FAMILY REUNION IN HONGKONG

 Before Christmas of
1891, he was
gladdened by the
arrival of his father,
brother, and
Silvestro Ubaldo
(his brother -in-
law) in HongKong.
 Not long afterwards
his Mother and
sister Lucia,
Josefa, and
Trinidad also
arrived.
 His mother was then 65 years old and was
almost blind. She had suffered so much from
Spanish brutality and injustice.
 The Christmas of 1891 in Hongkong was one of the
happiest Yuletide celebrations in Rizal’s life. For he had a
Family Reunion.
On January 31, 1892, he wrote to Blumentritt,
recounting their pleasant life in Hongkong.

DR.
DR. JOSE
FERDINAND
RIZAL
BLUMENTRITT
OPTHALMIC SURGEON IN
HONGKONG

To earn a living for himself and

for his family, Rizal practised
medicine.
 DR. LORENZO P.
MARQUES – a
Portuguese Physician, who
became Rizal’s friend and
admirer, who helped him
to build up a wide clientele.
In recognition of Rizal’s skill
as an Ophthalmic Surgeon,
he turned over to him
many of his eye cases.
 In due time, Dr.
Rizal became a
successful and
well-known
medical
practitioner in the
British Colony.
 He had many
patients,
including British,
Chinese,
Portuguese, and
Americans.
 He successfully
operated on his
mother’s left eye
so that she was
able to read and
write again.
Aside from being an eye specialist,
he was a General Practitioner.
January 31, 1892, when he wrote
again to Blumentritt, he said:

“Here I practise as a doctor and I

have here many sick of influenza
because there is an epidemic.
Through the newspapers I am
informed that this sickness is also
causing ravages in Europe. I hope
you and your esteemed family
will be spared. In our house, my
 Some friends of Rizal who where in Europe gave him moral
and substantial aid in his medical practise in Hong Kong.
 March 21, 1892, when Biarritz, Mr. Bousted, and
Nellie’s father, wrote to Rizal about praising him for
practising his medical profession.
 Dr. Ariston Baustista Lin, from Paris, sent him a
congratulatory letter and a medical books;
– Diagnostic Pathology by Dr. H. Virchow
– Traite Diagnostique by Mesnichock
 Don AntonioVergel de Dios, also from Paris, offered
him his services for the purchase of medical books and
instruments which he might need in his profession.
 Rizal possessed the qualities of a
great Ophthalmic Surgeon. He had
devoted to his lifetime to the practise of
medicine he would have become one of
Asia’s eminent Ophthalmologists. In the
word of Dr. Gemimanio de Ocampo,
distinguished Filipino Ophthalmologist:

“He (Rizal) had all the

qualities that would make an
ideal ophthalmic surgeon ---
a keen and analytical
intellect, lightness of touch
and artistry of a painter,
courage, and
imperturbability, a broad and