Jose Rizal's short Biography

4. Born on Wednesday, June 19, 1861 at
Calamba, Laguna
Baptized at Catholic Church of Laguna
when he was only 3 days old
Rev. Rufino Collantes, his godfather
Jose came from Christian Saint San
Jos

5. “ Take good care of this child, for
someday he will become a great man”.
- Rev. Collantes

6. Scenic Calamba is the picturesque town
which gave birth to our hero. It was
named after a big native jar surrounded
by a big hacienda which belonged to the
Dominican Order.

10. “My family has never been patriotic for money. If
the government has plenty of funds and it doesn’t
know what to do with them, it had better reduced
the taxes”.
-Doña Teodora Alonzo

18. They believe in old adage:
“Spare the rod and spoil
the child”.

19. Picture of Rizal family praying

21. The marriage of Francisco Rizal
Mercado and Teodora Alonzo
Realonda were blessed with
eleven children- two boys and

22. 1.Saturnina (1850-1913),
2.Paciano (1851-1930),
3.Narcisa (1852-1939),
4.Olympia (1855-1887),
5.Lucia (1857-1919),
6.Maria (1859-1945),
7.José Protasio (1861-1896)
8. Concepcion (1862-1865),
9. Josefa (1865-1945), **
10. Trinidad (1868-1951)
and **
11.Soledad (1870-1929).
Hero’s only
brother and second
father
Filosopo Tasio in Noli
Me Tangere

24. Rizal like a typical Filipino was a
product of mixed ancestry. In his veins
flowed the blood of both East and
West-Chinese, Japanese. Malay, and
Spanish. Rizal’s father was a great
grandson of Lam-co, a Chinese

25. Rizal’s maternal ancestor was Lakan-
Dula, the last king of Tondo. His
maternal great-great grandfather was
Eugenio Ursua, of Japanese blood
and ancestry.

26. The surname of Rizal family was
“Mecrado”, which means “market” to
indicate their Chinese merchant
roots.

27. In 1849, Governor-General Narciso
Claveria issued a decree directing all
Filipino families to choose and adopt
new surname from a list of family
names. This is to Hispanize the Filipino
surnames.

28. Rizal’s father scrutinized carefully
the list of surnames sent to
Calamba such as “Cruz”, “Diaz”,
“GuzmAn”, “Luna”, “Ramos”,
“Reyes”, “Rivera”, “Santos”, and

29. But Rizal chose his own
surname, Mercado, which is
more fitting appropriate to his
farming clan which means

30. It is interesting to note that the
term “Rizal” originated from the
word “ricial” which means “green
field”.

31. Changing Of Mercado To
Rizal
Rizal wrote to his friend, Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt of Austria (1889)
“Our family name was really Mercado, but in the Philippines
there were many Mercados who were not related to us. My
father chose Rizal as our surname because Mercado sounds
common. It is in this respect, as though I am an illegitimate
child”.

32. Solid and massive earthquake
proof.