Rizal was a Filipino polymath during the 19th century. He was born to a wealthy family and received an excellent education in the Philippines, Spain, and France. He had expertise in many fields including medicine, art, teaching, and writing. As a writer, he published two novels and several essays that were influential in the Filipino independence movement but also made him an enemy of the Spanish colonial government. He was ultimately executed by the Spanish in 1896 at the age of 35, becoming a martyr for the cause of Filipino independence.

1. June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896

2.  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 of Paris and
earned a second doctorate at the University
of Heidelberg.

3. Rizal’s parents: Francisco Mercado and Teodora Quinto

4.  Rizal during his childhood

5.  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.

6.  (left)Rizal’s address card while working as a
doctor. (Right) The Rednazela terrace (as
stated in the address card)

7.  Thisperiod of his education and his frenetic
pursuit of life included his recorded
affections. Historians write of Rizal's "dozen
women", even if only nine were identified.
They were Gertrude Becket of Chalcot
Crescent (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.

8.  (Fromleft) Leonor Rivera and Josephine
Bracken

9.  Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic
movement called La Liga Filipina. The league
advocated these moderate social reforms through
legal means, but was disbanded by the governor. At
that time, he had already been declared an enemy of
the state by the Spanish authorities because of the
publication of his novel.

10.  Novel: The Social Cancer (Noli Me Tangere)
 Noli me tángere (Spanish)
 Noli me tángere (Italian)
 Novel: The Reign of Greed (El Filibusterismo)
 El Filibusterismo (Spanish)
 El Filibusterismo (Italian)
 Rizal's Annotations to Morga's 1609 Philippine History
 Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos
 To the Young Women of Malolos
 The Indolence of the Filipino
 Filipinas dentro de cien años
 The Philippines A Century Hence
 English translation of Filipinas dentro de cien años
 Le Filippine entro cento anni (Italian version)
 Cóme se gobiernan las Filipinas
 Come si governano le Filippine (Italian translation)
 Cóme se gobiernan las Filipinas (English translation)

11.  Moments before his execution by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the
Spanish Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready
to shoot the executioners should they fail to obey orders.[42] The Spanish
Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware
of this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to
silence when they began raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of
Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus
Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.[7][43][44]
 He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no identification
on his grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found
freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the gate.
Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any
ground burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ",
Rizal's initials in reverse.
 Jose Rizal's original grave at Paco Park in Manila. Slightly renovated and
date repainted in English.
 His undated poem, Mi último adiós believed to be written on the day
before his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove, which was later
handed to his family with his few remaining possessions, including the
final letters and his last bequests. During their visit, Rizal reminded his
sisters in English, "There is something inside it," referring to the alcohol
stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be returned after his
execution, thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This
instruction was followed by another, "Look in my shoes," in which another
item was secreted. Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under
American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined, his burial not on
sanctified ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in
his shoes had disintegrated