Advent of The National Hero
Advent of The National Hero
Advent of The National Hero
· Rizal always called her sisters Doña or Señora (if married) and Señorita (if single)
· Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso Realonda married on June 28, 1848, after which they settled
down in Calamba
· The real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado, which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lamco
(the paternal great-great grandfather of Jose Rizal), who was a 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
Jose Rizal, like many Filipino boys, had many beautiful memories of childhood. His was a happy
home, filled with parental affection, impregnated with family joys, and sanctified by prayers. In the midst of
suc peaceful, refined, God-loving family, he spent the early years of his childhood. The beauties of Calamba
impressed him as a growing child and deeply influenced his mind and character. The happiest period of his
life was truly his childhood days in his natal town.
Calamba, “Craddle of a Genius.” The town of Calamba is situated on a verdant plain by the rippling
Laguna de Bay. A few kilometers to the south looms the legendary Mt. Makiling, and beyond this mountain
lies the coffee-producing Batangas. North of the town spreads the Laguna de Bay, “a lake of poems and
songs”, with many sailboats gliding by the somnolent Talim Island and numerous birds flying in the azure
skies. Beyond the lake, to the far distance in the north, is Antipolo, the famous mountain shrine of the
miraculous Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
Calamba, with its fertile fields of rice and sugarcane, its evermore green meadows of innumerable
fruit trees and bananas, its singing birds abounding in lake, river, and fields, its starry nights ‘filled with the
poetry of sadness,” it’s lovely sunrises over lake and mountains, and its charming panoramic views, is a fit
place to nurture a growing child. So it came to pass that it became the “cradle of a genius”.
Rizal loved Calamba with all his heart and soul. In 1876, when he was 15 years old and was a
student in Ateneo, he remembered his beloved town. Accordingly he wrote a poem Un Recuerdo A Mi
Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
The first memory of Rizal, in his infancy, was his happy days in the family garden when he was three
years old. Because he was a frail, sickly, and undersized child, he was given the tenderest care by his
parents. His father built a little nipa cottage in the garden for him to play in the daytime. A kind old woman
was employed as an AYA (maid) to look after his comfort. At times, he was left alone to muse on the
beauties of nature or to play by himself. In his boyhood memoirs, he narrated how he at the age of three,
watched from his garden cottage the culilan, the maya, the culae, the maria-capra, the martin, the pipit, and
other birds, listening “with wonder and joy” to their twilight songs.
Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus Prayer. By nightfall, Rizal related, his mother
gathered all the children at the house to pray the Angelus.
With nostalgic feeling, he also remembered the happy moonlit nights at the azotea after the nightly
rosary. The aya related to the Rizal children (including Jose) many stories about the fairies; tales of buried
treasure and trees blooming with diamonds, and other fabulous stories. The imaginary tales told by the aya
aroused in Rizal an enduring interest in legends and folklore. Sometimes when he did not like to take his
supper, the aya would threaten him that the asuang, the nuno, the tigbalang, or a terrible bearded and
turbaned Bombay would come to take him away if he would not eat his supper.
Another memory of his infancy was the nocturnal walk in town, especially when there was a moon.
The aya took him for a walk in the moonlight by the river, where the trees cast grotesque shadows on the
bank. Recounting this childhood experience, Rizal wrote: “Thus my heart fed on somber and melancholy
thoughts so that even while still a child, I already wandered on wings of fantasy in the high regions of the
unknown.”
First Sorrow
The Rizal children were bound together by ties of love and companionship. They were well-bred, for
their parents taught them to love one another, to behave properly in the presence of elders, to be truthful
and religious, and to help one another. They affectionately called their father Tatay and their mother Nanay.
Of his sisters, Jose loved most the little Concha(Concepcion). He was one year older than Concha.
He played with her, and from her he learned the sweetness of brotherly love.
Unfortunately, Concha died of sickness in 1865 when she was only three years old. Jose, who was
very fond of her, cried bitterly to lose her. “When I was four years old,” he said, “I lost my little sister
Concha, and then for the first time I wept tears of love and grief….” The death of little Concha bought him
his first sorrow.
GREGORIO – Was a lover of books. He instilled into the mind of his precocious nephew*Jose) a
great love for books. He taught him to work hard, to think for himself, and to observe life keenly.
JOSE – Who had been educated at Calcutta, India, was the youngest brother of Doña Teodora. He
encouraged his nephew to paint, sketch, and sculpture.
MANUEL – Was a big, strong, and husky man. He looked after the physical training of his sickly
and weak nephew. He encouraged young Rizal to learn swimming, fencing, wrestling and other sports, so
that in later years of Rizal’s frail body acquired agility, endurance and strength.
In school studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other
subjects.
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.
Tine came when Jose learned all that Maestro Justiniano could teach him. Accordingly, the teacher
informed his parents that he should be sent to college in Manila.
In December, 1871, Jose received a letter from his sister Saturnina, informing him of the arrival of
the steamer Talim which would take him from Biñan to Calamba.
He prayed in the town church, collected pebbles in the river for souvenirs, and regretfully bade
farewell to his teacher and classmates.
He left Biñan on Saturday afternoon, Dec.17, 1871.
After the happy Christmas holiday in 1871, Don Francisco thought of sending Jose to Manila to
study.
Before June came. Tragedy struck the Rizal family. Doña Teodora was arrested on malicious charge
that she aided her brother, Jose Alberto, in trying to poison Alberto’s wife.
Jose Alberto, a rich Biñan landowner, had gone to Europe on a business trip. During his absence his
wife abandoned their home and children. When he returned to Biñan, he found her living with
another man.
Enraged by her infidelity, he planned to divorce her. Doña Teodora, to avert family scandal,
persuaded him to forgive his erring wife. The family trouble was amicably settled, and Jose Alberto
lived again with his wife.
However, the unfaithful wife connived with the lieutenant of the Guardia Civil to fabricate evidence
that her husband attempted to poison her, with Doña Teodora as an accomplice.
This lieutenant had an ax to grind against the Rizal family because at one time Rizal’s father refused
to give him fodder for his horse.
Ordinarily, Doña Teodora, the accused, should have been confined in the Calamba jail.
The judge, who had also been a guest many times at the Rizal home, was vengeful. Like the
lieutenant, he nursed a grudge against the Rizal family because he imagined that he was not
accorded greater respect than the Filipino guests in the Rizal home.
The lieutenant forced the hero’s mother to walk on foot from Calamba to Santa Cruz, a distance of
more than 50 kilometers.
Doña Teodora, as a worthy mother of a hero, endured her cruel fate with Christian resignation and
courage.
The Rizal family had not yet recovered from the painful shock of the mothers imprisonment when
another calamity occurred.
On January 20, 1872, the Cavite Mutiny flared up, followed by the execution of Fathers Gomez,
Burgos, and Zamora on February 17th.
Jose’s older brother, Paciano, then a student in the College of San Jose, was boarding with Father
Burgos, his beloved professor anf friend. He was atrusted assistant of Burgos in the fight for the
Filipinization of the parishes.
Years later, Dr. Jose Rizal wrote of Burgos: “He awakened my intellect and made me understand
goodness and justice. His farewell words I shall always remember – “I have tried to pass on to you
what I received from my teachers. Do the same for those who come after you.”
Jose Rizal was nearly eleven years old when the tragic martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za took place.
Despite his tender age, he was deeply affected. It was another Spanish injustice, like that done to
his own mother.
Jose was sent to Manila four months after the martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za and with Dona Teodora still in
prison. He studied in the Ateneo Municipal,, a college under the supervision of the Spanish Jesuits.
Ateneo Municipal
Bitter rival of the Dominican-owned College of San Juan de Letran
Formerly the Escuela Pia(Charity School)- for poor boys in Manila established in 1817
In 1859- name was changed to Ateneo Municipal by the Jesuits and later became the Ateneo de
Manila.
June 10, 1872- Jose, accompanied by Paciano, went to Manila to take the entrance examinations on
Christian Doctrine, arithmetic, and reading at the College of San Juan de Letran, and passed them. His
father was the first one who wished him to study at Letran but he changed his mind and decided to send
Jose at Ateneo instead.
Father Magin Ferrando, college registrar of Ateneo Municipal, refused to admit Jose because:
He was late for registration and;
He was sickly and undersized for his age (11 years old).
Upon the intercession of Manuel Xeres Burgos, nephew of Father Burgos, he was admitted at Ateneo. Jose
adopted the surname “Rizal” at the Ateneo because their family name “Mercado” had come under suspicion
of the Spanish authorities.
Ateneo was located in Intramuros, within the walls of Manila. He boarded in a house on Caraballo Street,
25 min walk from the college. The boarding house was owned by Titay, who owd Rizal family P300. Jose
boarded there to collect part of the debt.
Jesuits trained the character of the student by rigid discipline, humanities and religious instruction. They
heard Mass early in the morning before the beginning of daily class. Classes were opened and closed with
prayers.
Each of these empires had its rank. Students fought for positions. With 3 mistakes, opponent’s position
could lose his position.
Ateneo students uniform is consisted of “hemp-fabric trousers” and “striped cotton coat”. The coat was
called rayadillo, and was adopted as the uniform for Filipino troops during the days of the First Philippine
Republic.
Rizal’s First Year in Ateneo (1872-1873).
Father Lleonart requested him to carve for him an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He intended to take
the image with him in Spain but forgot to do so. So the Ateneo boarders placed it on the door of their
dormitory. It plays a significant part in Rizal’s last hours at Fort Santiago.
1. Felix M. Roxas- He related an incident of Rizal’s schooldays in the Ateneo which reveals the hero’s
resignation to pain and forgiveness.
2. Manuel Xeres Burgos- his anecdote on Rizal illustrates his predilection to helo the helpless at the
risk of his own life.
Mi Primera Inspiracion (My First Inspiration)- first written poem of Rizal, which was dedicated to his mother
on her birthday. He wrote it when he was 14 years old.
1. Felicitacion (Felicitation)
2. El Embarque: Himno a la Flota de Magallanes ( The Departure: Hymn to Magellan’s Fleet)
3. Y Es Espanol: Elcano, el Primero en dar la Vuelta al Mundo (And He is Spanish: Elcano, the Fist to
Circumnavigate the World)
4. El Combate: Urbiztondo, Terror de Jolo (The Battle: Urbiztondo, Terror of Jolo)
In 1876, he wrote poems on religion, education memories and war. (e.g. In Memory of my Town)
He experienced his first romance with Segunda Katigbak, a pretty 14 year old Batanguena from Lipa.
One Sunday Rizal visited his maternal grandmother in Trozo, Manila with his friend Mariano Katigbak. One
of whom was an attractive girl, who mysteriously caused his heart to palpitate with strange ecstasy was
Segunda. His grandmothers guests ureged him to draw Segunda’s portrait. “From time to time,” he
reminisced,”she looked at me and I blushed”
Rizal came to know Segunda more intimately during weekly visits to La Concordia College, where his sister
was boarding student. Olimpia and Segunda was a close friend. Theirs was indeed “a love at first sight”.
But Segunda was already engaged to be married to Manuel Luz.
Chapter 5
Introduction
Rizal’s tragic first romance didn’t affect his studies in the University of Santo Tomas.
After finishing his first year of Philosophy and Letters (1877-1878), he then transferred to the medical
course.
Though Thomasian, he was loyal to Ateneo continuing extra-curricular activities there.
He also won many literary laurels, had other romances with pretty girls and fought against Spanish
students who insulted brown Filipino students.