José Rizal
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a national hero of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement in the 1880s, which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.
By the early 1890s, amidst the Calamba land dispute, Rizal grew more separatist in his stance, conflicting with several colleagues in the Propaganda Movement. On July 6, 1892, a few days after establishing the secret society La Liga Filipina within Manila, Rizal was arrested by Spanish authorities for alleged possession of a seditious document, being banished to Dapitan in the island of Mindanao. During his exile, Rizal met Josephine Bracken, an Irish woman who later became his common-law wife.
After four years in exile, Rizal left Dapitan for Cuba in August 1896 with the permission of Governor General Ramón Blanco, intending to serve as a doctor in the Spanish territory. However, at a stopover in Barcelona, he was arrested on October 6, 1896 after the Philippine Revolution broke out; the revolution was inspired by his writings. In December 1896, he was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals, which eventually resulted in Philippine independence.
Rizal is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the Philippines, and has been recommended to be so honored by an officially empaneled National Heroes Committee. However, no law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero. He wrote the novels Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo, which together are taken as a national epic, in addition to numerous poems and essays.
Early life
José Rizal was born on June 19, 1861, to Francisco Rizal Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos in the town of Calamba in Laguna as their seventh child. He was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on June 22, 1861, at the Calamba Church by the Fr. Rufino Collantes. Both their families had adopted the additional surnames of Rizal and Realonda in 1849 after Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the adoption of Spanish surnames among the Filipinos through a catalogue; the surname "Rizal" was not included in the list. His parents were leaseholders of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm held by the Dominicans. Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals were of mestizo origin. José's patrilineal lineage could be traced to Fujian in China through his father's ancestor Lam-co, a Chinese merchant who immigrated to Calamba in 1697. On his mother's side, Rizal's ancestry included Chinese and Tagalog. His mother's lineage can be traced to the Florentina family of Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag, Bulacan. She also had Spanish ancestry through the Ochoa family in Cavite. José Rizal's maternal great-great-grandfather, Eugenio Ursua, was of Japanese ancestry.From an early age, Rizal showed a curious intellect. He learned the alphabet from his mother at 3 and could read and write at age 5. Teodora taught Rizal how to compose poems, pray, and to contribute to household chores. His family lived in a bahay na bato: a house style which prominent families incorporate in their houses. The house was situated near the town plaza, described by historian John Ray Jamos as an indicator of the family's influence. In 1865, his 3-year-old sister, Conception, died. He was described as "curious": he liked to learn profusely and ask questions. He had thousands of books in his home and talked with his yaya Aquilina. Rizal was close to his brother Paciano, who had once been mentored by Fr. José Burgos: the former would ask Paciano questions while he would tell him stories. Rizal had pets: a black dog named Usman and a pony named Alipato, given by his father when he turned seven. Historians described Rizal's childhood as happy and showed equal treatment between him and his siblings.
Education
Elementary
Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan due to the death of his private tutor. He did not want to go away from Calamba, with Raul Fernandez stating that a day staying back at his hometown "seemed to him as a day spent in heaven." His school was at the house of his teacher, a nipa house close to his aunt's house. His teacher was knowledgeable, yet strict. Rizal attempted to improve his knowledge in Latin and Spanish. Rizal was not fond of living in Biñan, stating that it was "large and rich, but ugly and dismal." Memorization was much used in teaching and lessons were interspersed with punishments. According to Rafael Palma, he felt humiliated and humbled. Due to one of his classmates mocking him for speaking little Spanish, Rizal was challenged to a fight, which he later won. This gave him the reputation of being a small yet strong boy.Rizal would wake up early and attend the 4:00 a.m. mass. If there was no mass, he would study instead. After, he would eat breakfast and go to class. Then, he left school at 10:00 a.m. for lunch. Subsequently, he would, once again, study. He would return to school at 2:00 p.m. and leave three hours later, then play for a short moment with his friends. He would return home to eat dinner and play again. Upon receiving a letter from his family, Rizal left Biñan in 1870 using a steamboat named Talim. After spending Christmas with his family, it was decided that he would not return to Biñan, but enroll in secondary school in Manila.
Secondary
Rizal's family was prominent, being connected with the local friars, the Alcalde of Laguna. Nobody in Calamba owned land; the owners were the Dominican friars. When the residents were having financial problems, the friars raised the renta decision Francisco Mercado opposed. On February 17, 1872, the Gomburza priests were executed. Due to the family opposing the government, Rizal's brother, Paciano, was connected to the execution. As Rizal was waiting for July, the month he would study in Manila, Jose Alberto, the cousin of Teodora, alleged that the latter attempted to poison him. Due to Alberto being one of the richest in Biñan, the alcalde placed Teodora in prison; she had to walk to the nearest prison barefoot. This caused Rizal to lose trust in men. After the case continued for two and a half years, Teodora was finally released.He enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila after his brother sought help from one of his friends; the school originally rejected him since the academic term already started. Upon enrolling at the school, he dropped the last three names that made up his full name, on the advice of his brother and the Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this, he later wrote: "My family never paid much attention , but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child!"
Before he joined Ateneo, his knowledge of Spanish was little. His understanding of the language improved tremendously during the academic term, giving him the title of class "emperor". His love for books also grew. During the first year of his stay in Ateneo, specifically the first semester, he won first prize in a religious picture contest. He spent his lunch break taking private lessons in Spanish at the Santa Isabel College. In the second semester, he did not try hard to retain his scholarshipoften resenting some remarks of his professoryet gained an "excellent" grade. In his second year in Ateneo, he was, once again, the class "emperor" and excelled in all of his subjects, causing him to be rewarded with a gold medal. In March 1874, he went back to Calamba for his summer vacation. In his third year in Ateneo, he became an "interne" while topping all of his classes and gaining five gold medals. He returned again to Calamba for his summer vacation. Rizal returned to Manila in June 1876 for his last year in Ateneo and was considered as the most brilliant in his school. Rizal graduated on March 23, 1877, and gained a high school certificate as a Bachelor in Arts. He gained numerous prizes and awards.
Tertiary
Rizal went to the University of Santo Tomas for tertiary studies. In April 1877, he was officially enrolled in the school, taking a course in Philosophy and Letters; he was originally uncertain on which course he would take, but picked the course due to his father wanting him to. In the university, he joined numerous literary contests. Simultaneously, he took a vocational course in land surveying in Ateneo, excelling in all subjects. He had numerous extracurricular activities in Ateneo as well, being an officer of the Marian Congregation while being part of the Society of Natural Sciences. When Rizal was 17, he passed the final examination, but the title was issued to him on November 25, 1881, due to him being underage. Upon learning that his mother was going blind, he decided to switch to medicine at the medical school of Santo Tomas during his second year in the university. He stayed in Santo Tomas for an additional four years.Rizal wrote numerous literary works during his stay in the University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo. A La Juventud Filipina, Rizal's submission and the winning poem of a contest held by the Artistic-Literary Lyceum of Manila in 1879, encouraged the youth to work hard and to create a bright future. El Consejo de Dioses, the winning entry of a contest held by the Lyceum of Manila in 1880, is a play located in Mount Olympus where Greek gods contend on the best moral writer. Junto Al Pasig, a zarzuela performed in Ateneo, discusses a boy being tempted by Satan to leave the Catholic faith; the former refused to give up his faith.