José Rizal

"Laong Laan" redirects here. For the railway station,

see Laong Laan (PNR station).

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or

paternal family name is Mercado and the second or
maternal family name is Realonda.

José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Realonda[7]

(Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse riˈsal]; June 19,
1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino
nationalist and polymath during the tail end of
the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines.
An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal
became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda Movement which
advocated political reforms for the colony
under Spain.

José Rizal

Jose rizal 01.jpg

Born José Protasio Rizal

Mercado y Alonso
Realonda[1]
June 19, 1861[2]
Calamba, Laguna,
Spanish Philippines[2]

Died December 30, 1896

(aged 35)[3]
Bagumbayan, Manila,
Spanish Philippines[3]

Cause of death Execution by firing

squad

Monuments Luneta Park, Manila,

Calamba, Laguna,
Daet, Camarines
Norte,
Carson, California

Other names Pepe, Jose

(nicknames)[4][5]

Alma mater Ateneo Municipal de

Manila
University of Santo
Tomas
Universidad Central de
Madrid

Organization La Solidaridad, La Liga

Filipina

Spouse(s) Josephine Bracken

(1896)[6]

Parent(s) Francisco Mercado

Rizal (father)
Teodora Alonso
Realonda (mother)

Signature

He was executed by the Spanish colonial

government for the crime of rebellion after the
Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his
writings, broke out. Though he was not actively
involved in its planning or conduct, he
ultimately approved of its goals which
eventually led to Philippine independence.

He is widely considered one of the greatest

heroes of the Philippines and has been
recommended to be so honored by an officially
empaneled National Heroes Committee.
However, no law, executive order or
proclamation has been enacted or issued
officially proclaiming any Filipino historical
figure as a national hero.[8] He was the author
of the novels Noli Me Tángere and El
filibusterismo, and a number of poems and
essays.[9][10]

Early life

José Rizal's baptismal register

Francisco Mercado Rizal

(1818–1897)

José Rizal was born in 1861 to Francisco Rizal

Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Alonso
Realonda y Quintos in the town of Calamba in
Laguna province. He had nine sisters and one
brother. His parents were leaseholders of a
hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by
the Dominicans. Both their families had
adopted the additional surnames of Rizal and
Realonda in 1849, after Governor General
Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed the
adoption of Spanish surnames among the
Filipinos for census purposes (though they
already had Spanish names).

Like many families in the Philippines, the Rizals

were of mixed origin. José's patrilineal lineage
could be traced back to Fujian in China through
his father's ancestor Lam-Co, a Chinese
merchant who immigrated to the Philippines in
the late 17th century.[11][12][note 1][13] Lam-Co
traveled to Manila from Amoy, China, possibly
to avoid the famine or plague in his home
district, and more probably to escape the
Manchu invasion during the Transition from
Ming to Qing. He finally decided to stay in the
islands as a farmer. In 1697, to escape the
bitter anti-Chinese prejudice that existed in the
Philippines, he converted to Catholicism,
changed his name to Domingo Mercado and
married the daughter of Chinese friend
Augustin Chin-co. On his mother's side, Rizal's
ancestry included Chinese, Japanese and
Tagalog blood. His mother's lineage can be
traced to the affluent Florentina family of
Chinese mestizo families originating in Baliuag,
Bulacan.[14] José Rizal also had Spanish
ancestry. His grandfather was a half Spaniard
engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.[15]

From an early age, José showed a precocious

intellect. He learned the alphabet from his
mother at 3, and could read and write at age
5.[12] Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de
Manila, he dropped the last three names that
made up his full name, on the advice of his
brother, Paciano and the Mercado family, thus
rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of
this, he later wrote: "My family never paid
much attention [to our second surname Rizal],
but now I had to use it, thus giving me the
appearance of an illegitimate child!"[16] This
was to enable him to travel freely and
disassociate him from his brother, who had
gained notoriety with his earlier links to Filipino
priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora (popularly known as
Gomburza) who had been accused and
executed for treason.

Rizal's house in Calamba, Laguna.

Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal"

soon distinguished himself in poetry writing
contests, impressing his professors with his
facility with Castilian and other foreign
languages, and later, in writing essays that
were critical of the Spanish historical accounts
of the pre-colonial Philippine societies. Indeed,
by 1891, the year he finished his El
Filibusterismo, this second surname had
become so well known that, as he writes to
another friend, "All my family now carry the
name Rizal instead of Mercado because the
name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too
want to join them and be worthy of this family
name..."[16]

Education

Rizal, 11 years old, a student at the

Ateneo Municipal de Manila

Rizal first studied under Justiniano Aquino Cruz

in Biñan, Laguna, before he was sent to
Manila.[17] As to his father's request, he took
the entrance examination in Colegio de San
Juan de Letran but he then enrolled at the
Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated as
one of the nine students in his class declared
sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his
education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to
obtain a land surveyor and assessor's degree,
and at the same time at the University of Santo
Tomas where he did take up a preparatory
course in law.[18] Upon learning that his mother
was going blind, he decided to switch to
medicine at the medical school of Santo Tomas
specializing later in ophthalmology.

Rizal as a student at the

University of Santo
Tomas

Without his parents' knowledge and consent,

but secretly supported by his brother Paciano,
he traveled alone to Madrid, Spain in May 1882
and studied medicine at the Universidad
Central de Madrid where he earned the degree,
Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended
medical lectures at the University of Paris and
the University of Heidelberg. In Berlin, he was
inducted as a member of the Berlin
Ethnological Society and the Berlin
Anthropological Society under the patronage
of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow.
Following custom, he delivered an address in
German in April 1887 before the
Anthropological Society on the orthography
and structure of the Tagalog language. He left
Heidelberg a poem, "A las flores del
Heidelberg", which was both an evocation and
a prayer for the welfare of his native land and
the unification of common values between East
and West.

At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal,

completed in 1887 his eye specialization under
the renowned professor, Otto Becker. There he
used the newly invented ophthalmoscope
(invented by Hermann von Helmholtz) to later
operate on his own mother's eye. From
Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: "I spend
half of the day in the study of German and the
other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a
week, I go to the bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to
speak German with my student friends." He
lived in a Karlstraße boarding house then
moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met
Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with them in
Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few
chapters of Noli Me Tángere.

Rizal was a polymath, skilled in both science

and the arts. He painted, sketched, and made
sculptures and woodcarving. He was a prolific
poet, essayist, and novelist whose most
famous works were his two novels, Noli Me
Tángere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.[note 2]
These social commentaries during the Spanish
colonization of the country formed the nucleus
of literature that inspired peaceful reformists
and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was also
a polyglot, conversant in twenty-two
languages.[note 3][note 4][19][20]

Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his

German friend, Dr. Adolf Bernhard Meyer, as
"stupendous."[note 5] Documented studies
show him to be a polymath with the ability to
master various skills and subjects.[19][21][21][22]
He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter,
educator, farmer, historian, playwright and
journalist. Besides poetry and creative writing,
he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise,
in architecture, cartography, economics,
ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics,
martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He
was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge
No. 9 during his time in Spain and becoming a
Master Mason in 1884.

Personal life, relationships

and ventures

Rednaxela Terrace, where Rizal lived

during his self-imposed exile in Hong
Kong (photo taken in 2011).

José Rizal's life is one of the most documented

of 19th century Filipinos due to the vast and
extensive records written by and about him.[23]
Almost everything in his short life is recorded
somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and
prolific letter writer, much of the material
having survived. His biographers, however,
have faced difficulty in translating his writings
because of Rizal's habit of switching from one
language to another.

They drew largely from his travel diaries with

their insights of a young Asian encountering
the West for the first time. They included his
later trips, home and back again to Europe
through Japan and the United States,[24] and,
finally, through his self-imposed exile in Hong
Kong.

Shortly after he graduated from the Ateneo

Municipal de Manila (now Ateneo de Manila
University), Rizal (who was then 16 years old)
and a friend, Mariano Katigbak, came to visit
Rizal's maternal grandmother in Tondo, Manila.
Mariano brought along his sister, Segunda
Katigbak, a 14-year-old Batangueña from Lipa,
Batangas. It was the first time they met and
Rizal described Segunda as "rather short, with
eyes that were eloquent and ardent at times
and languid at others, rosy–cheeked, with an
enchanting and provocative smile that revealed
very beautiful teeth, and the air of a sylph; her
entire self diffused a mysterious charm." His
grandmother's guests were mostly college
students and they knew that Rizal had skills in
painting. They suggested that Rizal should
make a portrait of Segunda. He complied
reluctantly and made a pencil sketch of her.
Unfortunately for him, Katigbak was engaged
to Manuel Luz.[25]

Business card shows Dr. José Rizal

is an Ophthalmologist in Hong Kong

From December 1891 to June 1892, Rizal lived

with his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela
Terrace, Mid-levels, Hong Kong Island. Rizal
used 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong
Kong Island, as his ophthalmologist clinic from
2 pm to 6 pm. This period of his life included
his recorded affections of which nine were
identified. They were Gertrude Beckett of
Chalcot Crescent, Primrose Hill, Camden,
London, wealthy and high-minded Nelly
Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant
family, last descendant of a noble Japanese
family Seiko Usui (affectionately called O-Sei-
san), his earlier friendship with Segunda
Katigbak, Leonor Valenzuela, and eight-year
romantic relationship with a distant cousin,
Leonor Rivera (popularly thought to be the
inspiration for the character of María Clara in
Noli me tangere).

Affair

In one recorded fall from grace he succumbed

to the temptation of a 'lady of the camellias'.
The writer, Maximo Viola, a friend of Rizal's,
was alluding to Dumas's 1848 novel, La dame
aux camelias, about a man who fell in love with
a courtesan. While the affair was on record,
there was no account in Viola's letter whether
it was more than one-night and if it was more a
business transaction than an amorous
affair.[26][27][note 6]

Association with Leonor Rivera

See also: Leonor Rivera

A crayon portrait of Leonor Rivera by

José Rizal

Leonor Rivera is thought to be the inspiration

for the character of María Clara in Noli Me
Tángere and El Filibusterismo.[28] Rivera and
Rizal first met in Manila when Rivera was only
14 years old. When Rizal left for Europe on May
3, 1882, Rivera was 16 years of age. Their
correspondence began when Rizal left a poem
for Rivera saying farewell.[29]

The correspondence between Rivera and Rizal

kept him focused on his studies in Europe.
They employed codes in their letters because
Rivera's mother did not favor Rizal. A letter
from Mariano Katigbak dated June 27, 1884,
referred to Rivera as Rizal's "betrothed".
Katigbak described Rivera as having been
greatly affected by Rizal's departure,
frequently sick because of insomnia.

When Rizal returned to the Philippines on

August 5, 1887, Rivera and her family had
moved back to Dagupan, Pangasinan. Rizal
was forbidden by his father Francisco Mercado
to see Rivera in order to avoid putting the
Rivera family in danger because at the time
Rizal was already labeled by the criollo elite as
a filibustero or subversive[29] because of his
novel Noli Me Tángere. Rizal wanted to marry
Rivera while he was still in the Philippines
because of Rivera's uncomplaining fidelity.
Rizal asked permission from his father one
more time before his second departure from
the Philippines. The meeting never happened.
In 1888, Rizal stopped receiving letters from
Rivera for a year, although Rizal kept sending
letters to Rivera. The reason for Rivera's year
of silence was the connivance between
Rivera's mother and the Englishman named
Henry Kipping, a railway engineer who fell in
love with Rivera and was favored by Rivera's
mother.[29][30] The news of Leonor Rivera's
marriage to Kipping devastated Rizal.

His European friends kept almost everything he

gave them, including doodlings on pieces of
paper. In the home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro
Ortiga y Pérez, he left an impression that was
to be remembered by his daughter, Consuelo.
In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent
there and regaled them with his wit, social
graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In London,
during his research on Antonio de Morga's
writings, he became a regular guest in the
home of Reinhold Rost of the British Museum
who referred to him as "a gem of a
man."[23][note 7] The family of Karl Ullmer,
pastor of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts
saved even buttonholes and napkins with
sketches and notes. They were ultimately
bequeathed to the Rizal family to form a
treasure trove of memorabilia.

Josephine Bracken was

Rizal's common-law wife
whom he reportedly married
shortly before his execution

Relationship with Josephine Bracken

Further information: Josephine Bracken

In February 1895, Rizal, 33, met Josephine

Bracken, an Irish woman from Hong Kong,
when she accompanied her blind adoptive
father, George Taufer, to have his eyes
checked by Rizal.[31] After frequent visits, Rizal
and Bracken fell in love with each other. They
applied to marry but, because of Rizal's
reputation from his writings and political
stance, the local priest Father Obach would
only hold the ceremony if Rizal could get
permission from the Bishop of Cebu. He was
unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage
because he would not return to Catholicism.[6]

After accompanying her father to Manila on her

return to Hong Kong, and before heading back
to Dapitan to live with Rizal, Josephine
introduced herself to members of Rizal's family
in Manila. His mother suggested a civil
marriage, which she believed to be a lesser
sacrament but less sinful to Rizal's conscience
than making any sort of political retraction in
order to gain permission from the Bishop.[32]
Rizal and Josephine lived as husband and wife
in a common-law marriage in Talisay in
Dapitan. The couple had a son who lived only
for a few hours after Josephine suffered a
miscarriage; Rizal named him after his father
Francisco.[33]

In Brussels and Spain (1890–

92)

In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he

was preparing for the publication of his
annotations of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas (1609). He lived in the
boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters,
Catherina and Suzanna, who had a niece
Suzanna ("Thil"), age 16. Historian Gregorio F.
Zaide states that Rizal had "his romance with
Suzanne Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his
landladies." Belgian Pros Slachmuylders,
however, believed that Rizal had a romance
with the 17-year-old niece, Suzanna Thil, as his
other liaisons were all with young women.[34]
He found records clarifying their names and
ages.