Rizal's Family
Childhood and
Early Education
Over the Academic Wall

I. Ang Batang Rizal

What comes to your mind when you
hear the term "Batang]Rizal"?

It is likely that you're thinking that Rizal
was already a prolific writer as a child,
and that he wrote the poem
“Sa-Aking-Mga-Kabata”.

Za
is a masterpiece that express the
love of one's native language
and the importance of freedom.
a
“Sa-Aking-Mga-Kabata”.

But did you know that young
Rizal did not write this poem?

Yung pinaka-quoted natin na quote kay
Rizal, yung "Ang hindi marunong
magmahal sa sariling wika, masahol pa
sa hayop at malansang isda." 'Di ba?
According to historian Ambeth Ocampo, in an
episode of "The Howie Severino Podcast,"

'Yun pala, hindi naman pala kay Rizal
'yun.
Nung inumpisahan kong i-research ito,
doon ko nakita na wala pa lang original
manuscript ito. Na-publish ito, patay na
si Rizal.

So ang una kong inisip ay “Ano kaya?“
‘Yun pala, hindi pala kay Rizal 'yung "Sa
Aking Kababata." 'Di ba? There are
only two manuscripts na ang sabi nila
kay Rizal, written in Tagalo. Both of
them are not by Rizal.

Many historians and scholars express doubts
about whether Rizal wrote the poem.

For one thing, it is unlikely that an eight-
year-old, who typically only begins to
read, could write a five-stanza poem with
profound terms, meter, and rhyme.

Additionally, the letter "K" was not widely
used in 1869 when Rizal was a child; words
were spelled with a "c" rather than a "k."

The poem is full of "k,"

The poem is full of "k,"
two of which are for "kalayaan."

The term "kalayaan," as we
know it today, was not widely
used in the 19th century.

In fact, Rizal first encountered
the word in the summer of
1882 when he was 21 years old.
Oo na, hindi na ako.

It is worth considering whether
Rizal was already aware of the
colonial condition of the
Philippines at such a young age.

Was he truly an exceptionally
intelligent child?

Was he truly an exceptionally
intelligent child? Or are we simply
overestimating his abilities?
Bata pa lang,
BAYANI NA!

This was not the only lie about young Rizal.

Did you know that there is a
popular story about young
Rizal inventing champorado?

As the story goes, our national
hero's favorite food was tuyo,
one cup of rice, and a steaming
cup of hot chocolate.

Legend has it that when
Rizal was a small boy,

he accidentally spilled hot chocolate
into his plate of rice and dried fish.

His sisters scolded him for being wasteful,

but he defended himself by
saying, "I did that on purpose.
When you mix rice and chocolate,
you have champorado."

While Rizal did mention in his writings that he enjoyed eating tuyo for breakfast,
there is no primary source to support that he invented champorado.

Another lie about young
Rizal is the tsinelas story.

While playing by the riverbank, one of
Rizal's slippers fell into the water and
was carried off by the current.

Having failed to retrieve it, and with
one slipper now rendered useless,

Rizal decided to throw the other slipper so
that someone downstream would find the
pair and have a complete set.

Although the story speaks of Rizal's selflessness,
there is no historical basis for it.

These kind of stories about the young Rizal
depict him as a superhuman, with exceptional
intelligence, kindness, and patriotism.

However, these are myths that have been
invented and circulated, which do not
reflect the reality of his childhood.

We need to correct these inaccuracies and view
Rizal as a normal child, not as a superhero.

II. From Pepe to Pepe

To start the discussion on the life of
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
we must begin with his birth.

He was born on June 19, 1861, in the
lakeshore town of Calamba, Laguna.

The birth occurred between eleven
and twelve o'clock at night, just a
few days before the full moon.

The birthing process was
not easy, as Rizal's
mother struggled due to
the size of his head.

Fortunately, both the
baby and his mother
survived the difficult birth.

Three days later, Jose Protacio
was baptized in a Catholic
Church by the parish priest,
Father Rufino Collantes.
Jose Protacio,

The child was christened Jose Protacio,
in honor of two saints.
a
Jose Protacio,

His mother was a devout follower
of Saint Joseph or San Jose

while the name "Protacio" was
inspired by Saint Gervacio
Protacio, whose feast is
celebrated every June 19th.
note: some references spell his name Protasio,
but here we will continue to use Protacio.

During the baptism
ceremony, Father Collantes
noticed that Jose's head was
unusually large for a baby.

The priest was astonished and advised
Jose's family to take good care of him,

as he likely associated the large head with
intelligence and believed that someday
the child would become a great man.

You might notice that Rizal’s name
(Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda)
is unusually long.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The reason behind this is that it's a combination of
several surnames from his family's history.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
The first two given names - Jose Protacio -
were taken from two different saints.

The surname Mercado comes from Rizal's
Chinese ancestor, Domingo Lam-co.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

In order to avoid anti-Chinese sentiment from
the Spanish authorities, Lam-co changed his
family's surname to Mercado ("market").
reflected their merchant roots.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The surname Rizal is the surname
adapted by the Mercados during the
1940s because of the Claveria Decree.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
During the 1840s, Governor-General Narciso Claveria
mandated that Filipinos adopt surnames
to facilitate census work and tax collection.

Each province was given a list
from which each family could
choose a new surname.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

All of which came from this book:
Catalogo alfabetico de apellidos or
Alphabetical Catalogue of Surnames in English.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The Mercados of Calamba
chose the unlisted name Rizal.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The family's original choice was
Ricial, which means "the green
of young growth" or "green
fields," reflecting their livelihood.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Even though they picked Rizal, they
continued to use Mercado.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

The new surname (Rizal) caused confusion
in the commercial affairs of the family.
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
Don Francisco thus settled on the combination
name ‘Rizal Mercado’ as a compromise.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
The “y” in Spanish names indicates the
conjunction "and" and separates the
patriarch's and matriarch's surnames.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
The surname Alonso comes from Rizal's
mother's old family name.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
The surname Realonda was the
adapted surname of the Alonsos of
Binan due to the Claveria Decree.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
Just like the Mercados,
they continued to use the surname Alonso.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
This seemed to be a common practice, so that
each family ended up with four surnames:
each of the old and new family names
of both the mother and the father.

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
If you find Rizal's full name confusing,
we can call him on his other nickname:

“Pepe”
If you find Rizal's full name confusing,
we can call him on his other nickname:

Why “Pepe”?

According to the book In Excelsis, writer
Felice Prudente Santa Maria explains
that Rizal got the nickname "Pepe"
because the letters "P.P." were always
used after the name of Saint Joseph.
P.P.

In Latin, "P.P." stands for "pater putativus,"
which means "putative father."
Pater Putativus

P.P.
In Spanish, the letter "P" is pronounced as
"peh," which led people to start calling
Saint Joseph "Pepe" instead of "Jose."

P.P.
In Spanish, the letter "P" is pronounced as
"peh," which led people to start calling
Saint Joseph "Pepe" instead of "Jose."

P.P.
Given that Rizal's given name was
Jose, people also began to call him
"Pepe" as a nickname.

III. Welcome to the Family Mercado

Jose Rizal was the seventh child
of the Mercado family, who were
relatively well-off and lived on a
tenant land owned by a
Dominican in Calamba, Laguna.

Nickname: Neneng
She’s the oldest of the Rizal chidren. She married
Manuel T. Hidalgo of Tanawan, Batangas and had
five children together.
1 Saturnina (1850 – 1913)

Also known as: "Lolo Ciano"
He was the older (also only) brother and confidant of Jose
Rizal. After his younger brother’s execution, he joined the
Philippine Revolution and became a combat general.
After the Revolution, he retired to his farm in Los Baños,
where he lived as a gentleman farmer and died an old
bachelor aged 79.
He had two children by his mistress (Severina Decena) – a
boy and a girl.
2 Paciano (1851 – 1930)

Pet Name: Sisa
She was the one who found the unmarked grave of
her brother in the abandoned Old Paco Cemetary.
She married Antonio Lopez (nephew of Father
Leoncio Lopez), a school teacher and musician
from Morong.
3 Narcisa (1852 – 1939)

4 Olimpia (1855 – 1887)
Pet name: Ypia
She married Silvestre Ubaldo, a telegraph
operator from Manila. and together they had
three children.
She died in 1887 from childbirth when she was
only 32 years old.

5 Lucia (1857 – 1919)
She married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, who
was a nephew of Father Casanas.
Together, they had five children.
In 1889, Mariano died due to an epidemic but
was denied a Christian burial. This was due to the
fact that he was the brother in law of Jose Rizal.

6 Maria (1859 – 1945)
Nickname: Biang
She married Daniel Faustino Cruz of Biñan, Laguna
and together they had 5 children. Mauricio Cruz, one
of Maria's children became a student of Jose Rizal in
Dapitan and was known to be one of his uncle's
favorites.
Maria was a known recipient of many od Jose's letters
during his lifetime.

7 Jose (1861 – 1896)
Nickname: Pepe
Kilala mo na, pagod na ko mag-type.

8 Concepcion (1862 – 1865)
Pet name: Concha
Concepcion did not live very long as she died of
sickness at the age of 3. Her death was Rizal’s
first sorrow in life.

9 Josefa (1865 - 1945)
Pet name: Panggo
She was unmarried and lived together with her
younger sister Trinidad until death. Josefa was
said to have suffered from epilepsy.

10 Trinidad (1868 - 1951)
Pet name: Trining
She remained unmarried and lived together with her
sister Josefa.
Trinidad was the one who received an alcohol lamp
from brother Jose, in which he secretly hid the "Last
Farewell" better known as "Mi Ultimo Adios," a poem
Rizal wrote on the eve of his death in 1896.
Trinidad died in 1951, outliving all her siblings.

11 Soledad (1870 - 1929)
Pet name: Choleng
She was the youngest of the Rizal siblings. She
married Pantaleon Quintero of Calamba and
together they had 5 children

Francisco Mercado Rizal was more
than just the father of Jose Rizal;
he was a man of admirable qualities.

Born on May 11, 1818, in Binan
Laguna, Francisco Mercado Rizal
studied Latin and Philosophy at the
College of San Jose in Manila.

he moved to Calamba to
work in a hacienda owned
by a Dominican.
Francisco lost his father early, and
when both of his parents died,

he moved to Calamba to
work in a hacienda owned
by a Dominican.
Francisco lost his father early, and
when both of his parents died,
Although let's be clear,
Francisco was not poor.

His father, Juan Mercado,
was Biñan’s gobernadorcillo
in 1808, 1813, and 1823.

His paternal grandfather,
Francisco Mercado, also
held the position in 1783,
and incidentally owned
the largest herd of
carabaos in all of Biñan.

But because of his hard work, he
made their money grow even more
by engaging in farming and trading.
It is clear that he might have inherited
some of this when his parents died.

In Calamba, Francisco was well-respected
and known as "Don Francisco" or "Don Kiko."

don
is an honorific prefix used to
show respect and courtesy.

He was a man of few words but great actions,
with a strong body and a sharp mind.

He was elected by the citizens of Calamba to be
their "cabeza de barangay," or head of the town.

He was not only beloved by the people of Calamba
but also by his family.

His son, Jose Rizal, affectionately
called him "a model of fathers"
in his student memoirs.

This deep admiration and love
for his father was evident in the
art he created in his honor.

In 1881, Jose made a clay bust of Don Kiko.

Six years later, he carved a life-size wood sculpture of him.

In honor of his father, Jose even named his
premature son (with Josephine Bracken)
'Francisco,' according to some sources.

“Tell our father I remember him, and how! I
remember my whole childhood, of his affection
and his love. Ask him to forgive me for the pain
that I have unwillingly caused him.”
Before his death, Jose Rizal wrote a letter to his
brother Paciano, in which he said:

He also wrote a letter directly to his father, saying:
My beloved Father, Pardon me for the pain with
which I repay you for sorrows and sacrifices for
my education. I did not want nor did I prefer it.
Goodbye, Father, goodbye

Through Don Kiko's independence,
determination, and hard work, he instilled
in his son a free spirit that would inspire
Jose Rizal to become who he was.

Don Francisco's life and legacy are a
testament to the importance of hard
work, perseverance, and love for
family and community.

We can clearly see that Jose Rizal's relationship
with his father was good, and the same can be
said of his mother, maybe even more.

This is because in Jose's student memoir, he wrote:
“Ah! Without her what would … have been my fate?
… After God, the mother is everything to man.”

Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos was
born on November 8, 1826, in Manila.

Even before marrying Don Kiko,
Doña Teodora was already living
a comfortable life.

She came from a long line of
principalia, which explains why
her family was wealthy.

principalia
the ruling and educated upper class in the
towns during the Spanish occupation.

They came from lineages of
ex-datus who were the
original principalias.

They came from lineages of
ex-datus who were the
original principalias.

These datus cooperated with the
Spanish in subjugating their former
subjects and, in turn, were rewarded
with government positions such as
gobernadorcillos (mayor) and
cabezas de barangay (town chief)

The principalia status was
hereditary, including the
government positions they held.

Her father and grandfather
served as gobernadorcillos, the
highest position any Filipino
could hold in government.

Her grandfather, Cipriano Alonso,
served as Biñan’s gobernadorcillo
in 1790 and 1802.

Her father, Lorenzo Alberto Alonso
also held the position in 1844.

Aside from holding public office,
the principalia class had
privileges such as being exempt
from paying taxes and leasing
vast tracts of farmlands.

Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos received
a fine education at the prestigious Colegio de
Santa Rosa, where she displayed a special
inclination toward literature and music.

Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos received
a fine education at the prestigious Colegio de
Santa Rosa, where she displayed a special
inclination toward literature and music.

Her education and refined culture set her
apart from most women of her time.

She was a remarkable woman, possessing
refined culture, literary talent, business
ability, and the fortitude of Spartan women

"My mother is a woman of more
than ordinary culture."

"My mother is a woman of more
than ordinary culture."

As a mother, she taught her children how to
read, write, and pray at a very young age.

She also taught them values such as
discipline, justice, and compassion, and
most importantly, to treat Indios as equals.

Teodora also act as Rizal's reading
teacher and critic, and together they
would read books in their home library.

Her love for literature and the arts
would be passed on to her children,
who would become renowned writers
and artists in their own right.

Shortly before her death, the government
offered her a life pension after declaring
Jose Rizal as the national hero.

"My family has never been patriotic for
money. If the government has plenty of
funds and does not know what to do with
them, better reduce the taxes."
She courteously rejected it, saying,

Teodora Alonso Realonda y
Quintos was not just a mother, but
a force of nature that shaped the
destiny of her children and, in turn,
the destiny of her nation.

Her unwavering commitment to
education and culture ignited a
spark in her children that would
eventually lead to the birth of
Philippine independence.

Her legacy is a testament to the
power of a mother's love and the
limitless potential of a human being.

Let her life inspire you to be the
change you want to see in the world,
and to never underestimate the
impact that a single person can have
on the course of history.

IV. Childhood and Early Education

After Rizal's return to Calamba, his parents decided
that he should stay there and later go to Manila.

During this time, his uncle, Don Jose Alberto,
also returned from Europe.

What happened next is a scandalous story involving
Rizal's family, comparable to a modern teleserye.

Editor's Note: Due to its length (yes, the slide is even longer), I decided
not to include this part. However, if you're interested in seeing a
dramatization of the story, I've created a video (25:17) on my YouTube
Channel. You can find the link here.

But if you do not want to my watch my cringey
video, the story is this: Teodora Realonda y
Alonso was suddenly arrested on a malicious
charge that she and her brother, Jose Alberto,
tried to poison Jose Alberto’s wife.

Teodora was forced to walk 50 km
from Calamba to Santa Cruz as
punishment, and forbidden from
using any kind of vehicle.

In his student memoirs, Rizal described the deep grief that
he and his siblings felt for their mother's arrest. He wrote:

Our mother’s arrest, we knew, was unjust. The men who
arrested her pretended to be friends and had often
been our guests. Ever since then, child though I was, I
have distrusted friendship.
We learned later that our mother, away from us all and
along in years, was ill. From the first, the alcalde
believed the accusation. He was unfair in every way and
treated my mother rudely, even brutally. Finally, he
persuaded her to confess to what they wished by
promising to set her free and to let her see her children.

What mother could resist that?
What mother would not sacrifice life itself for her children?

They terrified and deceived my mother as they would
have any other mother. They threatened to condemn
her if she did not say what they wished. She submitted
to the will of her enemies and lost her spirit.

The case became involved until the same alcalde asked
pardon for her. But this was only when the matter was
before the Supreme Court. He asked for the pardon
because he was sorry for what he had done. Such was
his meanness that I felt afraid of him.

Attorneys Francisco de Marcaida and Manuel Masigan,
Manila’s leading lawyers, defended my mother and they
finally succeeded in having her acquitted. They proved
her innocence to her judges, her accusers and her hosts
of enemies. But after how much delay?—After 2 ½ years

Because of his mother's arrest, the young Rizal's eyes
were opened wide to the brutal realities of the world.

Because of his mother's arrest, the young Rizal's eyes
were opened wide to the brutal realities of the world.

It was a moment of reckoning, a tipping point
that would forever shape his destiny.

The injustice Teodora suffered fired up the beacons of destiny in her youngest
son, Jose Rizal, whose silent vow of nationalism was unbreakable and inexorable
in its forward march towards the final conclusion of death and heroism.

Are you having trouble understanding this presentation on your own?
If so, you might find my video on this topic helpful. It covers the same material as this post, but presents it in a different way that might be
easier for you to understand. Just scan the QR Code above or Check my YouTube Channel “Over the Academic Wall.”
Video Link Channel Link

Ang hindi marunong
magmahal sa sariling wika,
masahol pa sa hayop at
malansang isda.
Hindi si Jose Rizal
Hindi ang Pambansang Bayani