The Mercado - Rizal Family
The ninth child. An epileptic, died a spinster.
The Rizals is considered one of the biggest families
during their time. Domingo Lam-co, the family's
paternal ascendant was a full-blooded Chinese who
came to the Philippines from Amoy, China in the
closing years of the 17th century and married a
Chinese half-breed by the name of Ines de la Rosa.
Researchers revealed that the Mercado-Rizal family
had also traces of Japanese, Spanish, Malay and Even
Negrito blood aside from Chinese.
Jose Rizal came from a 13-member family consisting
of his parents, Francisco Mercado II and Teodora
Alonso Realonda, and nine sisters and one brother.
FRANCISCO MERCADO (1818-1898)
Father of Jose Rizal who was the youngest of 13
offsprings of Juan and Cirila Mercado. Born in Biñan,
Laguna on April 18, 1818; studied in San Jose
College, Manila; and died in Manila.
TEODORA ALONSO (1827-1913)
Mother of Jose Rizal who was the second child of
Lorenzo Alonso and Brijida de Quintos. She studied
at the Colegio de Santa Rosa. She was a business-
minded woman, courteous, religious, hard-working
and well-read. She was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on
November 14, 1827 and died in 1913 in Manila.
SATURNINA RIZAL (1850-1913)
Eldest child of the Rizal-Alonzo marriage. Married
Manuel Timoteo Hidalgo of Tanauan, Batangas.
PACIANO RIZAL (1851-1930)
Only brother of Jose Rizal and the second child.
Studied at San Jose College in Manila; became a
farmer and later a general of the Philippine
Revolution.
NARCISA RIZAL (1852-1939)
The third child. married Antonio Lopez at Morong,
Rizal; a teacher and musician.
OLYMPIA RIZAL (1855-1887)
The fourth child. Married Silvestre Ubaldo; died in
1887 from childbirth.
LUCIA RIZAL (1857-1919)
The fifth child. Married Matriano Herbosa.
MARIA RIZAL (1859-1945)
The sixth child. Married Daniel Faustino Cruz of
Biñan, Laguna.
JOSE RIZAL (1861-1896)
The second son and the seventh child. He was
executed by the Spaniards on December 30,1896.
CONCEPCION RIZAL (1862-1865)
The eight child. Died at the age of three.
JOSEFA RIZAL (1865-1945)
TRINIDAD RIZAL (1868-1951)
The tenth child. Died a spinster and the last of the
family to die.
SOLEDAD RIZAL (1870-1929)
The youngest child married Pantaleon Quintero.
1871
His mother was imprisoned in Sta. Cruz, Laguna for
allegedly poisoning the wife of her cousin Jose
Alberto, a rich property owner of Biñan and brother
of Manuel and Gregorio.
1872
For the first time, Rizal heard of the word filibustero
which his father forbid the members of his family to
utter, including such names as Cavite and Burgos. (It
must be remembered that because of the Cavite
Mutiny on January 20, 1872, Fathers Mariano Gomez,
Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora were garroted at
Bagumbayan Field on February 17, 1872.)
Early Education in Calamba and Biñan
Rizal had his early education in Calamba and Biñan.
It was a typical schooling that a son of an ilustrado
family received during his time, characterized by the
four R’s- reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion.
Instruction was rigid and strict. Knowledge was
forced into the minds of the pupils by means of the
tedious memory method aided by the teacher’s
whip. Despite the defects of the Spanish system of
elementary education, Rizal was able to acquire the
necessary instruction preparatory for college work in
Manila. It may be said that Rizal, who was born a
physical weakling, rose to become an intellectual
giant not because of, but rather in spite of, the
outmoded and backward system of instruction
obtaining in the Philippines during the last decades
of Spanish regime.
The Hero’s First Teacher
The first teacher of Rizal was his mother, who was a
remarkable woman of good character and fine
culture. On her lap, he learned at the age of three
the alphabet and the prayers. "My mother," wrote
Rizal in his student memoirs, "taught me how to read
and to say haltingly the humble prayers which I
raised fervently to God."
As tutor, Doña Teodora was patient, conscientious,
and understanding. It was she who first discovered
that her son had a talent for poetry. Accordingly,
she encouraged him to write poems. To lighten the
monotony of memorizing the ABC’s and to stimulate
her son’s imagination, she related many stories.
As Jose grew older, his parents employed private
tutors to give him lessons at home. The first was
Maestro Celestino and the second, Maestro Lucas
Padua. Later, an old man named Leon Monroy, a
former classmate of Rizal’s father, became the boy’s
tutor. This old teacher lived at the Rizal home and
instructed Jose in Spanish and Latin. Unfortunately,
he did not lived long. He died five months later.
After a Monroy’s death, the hero’s parents decided
to send their gifted son to a private school in Biñan.
Jose Goes to Biñan
One Sunday afternoon in June , 1869, Jose, after
kissing the hands of his parents and a tearful parting
from his sister, left Calamba for Biñan. He was
accompanied by Paciano , who acted as his second
father. The two brothers rode in a carromata,
reaching their destination after one and one-half
hours’ drive. They proceeded to their aunt’s house,
where Jose was to lodge. It was almost night when
they arrived, and the moon was about to rise.
That same night, Jose, with his cousin named
Leandro, went sightseeing in the town. Instead of
enjoying the sights, Jose became depressed because
of homesickness. "In the moonlight," he recounted, "I
remembered my home town, my idolized mother,
and my solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet to me was
Calamba, my own town, in spite of the fact that was
not as wealthy as Biñan."
First Day in Biñan School
The next morning (Monday) Paciano brought his
younger brother to the school of Maestro Justiniano
Aquino Cruz.
The school was in the house of the teacher, which
was a small nipa hut about 30 meters from the home
of Jose’s aunt.
Paciano knew the teacher quite well because he had
been a pupil under him before. He introduced Jose
to the teacher, after which he departed to return to
Calamba.
Immediately, Jose was assigned his seat in the class.
The teacher asked him:
"Do you know Spanish?"
"A little, sir," replied the Calamba lad.
"Do you know Latin?"
"A little, sir."
The boys in the class, especially Pedro, the teacher’s
son laughed at Jose’s answers.
The teacher sharply stopped all noises and begun the
lessons of the day.
Jose described his teacher in Biñan as follows: "He
was tall, thin, long-necked, with sharp nose and a
body slightly bent forward, and he used to wear a
sinamay shirt, woven by the skilled hands of the
women of Batangas. He knew by the heart the
grammars by Nebrija and Gainza. Add to this
severity that in my judgement was exaggerated and
you have a picture, perhaps vague, that I have made
of him, but I remember only this."
First School BrawlIn the afternoon of his first day in
school, when the teacher was having his siesta, Jose
met the bully, Pedro. He was angry at this bully for
making fun of him during his conversation with the
teacher in the morning.
Jose challenged Pedro to a fight. The latter readily
accepted, thinking that he could easily beat the
Calamba boy who was smaller and younger.
The two boys wrestled furiously in the classroom,
much to the glee of their classmates. Jose, having
learned the art of wrestling from his athletic Tio
Manuel, defeated the bigger boy. For this feat, he
became popular among his classmates.
After the class in the afternoon, a classmate named
Andres Salandanan challenged him to an arm-
wrestling match. They went to a sidewalk of a house
and wrestled with their arms. Jose, having the
weaker arm, lost and nearly cracked his head on the
sidewalk.
In succeeding days he had other fights with the boys
of Biñan. He was not quarrelsome by nature, but he
never ran away from a fight.
Best Student in School
In academic studies, Jose beat all Biñan boys. He
surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other
subjects.
Some of his older classmates were jealous of his
intellectual superiority. They wickedly squealed to
the teacher whenever Jose had a fight outside the
school, and even told lies to discredit him before the
teacher’s eyes. Consequently the teacher had to
punish Jose.
Early Schooling in Biñan
Jose had a very vivid imagination and a very keen
sense of observation. At the age of seven he traveled
with his father for the first time to Manila and
thence to Antipolo to fulfill the promise of a
pilgrimage made by his mother at the time of his
birth. They embarked in a casco, a very ponderous
vessel commonly used in the Philippines. It was the
first trip on the lake that Jose could recollect. As
darkness fell he spent the hours by the katig,
admiring the grandeur of the water and the stillness
of the night, although he was seized with a
superstitious fear when he saw a water snake
entwine itself around the bamboo beams of the
katig. With what joy did he see the sun at the
daybreak as its luminous rays shone upon the
glistening surface of the wide lake, producing a
brilliant effect! With what joy did he talk to his
father, for he had not uttered a word during the
night!
When they proceeded to Antipolo, he experienced
the sweetest emotions upon seeing the gay banks of
the Pasig and the towns of Cainta and Taytay. In
Antipolo he prayed, kneeling before the image of the
Virgin of Peace and Good Voyage, of whom he would
later sing in elegant verses. Then he saw Manila, the
great metropolis , with its Chinese sores and
European bazaars. And visited his elder sister,
Saturnina, in Santa Ana, who was a boarding student
in the Concordia College.
When he was nine years old, his father sent him to
Biñan to continue studying Latin, because his first
teacher had died. His brother Paciano took him to
Biñan one Sunday, and Jose bade his parents and
sisters good-bye with tears in his eyes. Oh, how it
saddened him to leave for the first time and live far
from his home and his family! But he felt ashamed to
cry and had to conceal his tears and sentiments. "O
Shame," he explained, "how many beautiful and
pathetic scenes the world would witness without
thee!"
They arrived at Biñan in the evening. His brother
took him to the house of his aunt where he was to
stay, and left him after introducing him to the
teacher. At night, in company with his aunt’s
grandson named Leandro, Jose took a walk around
the town in the light of the moon. To him the town
looked extensive and rich but sad and ugly.
His teacher in Biñan was a severe disciplinarian. His
name was Justiniano Aquino Cruz. "He was a tall
man, lean and long-necked, with a sharp nose and a
body slightly bent forward. He used to wear a
sinamay shirt woven by the deft hands of Batangas
women. He knew by memory the grammars of
Nebrija and Gainza. To this add a severity which, in
my judgement I have made of him, which is all I
remember."
The boy Jose distinguished himself in class, and
succeeded in surpassing many of his older
classmates. Some of these were so wicked that, even
without reason, they accused him before the
teacher, for which, in spite of his progress, he
received many whippings and strokes from the
ferule. Rare was the day when he was not stretched
on the bench for a whipping or punished with five or
six blows on the open palm. Jose’s reaction to all
these punishments was one of intense resentment in
order to learn and thus carry out his father’s will.
Jose spent his leisure hours with Justiniano’s father-
in-law, a master painter. From him he took his first
two sons, two nephews, and a grandson. His way life
was methodical and well regulated. He heard mass
at four if there was one that early, or studied his
lesson at that hour and went to mass afterwards.
Returning home, he might look in the orchard for a
mambolo fruit to eat, then he took his breakfast,
consisting generally of a plate of rice and two dried
sardines.
After that he would go to class, from which he was
dismissed at ten, then home again. He ate with his
aunt and then began at ten, then home again. He
ate with his aunt and then began to study. At half
past two he returned to class and left at five. He
might play for a short time with some cousins before
returning home. He studied his lessons, drew for a
while, and then prayed and if there was a moon, his
friends would invite him to play in the street in
company with other boys.
Whenever he remembered his town, he thought with
tears in his eyes of his beloved father, his idolized
mother, and his solicitous sisters. Ah, how sweet was
his town even though not so opulent as Biñan! He
grew sad and thoughtful.
While he was studying in Biñan, he returned to his
hometown now and then. How long the road seemed
to him in going and how short in coming! When from
afar he descried the roof of his house, secret joy
filled his breast. How he looked for pretexts to
remain longer at home! A day more seemed to him a
day spent in heaven, and how he wept, though
silently and secretly, when he saw the calesa that
was flower that him Biñan! Then everything looked
sad; a flower that he touched, a stone that attracted
his attention he gathered, fearful that he might not
see it again upon his return. It was a sad but delicate
and quite pain that possessed him.
Life and Studies at Ateneo
The Jesuits were considered the best educators of
Spain, and perhaps of Europe, and so, when they
were permitted to return to the Philippines,
although their power to administer parishes was
restricted except in the remote regions of Mindanao,
the privilege of founding colleges, they had to apply
to the City of Manila for subsidies. That is why the
college which began to function in the year 1865,
was called the Ateneo Municipal.
To enter the Ateneo a candidate was subjected to an
entrance examination on Christian doctrine, reading,
writing, grammar, and elementary arithmetic. Jose
did not take his entrance examinations Jose did not
remain in Manila but returned first to his town to
celebrate the fiesta of its patron saint; it was then
that his father changed his mind and decided to send
him to the Ateneo instead.
Since Mercado, the first surname of the family, had
come under suspicion of the authorities because it
was the name used by Paciano when he was studying
and working with Father Burgos, in whose house he
lived, Jose adopted the second surname, Rizal.
Paciano who accompanied Jose, found him a house
in Walled City, but Intramuros looked gloomy to
Jose, and he later found lodging outside, in the
house of a spinster situated on Calle Carballo,
district of Santa Cruz. As if chance would furnish him
data for his future campaigns, he became
acquainted in that house with various mestizos,
begotten by friars.
The Jesuitical system of instruction was considered
more advanced than that of other colleges in that
epoch. Its discipline was rigid and its methods less
mechanical. It introduced physical culture as part of
its program as well as the cultivation of the arts,
such as music, drawing, and painting. It also
establishes vocational courses in agriculture,
commerce, and mechanics as a religious institute, its
principal purpose was to mold the character and the
will of the boys to comply more easily with the
percepts of the Church. The students heard mass
before the beginning of the class, which was opened
and closed with prayers.
In the first two terms the classes were divided into
groups of interns and externs: the first constituted
the Roman Empire and the second, the Carthaginian
Empire. In each empire there were five dignitaries:
Emperor, Tribune, Decurion, Centurion, and
Standard-Bearer. These dignities were won by means
of individual competitions in which it was necessary
to catch one’s adversary in error three times. The
empires considered themselves in perpetual warfare,
and when an individual of one empire was caught in
error by one belonging to the enemy empire, a point
was counted in favor of the latter. At the end of
each week or two, the points in favor of each were
added and the empire, which obtained more point,
was declared winner.
There was a fraternity of Mary and Saint Louis
Gonzaga, to which only those who distinguished
themselves in the class for their piety and diligence
could belong. This fraternity met on Sundays and
after mass held public programs in which poems
were recited or debates were held. With all these
inducements it was only natural that should be a
spirit of emulation, a striving to surpass ones
colleagues found in the Ateneo.
The first professor Jose had was Fr. Jose Bech,
whom he describes as a man of high stature; lean
body, bent forward; quick gait; ascetic physiognomy,
severe and inspired; small, sunken eyes; sharp
Grecian nose; thin lips forming an arch with its sides
directed toward the chin." He was somewhat of a
lunatic and of an uneven humor; sometimes he was
hard and little tolerant and at other times he was
gay and playful as a child. Among Jose’s classmates
were Peninsulares and sons of Peninsulares;
Francisco G. Oliva, very talented but not very
studious; Joaquin Garrido, endowed with a poor
memory but with much talent and industry; and
Gonzalo Marzano, who occupied the throne of
Emperor.
From the first days Jose learned to systematize his
work; he fixed a program of what he had to do in the
twenty-four hours of the day and did not in the least
deviate from it. Thus he disciplined his will and
subjected it to the commands of his reason.
As a newcomer, Jose was at first put at the tail of
the class, but he was soon promoted and kept on
being promoted so that at the end of one month he
had attained to the rank of Emperor. At the end of
the term he obtained marks of excellent in all the
subjects and in the examinations. He had reason to
feel proud of his advancement; and so when he went
home on vacation that year, he ran alone to see his
mother in the prison and tell her the happy news.
He must have uttered this exclamation on learning
from his mother that they had played her a mean
trick. The judge, who was a blind partisan of the
friars having been a domestic of theirs, told her that
if she confessed her culpability he would release her
at once. With the desire to see her children again,
she pleaded guilty; but the judge, instead of
releasing her, convicted her. In a few months the
judge asked her forgiveness for what he had done
because according to him his conscience hurt him,
but the case had no remedy because it was already
on appeal.
The second year, Jose had the same professor as in
the previous year; but instead of lodging outside the
City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes. At the
end of the term he obtained a medal, and upon
returning to his town, he again visited his mother in
jail alone. This was three months before her release.
The rejoicing that her release produced in his spirit
had much influence on the result of his studies in the
third year, for he began to win prizes in the
quarterly examinations.
About that time he devoted himself to reading
novels, and one of those he enjoyed most was
Dumas’ (father) The Count of Monte Cristo. The
sufferings of the hero of the twelve years. He also
asked his father to buy him a copy of The Universal
History by Cesar Cantanu, and according to himself
he profited much from its perusal.
The family, who saw in Jose great aptitude for
study, decided to place him as intern or boarding
student in the college the following year. In the
corner of the dormitory facing the sea and the pier
Jose passed his two years of internship.
In the fourth year of his course he had Fr. Francisco
Sanchez as professor. Jose describes him as a model
of rectitude, a solicitude, and love for the student,
and his studied mathematics, rhetoric, and Greek,
and he must have progressed much, for at the end of
the year he-obtained five medals, which pleased him
immensely because with them I could repay my
father somewhat for his sacrifices.
His aptitude for poetry revealed itself early, and
from that time on he did not cease to cultivate it.
direction of the Ateneo professor, the Peninsula Don
Augustin Saez, who honored him with his affection
and consideration because of his progress. In
sculpture his instructor was a Filipino, Romualdo de
Jesus, who felt proud in the last years of his life of
having had such an excellent pupil.
Source:
http://www.joserizal.ph/bg01.html

An incident which demonstrates Jose’s

independence of character took place at this time.
Fr. Leoncio Lopez, parish priest of the town, who
was a great friend of his father, also liked Jose as a
little friend. He was cultured but at the same time
timid and tender. One day Jose’s mother showed
Father Lopez a poem of his young friend and that the
latter must have copied it from a book. Jose, who
heard this, answered the priest violently, for which
his mother reprehended him. Afterward Father
Lopez came to know from the Jesuits themselves
that Jose was a pupil who excelled in poetry; and, in
spite of his age, made a trip to Manila expressly to
apologize to Jose. That gesture of Father Lopez’ won
him Jose’s esteem and they became good friends
again, lending each other the books they had.

In the fifth years Jose had other professors: Frs.

Vilaclara and Mineves. He studied philosophy,
physics, chemistry, and natural history, but his
devotion to poetry was such that his professor in
philosophy advised him once to leave it, which made
him cry. But in his rest hours he continued
cultivating the Muses under the direction of his old
professor, Father Sanchez. Jose had then written a
short story (leyenda), which was only slightly
corrected by his professor, and a dialogue, which
was enacted at the end of the course, alluding to
the collegians’ farewell. However, philosophy, just
and serve, inquiring into the wherefores of things,
interested him as much as poetry; physics, drawing
back the veil that divine drama of nature was
enacted, natural history seemed to him somewhat
uninteresting although he much liked the shells and
sometimes imagined seeing a goddess in each shell
he was on the shelf.

Jose was considered small of stature and he tried to

correct this defect by applying himself regularly to
gymnastics in the college. He also engaged in other
physical exercises, such as fencing. After his
baccalaureate, he surprised his family with his skill
in handling the sword when he gave an exhibition
bout with the best swordsman of the town.

He also devoted time to painting and sculpture. In

drawing and painting he was under the guidance and