Paragraph Essay

Write a three paragraph essay about injustices and

discrimination during the time of Rizal which are still
happening at the present time. Suggest ways on how to
break these toxic and negative “culture” in our country. Be
guide with the rubric below.
 Rubric in Three Paragraph Essay
Indicators Highly Proficient
4 3
Content Specific Writing meets all assignment
content requirements.
Purpose and Support Writing is clear and appropriate for
the purpose of the assignment. All
evidence and examples are effective
and relevant.
Structure and Development Ideas are coherently and logically
organized with well developed
paragraphs and effective transitions.
Language and Mechanics All sentences are well written with
varied sentence structure and
virtually free of errors in grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
Target Audience / Point of Maintains appropriate tone, diction
and vocabulary for various modes of
View / Originality writing.
Proficient
Writing meets most assignment
content requirements.
Writing is generally clear and
appropriate for the purpose of the
assignment with some exceptions.
Organization of ideas is greatly
coherent and logical. In addition,
most paragraphs are well developed
and use effective transitions.
Most sentences are well written with
varied sentence structure and
virtually free of errors in grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
Tone, diction and vocabulary are
mostly appropriate for various
modes of writing.
Acceptable
2 1
Writing meets minimum assignment
content requirements.
Writing is adequate in terms of
clarity and appropriateness for the
purpose of the assignment.
Organization of ideas meets the
minimum requirement for being
coherent and logical. Some
paragraphs may be well developed
and use effective transitions while
others do not.
Minimally acceptable number of
errors in grammar, punctuation and
spelling.
Tone, diction and vocabulary are
adequate for various modes of
writing.
Needs Improvement
Writing meets some/few assignment
content requirements.
Writing may be unclear and
inappropriate for the purpose of the
assignment.
Organization of ideas not meet the
minimum requirement for coherent
and logical. Paragraphs lack
development fail to employ
transitions effectively.
Some/few sentences are well written
with little variance in structure
and/or numerous errors in grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
Lacks some important qualities for
having the appropriate tone, diction
and vocabulary are adequate for
various modes of writing.