BIOGRAPHY OF RIZAL
Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal y Alonzo Realonda also known as “Pepe”, as we all know, is our national hero. He was born at Calamba, Laguna and was seventh of the eleven children of Don Francisco Mercado Rizal and Dona Teodora Alonzo Realonda.
Don Francisco is an industrious farmer who came from Binan, while Dona Teodora is a highly cultured and accomplished woman from Sta. Cruz, Manila. It was his loving mother who served as his first teacher who taught him about alphabets when he was 3 years old, and learned reading and writing in two years time, when he was 5 years old then. It was her who first-handedly discovered our national hero’s talent for poetry, that’s why at the age of 8 years old, he had already produced a Tagalog poem that revolves around the theme and idea of loving one’s language entitled “Sa Aking Mga Kababata”.
Rizal went to Binan to have his formal education at the School of Maetro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. In there, knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils through tedious memory method. At the age of 16, he had already obtained a degree of Bachelor of Arts with an average of “excellent” at Ateneo Municipal de Manila, and at that time, he was really uncertain as to what career to pursue, and so, he asked an advice to Father Ramon Pablo, but the rector was not able to suggest any for he was in Mindanao. He also went to the University of Sto. Tomas for higher studies and consequently took Philosophy and Letters while taking other courses such as surveying at Ateneo Municipal as well.
It was during the following term when he finally received the Ateneo Rector’s advice to study medicine. Since he wanted to cure his mother’s growing blindness, in 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Sto. Tomas but had to stop after finishing the fourth year courses of it because according to him, he could no longer endure the rampant bigotry, discrimination, and hostility of the Dominicans.
On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he could continue his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid with the approval of his supportive brother, Paciano, and two sisters, Saturnina and Lucia, except for his parents, who would surely disagree with the idea of leaving the country.
At the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and at the age of 24, he had already finished the course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of “excellent”.
While in Europe, he wrote a novel about his beloved country, the Philippines, which was entitled as “Noli Me Tangere”. And this was where it all started; a few weeks after his arrival in his fatherland, a storm broke over his novel. It was examined as “heretical, impious, and scandalous in the religious order, and anti-patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to the government of Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the political order.”
With the exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and clerical officials, the authorities were not only finding faults but even fabricating changes to pin him down. When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no time in pressing him down; thus, from November 3 to the date of his execution, he was committed to Fort Santiago. With these unfortunate happenings, nothing has stopped him to express his great love for the country and his fellow Filipinos with his poem “Mi Ultimo Adios.” After a mock trial, still, he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association. In the cold morning of December 30, 1896, after all that he did, he was shot at Bagumbayan Field with a heart full of compassion for the country, the Philippines.
Don Francisco is an industrious farmer who came from Binan, while Dona Teodora is a highly cultured and accomplished woman from Sta. Cruz, Manila. It was his loving mother who served as his first teacher who taught him about alphabets when he was 3 years old, and learned reading and writing in two years time, when he was 5 years old then. It was her who first-handedly discovered our national hero’s talent for poetry, that’s why at the age of 8 years old, he had already produced a Tagalog poem that revolves around the theme and idea of loving one’s language entitled “Sa Aking Mga Kababata”.
Rizal went to Binan to have his formal education at the School of Maetro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. In there, knowledge was forced into the minds of the pupils through tedious memory method. At the age of 16, he had already obtained a degree of Bachelor of Arts with an average of “excellent” at Ateneo Municipal de Manila, and at that time, he was really uncertain as to what career to pursue, and so, he asked an advice to Father Ramon Pablo, but the rector was not able to suggest any for he was in Mindanao. He also went to the University of Sto. Tomas for higher studies and consequently took Philosophy and Letters while taking other courses such as surveying at Ateneo Municipal as well.
It was during the following term when he finally received the Ateneo Rector’s advice to study medicine. Since he wanted to cure his mother’s growing blindness, in 1878, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Sto. Tomas but had to stop after finishing the fourth year courses of it because according to him, he could no longer endure the rampant bigotry, discrimination, and hostility of the Dominicans.
On May 3, 1882, he sailed for Spain where he could continue his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid with the approval of his supportive brother, Paciano, and two sisters, Saturnina and Lucia, except for his parents, who would surely disagree with the idea of leaving the country.
At the age of 23, he was conferred the degree of Licentiate in Medicine and at the age of 24, he had already finished the course in Philosophy and Letters with a grade of “excellent”.
While in Europe, he wrote a novel about his beloved country, the Philippines, which was entitled as “Noli Me Tangere”. And this was where it all started; a few weeks after his arrival in his fatherland, a storm broke over his novel. It was examined as “heretical, impious, and scandalous in the religious order, and anti-patriotic, subversive of public order, injurious to the government of Spain and its function in the Philippine Islands in the political order.”
With the exposures of the injustices committed by the civil and clerical officials, the authorities were not only finding faults but even fabricating changes to pin him down. When the Philippine Revolution started on August 26, 1896, his enemies lost no time in pressing him down; thus, from November 3 to the date of his execution, he was committed to Fort Santiago. With these unfortunate happenings, nothing has stopped him to express his great love for the country and his fellow Filipinos with his poem “Mi Ultimo Adios.” After a mock trial, still, he was convicted of rebellion, sedition and of forming illegal association. In the cold morning of December 30, 1896, after all that he did, he was shot at Bagumbayan Field with a heart full of compassion for the country, the Philippines.