CHAPTER III RIZAL'S LIFE: RIZAL'S FAMILY, CHILDHOOD, AND EARLY

EDUCATION

 José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was born on June

19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna.
 The seventh of eleven children born to a relatively well-off family in
a Dominican-owned tenant land in Calamba, Laguna.
 Jose Rizal lived and died during the Spanish colonial era in the
Philippines.
 In his early childhood, Jose had mastered the alphabet and learned to
write and read. His early readings included the Spanish version of the
Vulgate Bible. At a young age, he already showed inclinations to the
arts. He amazed his family by his pencil drawings, sketches, and
moldings of clay. Later in his childhood, he showed special talent in
painting and sculpture, wrote a Tagalog play, which was presented at a
town fiesta (and later penned a short play in Spanish, which was
presented in school).

Don Francisco Mercado

 Jose's father, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado, was a productive

farmer from Biñan, Laguna.
 He was an independent-minded, taciturn, but dynamic gentleman from
whom Jose inherited his "free soul"
 Don Francisco became tiniente gobernadorcillo (lieutenant
governor) in Calamba and was thus nicknamed Tiniente Kiko. (Some
students' comical conjecture that the fictional character Kikong Mating
of Batibot was named after Don Francisco is, of course, unfounded.)
 Francisco's great grandfather was Domingo Lam-co, a learned pro-
poor or maka masa Chinese Immigrant bus was Domingo harried a
sophisticated Chinese inestiza of Manila named Ines de la Rosa.
 One of their two children, Francisco (also) resided in Binian and married
Beisa. da Monicha.
 Francisco and Bernardas son, Juan Mercado, became the
gobernadorcillo (town mayor) of Biñan, Laguna. He married Cinila
Alejandra, and they had 12 children, the youngest being Jose Rizals
father, Francisco.
 Don Francisco was born on May 11, 1818 in Biñan, Laguna. When
he was eight years old, he lost his father. He was nonetheless
educated as he took Latin and Philosophy at the College of San Jose
in Manila, where he met and fell in love with Teodora Alonso, a
student in the College of Santa Rosa.
 Married on June 28, 1848, they settled down in Calamba where they
were granted lease of a rice farm in the Dominican-owned haciendas.
Doña Teodora Alonso
 Jose's mother, Teodora Alonzo (also spelled "Alonso"), was an
educated and highly cultured woman from Sta. Cruz, Manila.
Common biographies state that Doña Teodora Alonso Quintos
Realonda; also known as "Lolay," was born on November 8, 1826 in
Santa Cruz, Manila and baptized at the Santa Cruz Church.
 Asuncion Rizal-Lopez Bantug, the granddaughter of Jose's sister
Narcisa, contrarily claims that Lola Lolay and all her siblings were born
in Calamba, but (just) lived in Manila (Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 18).
 Doña Lolay was educated at the College of Santa Rosa, an esteemed
school for girls in Manila.
 She was usually described as a diligent business-minded woman;
very graceful but courageous, well mannered, religious, and
well-read, Very dignified, she disliked gossip and vulgar
conversation.
 Possessing refined culture and literary talents, she influenced her
children to love the arts, literature, and music.
 Herself an educated woman, Lolay sent her children to colleges in
Manila. To help in the economy of the family, she ran sugar and flour
mills and a small store in their house, selling home-made ham,
sausages, jams, jellies, and many others.
 It is believed that Doña Teodora's family descended from Lakandula,
the last native king of Tondo. (For young Filipino generations,
Lakandula has to be distinguished from the unofficial Haring Tondo,
Asiong Salonga, the Manila kingpin who was immortalized in the
movie incidentally by laguna's own governor E. R. Eiercito.)
 Lolay's great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua (of Japanese descent)
who married a Filipina named Benigna.
 Regina, their daughter, married a Filipino-Chinese lawyer of
Pangasinan, Manuel de Quintos.
 Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a well-off Spanish-Filipino mestizo of Biñan,
took as his "significant other" Brigida Quintos, daughter of Manuel and
Regina Quintos.
 The Lorenzo-Brigida union produced five children, the second of
them was Jose Rizal's mother, Teodora Alonso Quintos.
 Through the Claveria decree of 1849 which changed the Filipino native
surnames, the Alonsos adopted the surname Realonda. Rizal's mother
thus became Teodora Alonso Quintos Realonda.
Jose's Siblings

 Saturnina Rizal (1850-1913) is the eldest child of Don Francisco

and Teodora Alonso. She and her mother provided the little Jose with
good basic education that by the age of three, Pepe (Jose's
nickname) already knew his alphabet.
 Paciano Rizal, Jose's only brother, was born on March 7, 1851 in
Calamba, Laguna. He was fondly addressed by his siblings as Nor
Paciano, short for "Señor Paciano." The 10-year older brother of Jose
studied at San Jose College in Manila, became a farmer, and later a
general of the Philippine Revolution. After 'Jose's execution. in
December 1896, Paciano joined the Katipuneros in Cavite under
General Emilio Aguinaldo. As Katipunero, Paciano was commissioned as
general of the revolutionary forces and elected as secretary of finance
in the Department Government of Central Luzon.
 Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939) or simply "Sisa" was the third child in the
family. Later in history. Narcisa (like Sturnina) would help in financing
Rizal's studies in Europe, even pawning her jewelry and peddling her
clothes if needed. It was said she could recite from memory almost all
of the poems of our national hero.
 Olympia Rizal (4855-1887) was the fourth child in the Rizal family.
Jose loved to lease her, sometimes good humoredly describing her as
his stout sister. Jose's first love, Segunda Katigbak, was Olympia's
schoolmate at the La Concordia College. Rizal confided to Olympia (also
spelled "Olimpia') about Segunda, and the sister willingly served as the
mediator between the two teenage lovers.
 Lucia Rizal (1857-1919) was the fifth child in the family. She married
Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, Laguna. Charged of inciting the Calamba
townsfolk not to pay land rent and causing unrest, the couple was once
ordered to be deported along with some Rizal family members. (Lucia's
husband died during the cholera epidemic in May 1889 and was
refused a Catholic burial for not going to confession since his marriage
to Lucia. In Jose's article in La Solidaridad titled Una profanacion (A
Profanation), he scornfully attacked the friars for declining to bury in
"sacred ground" a "good Christian' simply because he was the "brother-
in-law of Rizal.")
 Maria Rizal (1859-1945) was the sixth child in the family. It was to
her whom Jose talked about wanting to marry Josephine Bracken when
the majority of the Rizal family was apparently not amenable to the
idea. In his letter dated December 12, 1891, Jose had also brought up
to Maria his plan of establishing a Filipino colony in North British
 Borneo. In his letter dated December 28, 1891, Jose wrote to Maria,
"I'm told that your children are very pretty." Today, we have a historical
proof that Maria's progenies were indeed nice-looking (lahing
maganda). Maria and Daniel had five children: Mauricio, Petrona,
Prudencio, Paz, and Encarnacion. Their son Mauricio married
Conception Arguelles and the couple had a son named Ismael Arguelles
Cruz. Ismael was the father of Gemma Cruz Araneta, the first Filipina to
win the Miss International title, also the first Southeast Asian to win an
international beauty-pageant title
 Concepcion Rizal (1862-1865) Also called "Concha" by her siblings,
was the eighth child of the Rizal family. She died at the age of three.
Of his sisters, it was said that the young Pepe loved most little Concha
who was a year younger than he. Jose played games and shared
children stories with her, and from her he felt the beauty of sisterly love
at a young age.
 Josefa Rizal's nickname is "Panggoy" (1865-1945). She was the
ninth child in the family. Panggoy died a spinster. Among Jose's
letters to Josefa, the one dated October 26, 1893 was perhaps the most
fascinating. Written in English, the letter addressed Josefa as "Miss
Josephine_Rizal" (After Jose's martyrdom, the epileptic Josefa joined
the Katipunan and was even supposed to have been elected the
president of its women section. She was one of the original 29 women
admitted to the Katipunan along with Gregoria de Jesus, wife of Andres
Bonifacio. They safeguarded the secret papers and documents of the
society and danced and sang during sessions so that civil guards would
think that the meetings were just harmless social gatherings.)
 Trinidad Rizal (1868-1951) or "Trining" was the tenth child.
Historically, she became the custodian of Rizal's last and greatest
poem. Right before Jose's execution, Trinidad and their mother visited
him in the Fort Santiago prison cell. As they were leaving, Jose handed
over to Trining an alcohol cooking stove, a gift from the Pardo de
Taveras, whispering to her in a language, which the guards could not
understand, "There is something in it." That "something" was Rizal's
elegy now known as "Mi Ultimo Adios." Like Josefa, Paciano, and two
nieces, Trinidad joined the Katipunan after Jose's death.
 Soledad Rizal (1870-1929) Also called "Choleng." was the youngest
child of the Rizal family. Being a teacher, she was arguably the best-
educated among Rizal's sisters. In his long and meaty letter to
Choleng dated June 6, 1890 (*Jose Rizal on Facebook Courtship." 2013),
Jose told her sister that he was proud of her for becoming a teacher. He
thus counseled her to be a model of virtues and good qualities "for the
one who should teach should be better than the persons who need her
learning." Rial nonetheless used the topic as leverage in somewhat
 rebuking her sister for getting married to Pantaleon Quintero of
Calamba without their parents' consent. "Because of you." he wrote,
"the peace of our family has been disturbed." Choleng's union with
Pantaleon, nonetheless, resulted in the Rizal family's becoming
connected by affinity to Miguel Malvar (the hero who could have been
listed as the second Philippine President for taking over the
revolutionary government after Emilio Aguinaldo's arrest in 1901).
Soledad and Pantaleon had five children: Trinitario, Amelia, Luisa,
Serafin, and Felix. Their daughter Amelia married Bernabe Malvar, son
of Gen. Miguel Malvar

The Surname Rizal

 Had their forefathers not adopted other names, Jose and Paciano could
have been known as "Lamco" (and not Rizal) brothers.
 Their paternal great-great grandfather, Chinese merchant Domingo
Lamco adopted the name "Mercado" which means "market."
 But Jose's father, Francisco who eventually became primarily a farmer,
adopted the surname "Rizal" (originally "Ricial: which means
"the green of young growth or 'green fields
 The new name, however, caused confusion in the commercial affairs of
the family. Don Francisco thus settled on the name "Rizal Mercado" as
a compromise, and often just used his more known surname
"Mercado." When Paciano was a student at the College of San Jose, he
used "Mercado" as his last name. But because he had gained notoriety
with his links to Father Burgos of the "Gomburza" he suggested that
Jose use the surname "Rizal" for Jose's own safety.
 Commenting on using the name "Rizal" at Ateneo, Jose once wrote:
"My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizall,
but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an
illegitimate child! (as cited in Arriza, 2012, para. But this very name
suggested by Paciano to be used by his brother had become so well
known by 1891, the year Jose finished his El Filibusterismo. As Jose
wrote to a friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of
Mercado because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want
to join them and be worthy of this family name

Rizal’s Birth
 Doña Teodora was said to have suffered the greatest pain during
the delivery of her seventh child, Jose. Her daughter Narcisa
recalled: "I was nine years of age when my mother gave birth to Jose. I
recall it vividly because my mother suffered great pain. She labored for
a long time, Her pain was later attributed to the fact that Jose's head
was bigger than normal" (as cited in "Lola Lolay" 2013, para. .
  Jose Rizal was born in Calamba. In 1848, his parents decided to build a
home in this town in Laguna, southern Luzon. The name Calamba was
derived from kalan-banga, which means "clay stove" (kalan) and
"water jar" (banga).
 Jose's adoration of its scenic beauty punctuated by the sights of the
Laguna de Bay, Mount Makiling, palm-covered mountains, curvy hills,
and green fields-was recorded in the poem he would later write at
Ateneo de Manila in 1876, Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (in Memory of My
Town)
 A city since 2001. Calamba is said to have earned the nickname
"Resort Capital of the Philippines" for its more than 600 resorts in
the place today.)
 The first massive stone house (or bahay na bat) in Calamba was the
very birthplace of our national hero. It was a rectangular two-storey
building, built of adobe stones and solid wood, with sliding capiz
windows. Its ground floor was made of lime and stone, the second floor
of hard wood, except for the roof. which was of red tiles. There was an
azoted and a water reservoir at the back. Its architectural style and
proximity to the church implied Rizal family's wealth and political
influence.

The Childhood of a Phenom

 A phenom is someone who is exceptionally talented or admired,

especially an up-and-comer. Rizal, especially during his childhood,
was none less than a phenom.
 Jose Rizal's first memory, in his infancy, was his happy days in their
family garden when he was three years old. Their courtyard contained
tropical fruit trees, poultry yard, a carriage house, and a stable for the
ponies. Because the young Pepe was weak, sickly, and undersized, he
was given the fondest care by his parents, so his father built a nipa
cottage for Pepe to play in the daytime.
 Memory of his infancy included the nocturnal walk in the town,
especially when there was a moon. Jose also recalled the 'aya*
(nursemaid) relating to the Rizal children some fabulous stories, like
those about the fairies, tales of buried treasure, and trees blooming
with diamonds.
 Another childhood memory was the daily Angelus prayer in their
home. Rizal recorded in his memoir that by nightfall, his mother would
gather all the children in their home to pray the Angelus. At the early
age of three, he started to take a part in the family prayers.
 When Concha died of sickness in 1865, Jose mournfully wept at losing
her. He later wrote in his memoir, "When I was four years old, I lost my
 little sister Concha, and then for the first time I shed tears caused by
love and grief (Memoirs of a Student in Manila," n.d.).
 At the age of five, the young Pepe learned to read the Spanish family
Bible, which he would refer to later in his writings. Rizal himself
remarked that perhaps the education he received since his earliest
infancy was what had shaped his habits (*Memoirs of a Student n.d.,
para. 3).
 As a child, Rizal loved to go to the chapel, pray, participate in novenas,
and join religious processions. In Calamba, one of the men he
esteemed and respected was the scholarly Catholic priest Leoncio
Lopez, the town priest. He used to visit him and listen to his inspiring
opinions on current events and thorough life views.
 Also at the age of five, Pepe started to make pencil sketches and
mold in clay and wax objects, which attracted his fancy.
 When he was about six years old, his sisters once laughed at him for
spending much time making clay and wax images. Initially keeping
silent, he then prophetically told them "All right laugh at me now!
Someday when I die, people will make monuments and images of me.
 When Jose was seven years old, his father provided him the exciting
experience of riding a 'casco (a flat-bottomed boat with a roof on their
way to a pilgrimage in Antipolo.
 As a gift, the child Jose received a pony named "Alipato from his father
(Bantug & Ventura, 1997, p. 23). As a child, he loved to ride this pony
or take long walks in the meadows and lakeshore with his black dog
named "Usman."
 The mother also induced Jose to love the arts, literature, and the
classics. Before he was eight years old, he had written a drama (some
sources say "a Tagalog comedy") which was performed at a local
festival and for which the municipal captain rewarded him with two
pesos. (Some references specify that it was staged in a Calamba
festival and that it was a gobernadorcillo from Pate who purchased the
manuscript for two pesos.) Contrary to the "former" common
knowledge however, Rizal did not write the Filipino poem "Sa Aking
Mga Kababata/Kabata" (To My Fellow Children). The poem was
previously believed to be Rizal's first written poem at the age of
eight and was said to have been published posthumously many years
after Rizal's death.
 Some other influences of Rizal's childhood involved his three uncles: his
Tio Jose Alberto who inspired him to cultivate his artistic ability: his
Tio Manuel who encouraged him to fortify his frail body through
physical exercises; and his Tio Gregorio who intensified Rizal's
avidness to read good books.