Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (“Jose” in honor of Saint Joseph) – June 19, 1861 (Wednesday) Calamba, Laguna “The delivery was exceedingly difficult, and the mother almost died. Her seemingly miraculous survival was attributed to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage (Antipolo, Rizal).
Rizal’s father, Francisco Mercado was born in Binan, Laguna on May 11, 1818. He was an educated farmer having studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila. He married Teodora Alonzo Realonda on June 28, 1848. Teodora was born in Manila on November 8, 1826. A graduate of Santa Rosa College, she was talented woman with high culture, business ability and literary gift.
During Rizal’s time, Calamba was a hacienda town which belonged to the Dominican friars who also owned the land around it. He loved his town with all his heart and soul so that when Rizal was 15 in Ateneo de Manila, he wrote Un Recuerdo Ami Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
June 6, 1868 – Jose and his father went on a pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfill his mother’s vow made during his birth, this was his first out-oftown visit. After playing to the shrine of antipolo, they visited Saturnina who was then a boarding student at La Concordia College in Sta. Ana. He wrote his first poem in the native language, Sa Aking Mga Kababata. He also wrote a tagalong comedy, his first dramatic work which is said to have been staged during a Calamba festival. The manuscript of the play was bought by a gobernadocillo from Paete for P 2. 00. hen I die, people will make a monuments and images of me!
Calamba and Binan – early education Illustrado – characterized by reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Rizal was born a physical weakling, but rose to become an intellectual giant. Pedro, his classmate, laughed at Rizal’s answer in class and later on challenged by Rizal to a fight Rizal defeated Pedro in the fight due to having learned the art of wrestling from Tio Manuel On the same day, his classmate named Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-wrestling match Rizal lost and nearly cracked his head on the sidewalk.
Rizal and his classmate named Jose Guevarra spent many hours at the studio of the painter Juancho and they became the favorite painters of the class “My mother taught me how to read and to say haltingly the humble prayers which is raised fervently to God”. Maestro Celestino and Maestro Lucas Padua – private tutors at home Leon Monroy – instructed Rizal in Spanish and Latin but died five months later.
In 1872, Filipino soldiers and workmen of the Cavite arsenal rose in violent mutiny because of the abolition of privileges and forced labor by Governor Rafael de Izquierdo Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, leaders of the secular movement to Filipinize the Philippine parishes, were executed in spite of the archbishop’s plea for clemency Rizal knew the heroic story through his younger brother Paciano and he was inspired to fight the evils of Spanish tyranny and redeem his oppressed people.
Four months after the martyrdom of GomBurZa and with Dona Teodora’s imprisonment, Jose was sent ot Manila and studied in Ateneo Municipal, a college under the supervision of the Spanish Jesuits. Accompanied by Paciano, he took the entrance exams on Christian doctrines, arithmetic, and the reading at the College of San Juan de Letran.
Before June of 1872, Dona Teodora was suddenly arrested on a malicious charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto, tried to poison the latter’s perfidious wife The lieutenant and the Calamba’s gobernadorcillo, Antonio Vivencio del Rosario, who both frequently visited Rizal’s house arrested Dona Teodora The Spanish lieutenant forced Dona Teodora to walk from Calamba to Santa Cruz (capital of Laguna Province), a distance of 50km and imprisoned her there.
During his college life, Rizal spent his time writing poems, novels, and other literary pieces. A La Juventud Filipina – The poem got the first prize from the literary contest of Liceo-ArtisticoLiterario The first ever poem written by a Filipino and was recognized by Spanish literary authorities El Consejo de los Dioses – This allegorical drama also bagged the first prize in a literary contest. The Spaniards contested the decision, but still, Rizal was awarded the first prize and he was given a golden ring on which Cervantes’ bust was engraved.
Junto al Pasig – It is a zarzuela staged by the students of Ateneo in line with the celebration of the Feast day of Immaculate Concepcion. A Filipinas – A sonnet written in 1880. In this sonnet, he encouraged all Filipino artists to glorify the Philippines. Abd-el-Azis y Mahoma – A poem written in 1879, declaimed by Manuel Fernandez, an Antenean, in honor of the Ateneo’s Patroness Al M. R. P. – He wrote this poem as an expression of affection and thanksgiving to Father Ramon for his unending help during his college days.
