THE BIRTH OF A NATIONAL HERO

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

• June 19, 1861- Calamba, Laguna Province, Philippines

• He was baptized in the catholic church of his town on June 22,
aged three days old, by the parish priest, Father Rufino Collantes,
who was a Batangueno.

• His godfather (ninong) was Father Pedro Casanas, native of

Calamba and close friend of the Rizal family.

• His name “Jose” was chosen by his mother who was a devotee of
the Christian Saint San Jose (St. Joseph).
HOW MANY JOBS CAN
YOU HANDLE RIGHT
AFTER COLLEGE?
• Physician (ophthalmic surgeon)
• Poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist, historian, architect, painter,
sculptor, educator, linguist, musician, naturalist, ethnologist,
surveyor, engineer, farmer, businessman, economist,
geographer, cartographer, bibliophile, philologist,
grammarian, folklorist, philosopher, translator, inventor,
magician, humorist, satirist, polemicist, sportsman, traveler,
and prophet.
• ETHNOLOGIST
(ETHNIC)
• CULTURE OF DIFFERENT
SOCIETY

• CARTOGRAPHER
(CHART)
• PRACTICE OF MAKING
MAPS

• BIBLIOPHILE
• LOVER OF BOOKS
• PHILOLOGIST
• STUDY OF LANGUAGE IN WRITTEN
HISTORICAL SOURCES
• FOLKLORIST
• LEGENDS, BELIEFS OF DIFFERENT
CULTURES
• SATIRIST (SATISFY)
• SHORTCOMINGS ARE HELD UP TO
RIDICULE, IDEALLY WITH THE INTENT OF
SHAMING INDIVIDUALS, AND SOCIETY
ITSELF, INTO IMPROVEMENT
• SOCIAL CRITICISM: WIT AS WEAPON
• POLEMICIST (POLE)- THE ART OR PRACTICE
OF DISPUTATION OR CONTROVERSY
• TO ESTABLISH THE TRUTH OF A SPECIFIC
BELIEF AND THE FALSITY OF THE CONTRARY
BELIEF. (ARGUMENTATION)
 RIZAL’S INVENTIONS

• HE INVENTED A CIGARETTE LIGHTER, WHICH

HE CALLED SULPAKAN, AND SENT IT TO
BLUMENTRITT IN 1887 AS A GIFT. THE LIGHTER
USED A COMPRESSED AIR MECHANISM.

• WHILE IN DAPITAN, RIZAL ALSO INVENTED A

WOODEN MACHINE FOR MAKING BRICKS
WHICH TURNED OUT ABOUT 6,000 BRICKS
DAILY.
SPECIMENS
• DRACO RIZALI – A FLYING DRAGON

• APOGANIA RIZALI – A SMALL BEETLE

• RHACHOPHRUS RIZALI – A RARE FROG

• SPATHOLMES RIZALI – FUNGUS BEETLE

 Sketches
ARTISTIC WORKS
Saturnina
 Sculpture
ARTISTIC WORKS

Clay Statue of a Wild Pig Triumph of Science and Death

Sacred Heart Model Head of a
Dapitan Girl
Prometheus Bound Josephine while sleeping
RIZAL’S PARENTS
• FRANCISCO MERCADO RIZAL (1818-
1898)
The hero’s father was born in Binan, Laguna, on
May 11, 1818. He studied Latin and philosophy at the
College of San Jose in Manila. In early manhood,
following his parents death, he moved to Calamba
and became a tenant-farmer of the Dominican-owned
hacienda. He was a hardly and independent-minded
man, who talked less and worked more, and was
strong in body and valiant in spirit. He died in manila
on January 5, 1898, at the age of 80. In his student
memoirs, Rizal affectionately called him “a model of
fathers”.
RIZAL’S PARENTS
• TEODORA ALONSO REALONDA (1826-
1911)
The hero’s mother, was born in Manila on
November 8, 1826 and was educated at the
College of Santa Rosa, a well-known college for
girls in the city. She was a remarkable woman,
possessing refined culture, literary talent,
business ability, and the fortitude of Spartan
women.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
1. SATURNINA (1850-1913)
The oldest of the Rizal children, nicknamed Neneng;

she married Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.

Studied at La Concordia College. Published Pascual Poblete’s

Tagalog translation of Noli Me Tangere. Died in 1913 at the

age of 63.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
2. PACIANO (1851-1930)
The older brother and confidant of Jose Rizal; after his

younger brother’s execution, he joined the Philippine revolution

and became a combat general; after the revolution, he retired to

his farm in Los Banos, where he lived as a gentlemen farmer and

died on April 13, 1930, an old bachelor aged 79. He had two

children by his mistress (Severina Decena) – a boy and a girl.

THE RIZAL CHILDREN
3. NARCISA (1852-1939)
Her pet name was Sisa
and she married Antonio
Lopez (nephew of Father
Leoncio Lopez), a school
teacher of Morong.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
4. OLIMPIA (1855- 1887)
Ypia was her pet name; she
married Silvestre Ubaldo, a
telegraph operator from manila.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
5. LUCIA (1857-1919)
She married Mariano
Herbosa of Calamba, who was a
nephew of Father Casanas.
Herbosa died of cholera in 1889
and was denied Christian burial
because he was a brother-in-law
of Dr. Rizal.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
6. MARIA (1859-1945)
Biang was her
nickname; she married Daniel
Faustino Cruz of Binan,
Laguna.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
7. JOSE (1861-1896)
The greatest Filipino hero and
peerless genius; his nickname was Pepe;
during his exile in Dapitan he lived with
Josephine Bracken, Irish girl from Hong
Kong; he had a son by her, but this
baby-boy died a few hours after birth;
Rizal named him “Francisco” after his
father and buried him in Dapitan.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
8. CONCEPCION (1862-1865)
Her pet name was Concha;
she died of sickness at the age of 3;
her death was Rizal’s first sorrow in
life.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
9. JOSEFA (1865- 1945)
Her pet name was Panggoy; she
died an old maid at the age of 80.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
10. TRINIDAD (1868-1951)
Training was her pet name; she died
also an old maid in 1951 aged 83.
THE RIZAL CHILDREN
11. SOLEDAD (1870-1929)
Youngest of the Rizal children; her pet
name was Choleng; she married
Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba.
RIZAL’S ANCESTRY
As a typical Filipino, Rizal was a product of the mixture of races. In his veins flowed the
blood of both East and West- Negrito, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.
Domingo Lameo- Rizal’s great-great grandfather on his father’s. He was a Chinese
immigrant from the Fukein City of Changchow, who arrived in Manila about 1690. Married
to Ines de la Rosa, and assumed in 1731 the surname Mercado.
Francisco Mercado- son of Domingo Mercado and Ines de la Rosa , who resided in Binan,
married a Chinese-Filipino mestiza, Cirila Bernacha. He was elected gobernadorcillo
(municipal mayor) of Binan.
Juan Mercado- Rizal’s grandfather married Cirila Alejandro, a Chinese-Filipino mestiza. Like
his father, he was elected governadorcillo of Binan. Capitan Juan and Capitana Cirilia had
thirteen children, the youngest being Francisco Mercado, Rizal’s father.
 Among the earliest known ancestors of Jose Rizal
were Siang-co and Zun-nio of Fujian, china. Their son
lam-co migrated to the Philippines in the late 1600s.
Lam-co adopted the name “Domingo” and married Ines
de la Rosa, the daughter of Agustin Chin-co and Jacinta
Rafaela, a Chinese Mestiza resident of the Parian.
 Lam-co and Ines heeded the invitation of Spanish friars
to move to the Dominican estate of Biñan, Laguna. Their
son, Francisco Mercado, was born there in 1731. To steer
clear of the anti-Chinese hostility of the Spanish authorities,
Lam-co changed the family surname to the Spanish Mercado
(“market”), which also signified their merchant roots.
 Francisco Mercado married Bernarda Monica of San Pedro,
Tunasan in 1771 and sired Rizal's grandfather, Juan. Juan Mercado
served as the Capitan municipal of Biñan. With his wife, Cirila Alejandra,
he had 13 children; among whom was Rizal's father, Francisco.

As a young man, Francisco ventured to Calamba, then a new

Dominican frontier. He applied for a land grant and was even rewarded
with more land, so that he shortly became one of the top landholders of
the hacienda
 When he was 30, Francisco married Teodora Alonso, a
manila-born girl 10 years younger than him. Teodora’s great-
grandmother was Regina Ursua of Cavite, who wedded
Manuel Facundo de Quintos, a lawyer from Pangasinan.
They made their home in San Pedro Makati and gave birth
to Teodora’s mother, Brigida, who married Lorenzo Alberto
Alonso of Biñan.
 Teodora and Francisco were wed in 1848 and lived in calamba. One year
later, governor-general Narciso Claveria issued the dictum decreeing new family
names for the Indios to facilitate census work and the collection of taxes. Each
province was given a list from which each family could choose a new surname.
The Mercados of Calamba chose the unlisted name Rizal, although they
continued to use the name Mercado. Their original application was for the name
Ricial (meaning “the green of young growth” or “green fields”), which was
connected to their livelihood, but this was denied for no apparent reason.
 In the same way, the Alonsos of Biñan chose the family name Realonda but
continued to use Alonso. This seemed to be a common practice, so that each
family ended up with four surnames: each of the old and new family names of
both the mother and the father. For Rizal, the compounds were his father’s
double surname: Mercado and Rizal, plus his mother’s surname: Alonso and
Realonda.
 Francisco and Teodora’s seventh child, Jose, adopted the
name Rizal to enable him to travel freely and to dissociate
himself from his brother Paciano, who had gained notoriety by
supporting the cause of revolutionary Filipino priests like Fr. Jose
Burgos. It was Paciano who financially and morally sustained
Rizal in his studies abroad.
THE SURNAME RIZAL
• 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. Thus said Dr. Rizal, in his letter to Blumentritt (without
date or place):
 I am the only Rizal because at home my parents, my sisters,
my brother, and my relatives have always preferred our old
surname Mercado. Our family name was in fact Mercado, but
there many Mercado's in the Philippines who are not related to
us. It is said that an alcade mayor, who was a friend of our
family added Rizal to our name. My family did not pay much
attention to this, but now I have to use it. In this way, it seems
that I am an illegitimate son.
 “Whoever that Spanish alcalde mayor was, “
commented Ambassador Leon Ma. Guerrero,
distinguished Rizalist and diplomat, “his choice was
prophetic for Rizal in Spanish means a field where wheat,
cut while still green, sprouts again”.
THE RIZAL HOME
A GOOD AND MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILY