THE TALENTS AND SKILLS OF JOSÉ PROTASIO RIZALMERCADO Y ALONSO REALONDA

Rizal was a polymath , with the ability to master various skills and subject.

ACTOR
He acted as a character in one of Juan
Luna’s paintings and acted in school dramas.

ANTHROPOLOGIST
He made researches on the physical andsocial make up of man.

ARCHEOLOGIST
Rizal studied monuments and antiquecurrency everywhere he went. He drew most of the
monuments he saw.

BOOK LOVER
He had a big library and brought many books abroad. A favorite pastime in Madrid.
Hestayed at home and read until midnight

BUSINESSMAN
He had a partner in Dapitan in theAbaca business there (1892-1896). One of
his profitable business venture was the hempindustry. Rizal engaged in business
in partnership with Ramon Carreon on May 14,1893, a Dapitan Merchant which has a
profitable business ventures in fishing, copra, and hempindustries. He invited his relative
Saturnina andHidalgo to come to Mindanao for some businessopportunities.

CHESS PLAYER
He played chess and bear severalGermans and European friends andacquaintances.

COMMENTATOR
Rizal always expressesand publishes his personal opinion.

EDUCATOR
Rizal taught in hisspecial school inDapitan.
His exile in Dapitan gave him theopportunity to put
into practice his educational ideas. In 1893, heestablished a school which existed until the
end of his exile in July 1896. It began with three pupils
and in the course of time the enrollment increased to 16 and later 21. In his letter
to Blumentritt on March 13, Rizal said that he had 16 pupils in his school and these
pupilsdid not pay any tuition.

ESSAYIST
Reminiscence of a Student in Manila(his first essay) The Philippines a Century Hence(prophesied the
downfall of Spain in Asia)

ETHNOLOGIST
In his travels, Rizal was able tocompare different races and he noted thedifferences.
 He became a member of Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Society whileunder
the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.
June 19, 1861
–
December 30, 1896

FARMER
His total land holdings reached 70hectares containing 6,000 hemp plants, 1,000coconut trees,
and numerous fruit trees,sugarcane, corn, coffee and cacao. He devotedhis time to agriculture and
was able to boughtabout 16 hectares of land in Talisay. There hewas able to plant cacao, fruit
trees, sugarcane,corn and coconuts.

FENCER
He fenced with Europeans and JuanLuna and other friends in Europe.

GRAMMARIAN
“Estudios Sobre la Tagala”
(a birthdaygift for his former instructor, Father Sanchezwho visited Rizal in Dapitan)

HISTORIAN
His annotation of Antonio de Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas entitled him as one

HORTICULTURIST
He experimented on and cultivated plants in Dapitan.
ICHTHYOLOGIST
He collected 38 new varieties of fish inDapitan.

JOURNALIST
He authored several published articles inSpanish and English.

JUDOKA
Rizal was the first Filipino and Malay tohave practiced and in fact, taught martial arts
sport. Jiguro Kano taught him the “Way of Ju”
which means the truth of the universe.

INVENTOR
He invented a cigarette lighter, which hecalled
sulpakan
, and sent it to Blumentritt in1887 as a gift.While in Dapitan, Rizal also invented awooden machine
for making bricks whichturned out about 6,000 bricks daily.

LINGUIST
He spoke over 22 languages including:Tagalog Ilokano Bisayan
SubanonSpanish Latin Greek English French GermanArabic Malay Hebrew Sanskrit Dutch
CatalanItalian Chinese Japanese Portuguese SwedishRussian.

MUSICIAN
He played the flute and composed pieces of music and cultivated musicappreciation.

NOVELIST
- Noli Me Tangere - El Filibusterismo

OPHTHALMOLOGIST
He graduated in an ophthalmologic collegein Spain. His mother who lost her eyesight in1887,
encouraged him to take advanced trainingin ophthalmology. Rizal is famous for this profession -a
practicing ophthalmologist and that
he was able to cure his own mother’s cataract.
Rizal was known to have trained under prominent European ophthalmologists- OttoBecker
and Louis de Wecker. He did practicethe professional backed in his hometown inCalamba Laguna,
while he was in Hong Kongand while in exile at Dapitan.

PAINTER

PHILOSOPHER
Rizal not only loved wisdom but alsoregulated his life and enjoyed calmness of thelife at all time.

PHYSICIAN
He treated several patients afflicted notonly with eye diseases.

POET
Rizal wrote over 35 poems including hisfamous Mi Ultimo Adios, To The Philippines,Our Mother
Tongue, Memories of My town,Hymn to Labor, Kundiman, A Poem That
Has No Title, Song of Maria Clara, To thePhilippines Youth, To Josephine, EducationGives
Luster to the Motherland, To the VirginMary, Sa Aking mga Kabata and others.

POLITICIAN
Although Rizal did not engage in politics, he exposed the evils of the politicalactivities of the
Spaniards in the Philippinesthrough his writing.

REVOLUTIONIST
Rizal encouraged reforms; discouragedold, impractical usage, and desired new anduseful laws to
benefit his countrymen. Hedesired changes for the better.

RHETORICIAN
Rizal has always practiced the art of persuasiveand impressive speaking and writing.

SCIENTIST

Rizal’s practice of many sciences here

and abroad made him noted scientist. Rizal doesloved science and discovery. He was able
toexplore the rich virgin field of Mindanao andwas able to collect great specimens of
lizards,insects, bats, snakes etc. which he was able tosend in a museum in Europe.

SCULPTOR
His works of his father and of Father Guerrico, S. J. typified his sculptural ability.

TRANSLATOR
Christmas message (Hebrew to Spanish)William Tell and Andersen Fairy Tales (Germanto Tagalog)
The Rights of Man (French toTagalog) Zend-Avesta (Arabic to Spanish)

TRAVELER
He traveled around the world threetimes.

TUBERCULOSIS EXPERT
For having cured himself of this disease,he became and was recognized as an expert.

UNIVERSALIST
Rizal was the product of the very firstsynthesis between the civilizations of the Eastand the West. In his
person embodied the idealsof the both.

ZOOLOGIST
He was fond of pets. He researchedlater on their physiology, classification andhabits. A regular
contributor of specimens of reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, insects,crustaceans and other invertebrates
to theDresden museum. When he was an exile inDapitan, he collected different kinds of speciesof
animals. Among there were the Draco Rizali(Wandolleck), a specie of flying dragon;Rachophorous
Rizali (Boetger), a hitherthounknown specie of toad; and Apogonia Rizali(Heller), a small beetle, which
were later namedafter him.
A


Actor
Agriculturist O
 Ambassador of Good Will
 Animal Lover  Ophthalmologist
 Anthropologist  Orientalist
 Archaeologist
 Ascetic
P
B  Painter
 Pharmacologist
 Book lover  Philologist
 Botanist  Philosopher
 Businessman  Physical culturist
 Physician

C
Plant lover
 Poet
 Politician
 Cartographer  Polyglot
 Chess Player  Proofreader
 Citizen of the World  Propagandist
 Commentator  Public relation man
 Conchologist
R
D
 Reformer
 Dramatist  Researcher
 Revolutionist

E 

Rhetorician
Romantic
 Rural reconstruction worker
 Economist

S
Educator
 Essayist
 Ethnologist
 Sanitary engineer

F 

Scientist
Sculptor
 Sharpshooter
 Farmer  Sinologist
 Father of community school  Sociologist
  Fencer  Sodalist
 Folklorist  Sportsman
 Freemason abroad
T
G
 Tourist
 Geographer  Translator
 Grammarian  Traveler
 Tuberculosis expert
H
U
 Historian
 Horticulturist  Universalist
 Humorist
W
I
 Writer
 Ichthyologist
 Inventor
Y
J  Youth leader



Japanophile
Journalist Z
 Judoka
 Zoologist

L
 Laboratory worker
 Linguist
 Lover of truth

M
 Musician
 Mythologist

N
 Nationalist
 Newspaperman
 Novelist