Jos Rizal

This article is about the Philippine national hero. For other uses, see Jos Rizal (disambiguation). Jos Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda[1][not in citation given][clarification needed] (June 19, 1861 December 30, 1896, Bagumbayan), was aFilipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by National Heroes Committee.
[2]

His execution by the Spanish in 1896, a date marked annually as Rizal Day, a Philippine national

holiday, was one of the causes of the Philippine Revolution. Rizal was born to a rich family in Calamba, Laguna and was the seventh of eleven children. He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended the University

Jos Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Born June 19, 1861 Calamba, Laguna, Philippines

of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. Rizal was a polyglot conversant in twenty two languages.[3][4][5][6] He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most

Died

December 30, 1896 (aged 35) Bagumbayan, Manila,Philippines

famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo.[7] These social commentaries on Spanish rule formed the nucleus of

Monuments

Rizal Park, Manila Calamba City, Laguna

literature that inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. As a political figure, Jos Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan[8] led by Andrs Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent

Alma mater

Ateneo Municipal de Manila,University of Santo Tomas,Universidad Central de Madrid,University of Paris, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg

Organization

La Solidaridad, La Liga Filipina

of achieving Philippine self-government peacefully

through institutional reform rather than through violent revolution, although he would support "violent means" as a last resort.[9] Rizal believed that the only justification for national liberation and selfgovernment is the restoration of the dignity of the people, saying "...why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?" The general consensus among Rizal scholars is that his execution by the Spanish helped to bring about the Philippine Revolution.[citation needed]