Enjoy Life Being Free !!!

1. “I was born in Kalamba on the 19th of June 1861
between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, a few
days before the full of the moon.”
~

2. Dr. Jose Rizal, the greatest hero of the Philippines, was a
“many-splendored” genius. He was richly dowered by god with
superb intellectual, moral and physical qualities. Truly, he ranks
with the world’s geniuses. He was an anthropologist, botanist,
businessman, cartographer, dramatist, economist, educator,
engineer, essayist, entomologist, ethnologist, farmer, folklorist,
geographer, grammarian, historian, horticulturist, humorist,
lexicographer, linguist, musician, novelist, painter, physician, poet,
philologist, philosopher, polemist, psychologist, satirist, sculptor,
sportsman, sociologist, surveyor, traveler, and zoologist. More than
all these, he was a patriot, hero and martyr. Unlike many geniuses,
he consecrated his God-given talents, and even sacrificed his own
life, for the redemption and welfare of his people. Verily, a man of
his heroism and versatility appears not once in the history of any
nation.

3. In 1861, the year when Rizal was born, the
Philippines was browsing redolently beneath the
shadow of the Cross. Pax Hispanica reigned over the
entire archipelago. The people, despite their bondage to
Spain, were enjoying their serene, simple, and Christian
way of life. Comparatively speaking, they were better off
than the subject peoples in the English, Dutch and
Portuguese colonies during that age. The Spanish
governor-general then was a good militarist, General
Jose Lemery, whose achievement worthy of historical
citation was the establishment of the Politico-Military
Government of the Visayas and Mindanao. No bloody
Muslim piratical raid, no serious native uprising, no
frightful upsurge of banditry, and no threat of foreign
invasion marred the general tranquility of the land.

4. General Jose Lemery

5. Beyond the frontiers of the Philippines, the
world was seething in the throes of political
strifes, social upheavals, and international
intrigues. Gargantuan China was prostrate,
impotent to stop the predatory Western powers
who were busy looting her riches. Her futile
wars with England and France were ended by
the infamous “Conventions of Peking” (October
22, 1860), in which she lost more territories and
was forced to grant more commercial
concessions to the imperialist “foreign devils.”
To worsen matters for the tottering Manchu
dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was
ravaging the rich provinces south of the
Yangtze.

6. The Imperialist Western powers, flushed with
their victories in China, tried to make a repeat
performance in Japan, whose door was unlocked in
1854 to the world by the American commodore,
Matthew C. Perry. Their efforts were, however, foiled
by the valiant Japanese people whose Bushido spirit
outmatched by the intruders’ superior fire-power.
In Indo-china, the French troops of Emperor
Napoleon III, strangely aided by Filipino soldiers
from Manila, were smashing down Annamese
resistance. In 1858 Saigon was captured by the
combined Filipino-French forces, and four years
later France acquired Cochin China.

8. By fire and sword, the British East India Company
armies were establishing the British raj (rule) all over
the sub-continent of India beyond the western frontiers
to Burma. The destructive Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, last
serious resistance to British imperialism in India, was
suppressed at a staggering cost of money and human
lives. England had to fight three Burmese Wars (1824-26;
1862-63; and 1885-86) to subdue Burma.
In January, 1861, Benito Juarez, Indian-blooded
hero, entered Mexico City, at the head of his victorious
Indian and Mexican troops, and proclaimed the
restoration of Mexican independence. Archduke
Maximilian of Austria, who had dreamed of ruling
Mexico with the help of French bayonets, was executed.

10. March of 1861 saw the emancipation of the serfs in
Russia by Czar Alexander II. The following month of Civil
War exploded in the United States over the slavery
question and the issue of secession.
Europe was in turmoil. The German States were being
forged into one nation by Bismarch, notwithstanding
Austria’s opposition. South of the Alps, Cavour and
Garibaldi, in defiance of Austria’s might, were rallying the
Italians to unite and fight for Italia Redenta. In France,
the Second Napoleonic Empire, beset by domestic and
foreign troubles and misgoverned by Napoleon III, was
crumbling to pieces. Only England, of all the Great
Powers, was experiencing relative peace and prosperity.
Under the able rule of Queen Victoria she defeated Russia
in the Crimean War (1853-54), acquired rich colonies in the
East, and attained a new height of glory in diplomacy and
literature.

12. Spain, unlike England, fared ill
under the rule of a woman – Queen
Isabela II (1833-68). She had lost her rich
colonies (except Cuba and Puerto Rico)
in the New World. Her decadence was
accelerated by the chronic Carlist War,
the ruinous political squabbles, and the
bungling policies of her inept monarch.
Such was the global situation at
the time of Rizal’s advent.

13. Near midnight of Wednesday, June 19, 1861,
when the Philippines was in deep slumber, a frail
baby-boy was born to the Rizal family in Calamba,
Laguna. It was a moonlit night, being “a few days
before the full of the moon.” The delivery was
exceedingly difficult, and the mother almost died.
Her seemingly miraculous survival was attributed
to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. Years later
Jose Rizal recorded in his boyhood memoirs: “It was
a Wednesday, and my arrival in this valley of tears
would have cost my mother her life had she not
vowed to the Virgin of Antipolo that she would take
me on a pilgrimage to that shrine.’

16. The baby boy was baptized by Rev.
Rufino Collantes in the Catholic church
of Calamba on June 22, 1861, three days
after his birth. His godfather was Rev.
Pedro Casañas. He was named “Jose” by
his pious mother, in honor of St. Joseph.
It was customary for Catholic parents to
name their children after the saints.
The full name of the baby boy, who
was destined to become the greatest
genius and hero of the Philippines, was
Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso
Realonda.

17. Jose was the seventh of the eleventh children of
Francisco Mercado Rizal and Teodora Alonzo Realonda. Both
father and mother were Filipino parents – devoutly religious,
educated, industrious, affectionate but strict, hospitable and
civic-spirited.
The hero’s father, Francisco (1818-1898), was born in Biñan,
Laguna, on May 11, 1818 and died in Manila on January 5, 1898, at
the age of 80. He was an educated farmer having studied Latin and
Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila. In early manhood,
after his mother’s death, he moved to Calamba and became a
tenant-farmer of the Dominican estate. He married a college-bred
Manileña, Teodora Alonzo Realonda, on June 28, 1848. Dr. Rizal,
his greatest child, affectionately called him “a model of fathers.” He
was quiet, serious, frugal man, taller than the average Filipino, with
wide shoulders, brown complexion, prominent forehead, large
dark eyes, large ears and firm jaws.”

18. The hero’s mother, Teodora (1826-1911), was
born in Manila on November 8, 1826 and died
in Manila on August 16, 1911, at the age of 85. A
graduate of Santa Rosa College, she was
talented woman with high culture, business
ability and literary gift. Dr. Rizal, loving her as
much as his father said of her:
“My mother is more than a woman of
ordinary culture; she knows literature and
speaks Spanish better than I . . . She is a
mathematician and has read many books.”
Aside from helping her husband in farming
and business, she looked after the education
and moral training of her numerous children.

20. God blessed the marriage of
Francisco Mercado Rizal and
Teodora Alonso Realonda with
eleven children – two boys and nine
girls. These children were as
follows:

21. 1. Saturnina (1850-1913) She was the oldest
of the Rizal children. She married Manuel
T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas.

22. 2. Paciano (1851-1930) He was the older brother of Dr.
Rizal. After his younger brother’s execution, he joined
the Revolution and became a general. After the
Revolution he retired to his farm in Los Baños and led
the life of a gentleman farmer. He died an old bachelor,
though he had a common-law wife.

23. 3. Narcisa (1852-1939) She married
Antonino Lopez, a school teacher of
Morong, Rizal.

24. 4. Olympia (1855-1887) She married
Silvestre Ubalde, a telegraph operator
from Manila.

25. 5. Lucia (1857-1919) She married Mariano
Herbosa of Calamba.

26. 6. Maria (1859-1945) She married Daniel
Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna.

27. 7. JOSE (1861-1896) The “lucky seven” in a
family of eleven children. He married
Josephine Bracken, a pretty Irish from
Hongkong.

28. 8. Concepcion (1862-
1865) She died at the age
of three.

29. 9. Josefa (1865-1945) She did not marry;
she died an old maid.

30. 10. Trinidad (1868-1951) She died an old
maid, like Josefa.

31. 11. Soledad (1870-1929) She was the
youngest of the Rizal children. She
married Pantaleon Quintero of
Calamba.

32. Jose Rizal, like a typical Filipino, was of
mixed ancestry. In his veins flowed the bloods
of both East and West – Negrito, Indonesian,
Malay, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.
Rizal’s paternal great-great-grandfather
was a Chinaman named Domingo Lam-co, a
native of Chinchew, “China’s City of Spring”.
His father, Francisco, was a great grandson of
Lam-co. Both his father’s father and
grandfather had been Capitanes (town
mayors) of Biñan.

33. It is said that on the maternal side, Rizal’s
ancestor was Lakan-Dula, the last Malayan King of
Tondo. A maternal great-great-grandfather was
Eugenio Ursua, of Japanese blood. Jose’s mother
Teodora belonged to a clan of gifted men. Her
brothers Gregorio, Manuel and Jose were men of
unusual talents. Her father, Lorenzo Alberto Alonso,
was an engineer who was awarded by Spain with the
coveted decoration of “Knight of the Grand Order of
Isabela the Catholic.” Her maternal grandfather was
Manuel de Quintos, a prominent Manila lawyer. Her
paternal grandfather, Cipriano Alonso, was a Captain
of Biñan. In 1849, when Governor Narciso Claveria
ordered the Filipino families to choose new surnames
from a list of Spanish family names, the children of
Lorenzo Alberto Alonso adopted the name ‘Realonda”.
Hence Teodora Alonso became Teodora Alonso
Realonda.

36. The original name of the Rizal was “Mercado”. It
was a surname adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lam-co,
the paternal Chinese ancestor. In English, it means
“market”. Evidently, Lam-co liked it because it
appealed to his business nature and also because it
reminded him of his Chinchew ancestors who were
mostly merchants.
In the year 1849, as mentioned above, Governor
Claveria issued a decree directing all Filipino
families to choose new surnames from a list of
Spanish family names. The purpose of this
gubernatorial decree was to Hispanize the Filipino
surnames which were difficult for the Spanish
authorities to pronounce, much less to remember.

37. Jose’s father, Francisco, scanned the list of
Spanish surnames sent to Calamba, such as
“Cruz”, “Santos”, “Ramos”, “Rivera”, etc. he did
not like these surnames. Being a man of
independent character, he chose his own
surname Rizal, which was not in the list
recommended by the Spanish authorities. He
considered this new family name as more fitting
for his farming clan than Mercado which
signifies “market”.
The term “Rizal” came from the Spanish
word ricial which means “green field” or “new
pasture”.

38. Mercado which means “market”
Rizal which means “rice field”

40. The Rizal family was one of the richest families in
Calamba during the time prior to its persecution by the
friars. Rizal’s parents, by their industry and frugality,
were able to honestly build up a large fortune. By
present-day standards, they were rich. They were the
first to build a large stone house in Calamba, the first to
own a carruaje (horse-drawn carriage), the first to have
a home library (estimated to consist of more than 1000
volumes) and the first to educate their children in the
colleges of Manila.
The Rizal family raised rice, corn, and sugar on
large tracts of land rented from the Dominican estate of
Calamba. It operated a sugar mill, a flour mill, and a
home-made ham press. It engaged successfully in the
dye and sugar business and in the barter trade
(exchange of products with other towns).

48. Teodora, the hero’s mother, owned a store in town which
sold many articles of trade needed by the people. She was a
successful businesswoman, and the profits of this store
augmented the family income.
In due time, the Rizal family was able to purchase
another stone house in Calamba. This was another proof of
the family affluence.
Not only was the Rizal family of Calamba’s richest
families; it was, withal, highly esteemed and respected.
Combining wealth and culture, hospitality and charm, it
participated in all social and religious activities in the
community.

49. Don Francisco and Doña Teodora were
gracious hosts to all visitors – priests, alferez
(lieutenant of the Guardia Civil), Spanish officials,
and Filipinos – during holidays such as Christmas,
town fiesta and other occasions. Beneath the Rizal
roof, all guests, irrespective of their color social
position, or economic status, were treated equally
– with all courtesy and hospitality.

50. The house of the Rizal family was one of the distinguished
stone houses in Calamba during the Spanish times. It was
rectangular in shape, “of adobe stone and hardwood with a red-
tiled roof.” Behind it were the poultry yard full of turkeys and
chickens and the garden of tropical fruit trees – atis, balimbing,
macopa, papaya, santol, tampoy, etc.
It was a happy home where parental affection and children’s
laughter reigned. By day, it hummed with the jubilant noises of the
children at play. By night, it echoed with the dulcet notes of family
prayers. Both parents and children were harmoniously united by
strong ties of affection and understanding.
Such a wholesome home, naturally, bred a wholesome family.
And such a family was the Rizal family.