Jose Rizal: Life and Ancestry

• José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born on June 19, 1861.
• Rizal died on December 30, 1896.
• Some of Rizal's notable works include "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo".
• Rizal was a physician, writer, and nationalist.
• Rizal was baptized on June 22, 1861, in a Catholic church in Calamba.
• Father Rufino Collantes performed the baptism.
• Father Pedro Casanas was Rizal's godfather.

Rizal's Paternal Ancestry

• Domingo Lam-co is Rizal's family's paternal ascendant.
• Lamco was a full-blooded Chinese from Amoy, China.
• Lamco came to the Philippines in the mid-17th century and married Inez de la Rosa, who was half Chinese.
• He adopted the name Mercado in the early 17th century.
• Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro was born in Biñan, Laguna, on May 11, 1818.
• He studied Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila.
• Francisco died at the age of 80 in Manila on January 5, 1898.
• Rizal affectionately called his father "a model of fathers."
• Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos was born in Manila on November 8, 1826.
• She studied at the College of Santa Rosa.
• Teodora died in Manila on August 16, 1911, at the age of 85.
• She was a wealthy woman in the Spanish colonial Philippines.

The Mercado Family

• Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso had 11 children including nine girls and two boys.
• Saturnina Mercado (1850-1913) was the oldest child and was nicknamed Neneng.
• She married Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.
• Paciano Mercado (1851-1930) was an older brother and confidant.
• Paciano joined the Philippine Revolution and became a combat general after his younger brother's execution.
• He retired to his farm in Los Baños after the Revolution, lived the life of a gentleman farmer, and died on April 13, 1930.
• Narcisa Mercado (1852-1939) was nicknamed Sisa, and she married Antonio Lopez.
• Antonio Lopez was a school teacher from Morong and nephew of Father Leoncio Lopez.
• Olimpia Mercado (1855-1887) was nicknamed Ypia, and married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph operator from Manila.
• Lucia Mercado (1857-1919) married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who was a nephew of Father Casanas.
• Mariano Herbosa died of cholera in 1889 and was denied Christian burial for being Rizal's brother-in-law.
• Maria Mercado (1859-1945) was nicknamed Biang.
• Maria married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna.
• José Rizal (1861-1896) is considered the greatest Filipino hero and peerless genius.
• José Rizal's nickname was Pepe.
• During his exile in Dapitan, he lived with Josephine Bracken, an Irish girl from Hong Kong.
• They had a son together who died a few hours after birth, and Rizal named him "Francisco" after his father.
• Concepcion Mercado (1862-1865) was nicknamed Concha.
• Concepcion died of sickness at the age of 3.
• Her death was Rizal's first sorrow in life.
• Josefa Mercado (1865-1945) was nicknamed Panggoy.
• She died an old maid at the age of 80.
• Trinidad Mercado (1868-1951) was nicknamed Trining.
• Trinidad also died an old maid in 1951 at age 83.
• Soledad Mercado (1870-1929) was the youngest of the Rizal children, nicknamed Choleng.
• She married Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba.
• The Rizal family belonged to the middle class, principalia, or creole class.
• They had a large two-story stone house with a vast private library with 1,000+ books.
• The family owned a carriage and horses.
• All the Rizal children were educated in Manila.
• Their parents could afford to hire private tutors.

Rizal's Childhood

• The Rizal family's house, where he was born, was a distinguished stone house in Calamba during the Spanish times.
• The house was a two-story rectangular building made of adobe stone and hard woods, roofed with red tiles.
• Rizal's parents employed an aya (nursemaid) who looked after his comfort.
• Rizal's aya told him stories about fairies, aswang, nuno, and tikbalang.
• The daily praying of the Angelus was another childhood memory.
• Rizal's mother gathered all the children at their altar to pray the Angelus at nightfall.
• The nocturnal walk was another infancy memory.
• In 1876, at 15 years old, Rizal wrote "Un Cuerdo A Mi Pueblo," (In Memory of My Town), a poem about his beloved town, while a student at Ateneo de Manila.
• The death of little Concha was his first sorrow.
• He started joining religious processions and novenas in the church at three years old.
• He could read the Spanish bible with his mother's help when he was five.
• "The Story of the Month" profoundly impacted Rizal, who said he "died a martyr to its illusions."
• Rizal sketched and molded clay and wax objects at the age of five.
• At the age of eight, Rizal's first poem titled, Sa Aking Mga Kabata (To My Fellow Children) revealed his earliest nationalist sentiment.

Rizal's First Teachers

• Doña Teodora was Rizal's first teacher.
• Maestro Celestino
• Maestro Lucas Padua
• Maestro Leon Monray
• In June 1869, he needed to leave his family to study in Biñan.
• Rizal studied under Maestro Justiniano Cruz who used reward and corporal punishment to discipline to his students
• Pedro was challenged to a fight.
• Juancho was his painting teacher.
• In December 1870, he received a letter from his sister Saturnina, advising him to ride the steamer Talim back to Calamba.
• He arrived at his home in Calamba on December 17, 1870, at 1:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday.