Dr. José P. Rizal's Life, Biographies and Stories
He was born on June 19, 1861 at Calamba, Laguna. He was the second son and the seventh among the eleven children of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso. José grew up in a house filled with powerful women. He had been the only one in the family to use the surname RIZAL but when he became a notorious subversive and his family was disposed, the
whole family used Rizal instead of Mercado. Originally, Mercado was the last name.
The reason to change names was following Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua`s Decree that indios should be given or take surnames, to update the census and facilitate the efficient collection of taxes. A list of surnames, the " Catalogo Alfabetico e Apelidos," was drawn from Spanish civil-lists and dictionaries of Philippine languages and dialects compiled by the friars. Rizal`s father being a prosperous farmer who tilled land leased from the Dominican estate, chose the surname "Risal", which is in correct Spanish form is spelled with a "z" or "ricial", which means "soil in which wheat that is cut, green reappears and sprouts again". It can also mean "land sown to grass for the feeding of cattle." Rizal is also translated as "greenfields" or "new pasture".
The choice of this surname was fairly obvious, but then Rizal`s father was not allowed to use it, instead was given "Mercado", which literally meant "market." Thus the surname Mercado was used by the entire family, including José, who was known as José Mercado in his early schooling. When the precarious Rizal outgrew the primary education given by his mother, a private-tutor and the small town school, he was sent to the nearby town of Binan and placed under a schoolmaster named Justiniano Aquino Cruz.
He entered a Jesuit-run Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1872, and obtained a bachelor's degree with highest honors in 1876. He studied medicine at the University of Santo Tomas, but finished the course in a Madrid university, "Unibersidad Central de Madrid" in 1885. He took graduate studies in Paris, France & Heidelberg, Germany. Also studied painting,
sculpture, languages, and wrote articles about the Philippines.
He wrote an annotation of Dr. Morga`s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, which proved that Filipinos had a civilization of their own even before the Spaniards arrived. Rizal was also anti-violence. He`d rather fight using his pen than his might. He became known for advocating political reforms through his novels, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), published in Berlin, 1887; and El Filibusterismo (The Subversive), printed in Ghent, Belgium, 1891; and through the society La Liga Filipina, which he founded in Manila in 1882. On the charge of fomenting unrest against Spain, he was exiled to Dapitan in Northwestern Mindanao where he met, fell in love, and lived with Josephine Bracken. To avoid being involved in the move to start a revolution, he asked Governor General Ramon Blanco to send him to Cuba. Instead he was brought back to Manila and jailed in Fort Santiago after the outbreak of the Revolution in August 1896. A military court found him guilty of rebellion,
sedition, and establishing an illegal association, for which he was sentenced to death. On the eve of his execution, at the age of 35, he wrote a long poem, Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). Three minutes past 7:00 on the morning of that
fateful day, Dec. 30, 1896, he was executed by a firing squad composed of Filipino soldiers and Spanish soldiers which served as back-up in case the former refuse to take part.
Rizal lived only a little over 35 years and on that lifetime, he lived for the people and defended the Filipino dignity even from his last minute. Before he died he wrote the poem "Mi Ultimo Adios" and hid it inside the gas burner and gave the gas burner to his sister Trinidad and his wife Josephine. He married Josephine Bracken before a priest, with guards as
witnesses. He also wrote letters for Professor Blumentritt, to his brother Paciano, and to his beloved father and mother.
Because the authorities feared the people might riot, they had him buried in Paco Cemetery with his names initials reversed - R.P.J.
On August 17, 1898, his sister had his grave dug and found out he was buried with out a coffin. Only his hat and shoes
remained.
REFERENCES: WHO`S WHO IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY FILIPINOS IN HISTORY